Studio 60.

Readers: We're still high on 'Studio 60'

Please let this article be true.

I had a nightmare last night that Studio 60 was going to be canceled. No more Bradley Whitford every week? Nooooo!

Please start watching this show!

Plan B.

Plan B is going to be available over-the-counter soon, but until then women have to deal with crap like this: Blogger Denied EC by Every Hospital within 100 Miles.

In Ohio.

It is a v. slippery slope when pharmacists and doctors are allowed to deny people medication because of "morals."

"Oh, I'm sorry. I'm against smoking. Your lung cancer is pretty much your own damn fault, so I refuse to fill/prescribe these prescriptions to help you fight it."

"I don't believe in 'depression.' It is in indeed all in your head, but not because of a chemical imbalance in your brain. If you want to start feeling happy, then stop acting like a damn crybaby about things. I'm not filling/prescribing this Paxil prescription."

Ugh.

On a lighter note, I dressed the Brat in baby clothes. He wasn't all that amused.

The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

"Walls has joined the company of writers such as Mary Karr and Frank McCourt who have been able to transform their sad memories into fine art." -- People

I've just finished one of the best (if not the best) memoirs I've ever read: href="http://www.amazon.com/Glass-Castle-Memoir-Jeannette-
Walls/dp/074324754X/sr=8-1/qid=1158259576/ref=pd_bbs_1/104-8745101-
4337517?ie=UTF8&s=books">The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls.

I'm not the best at describing books or why I like them, so instead I give you some obersvations from people who are paid to review books:

Book Description:

The Glass Castle is a remarkable memoir of resilience and redemption, and a revelatory look into a family at once deeply dysfunctional and uniquely vibrant. When sober, Jeannette's brilliant and charismatic father captured his children's imagination, teaching them physics, geology, and how to embrace life fearlessly. But when he drank, he was dishonest and destructive. Her mother was a free spirit who abhorred the idea of domesticity and didn't want the responsibility of raising a family.

The Walls children learned to take care of themselves. They fed, clothed, and protected one another, and eventually found their way to New York. Their parents followed them, choosing to be homeless even as their children prospered.

The Glass Castle is truly astonishing -- a memoir permeated by the intense love of a peculiar, but loyal, family. Jeannette Walls has a story to tell, and tells it brilliantly, without an ounce of self-pity.

Amazon.com

Jeannette Walls's father always called her "Mountain Goat" and there's perhaps no more apt nickname for a girl who navigated a sheer and towering cliff of childhood both daily and stoically. In The Glass Castle, Walls chronicles her upbringing at the hands of eccentric, nomadic parents--Rose Mary, her frustrated-artist mother, and Rex, her brilliant, alcoholic father. To call the elder Walls's childrearing style laissez faire would be putting it mildly. As Rose Mary and Rex, motivated by whims and paranoia, uprooted their kids time and again, the youngsters (Walls, her brother and two sisters) were left largely to their own devices. But while Rex and Rose Mary firmly believed children learned best from their own mistakes, they themselves never seemed to do so, repeating the same disastrous patterns that eventually landed them on the streets. Walls describes in fascinating detail what it was to be a child in this family, from the embarrassing (wearing shoes held together with safety pins; using markers to color her skin in an effort to camouflage holes in her pants) to the horrific (being told, after a creepy uncle pleasured himself in close proximity, that sexual assault is a crime of perception; and being pimped by her father at a bar). Though Walls has well earned the right to complain, at no point does she play the victim. In fact, Walls' removed, nonjudgmental stance is initially startling, since many of the circumstances she describes could be categorized as abusive (and unquestioningly neglectful). But on the contrary, Walls respects her parents' knack for making hardships feel like adventures, and her love for them--despite their overwhelming self-absorption--resonates from cover to cover. --Brangien Davis

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Freelance writer Walls doesn't pull her punches. She opens her memoir by describing looking out the window of her taxi, wondering if she's "overdressed for the evening" and spotting her mother on the sidewalk, "rooting through a Dumpster." Walls's parents—just two of the unforgettable characters in this excellent, unusual book—were a matched pair of eccentrics, and raising four children didn't conventionalize either of them. Her father was a self-taught man, a would-be inventor who could stay longer at a poker table than at most jobs and had "a little bit of a drinking situation," as her mother put it. With a fantastic storytelling knack, Walls describes her artist mom's great gift for rationalizing. Apartment walls so thin they heard all their neighbors? What a bonus—they'd "pick up a little Spanish without even studying." Why feed their pets? They'd be helping them "by not allowing them to become dependent." While Walls's father's version of Christmas presents—walking each child into the Arizona desert at night and letting each one claim a star—was delightful, he wasn't so dear when he stole the kids' hard-earned savings to go on a bender. The Walls children learned to support themselves, eating out of trashcans at school or painting their skin so the holes in their pants didn't show. Buck-toothed Jeannette even tried making her own braces when she heard what orthodontia cost. One by one, each child escaped to New York City. Still, it wasn't long before their parents appeared on their doorsteps. "Why not?" Mom said. "Being homeless is an adventure." --Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Freebies / Life List.

Recent items received that I discovered through freestuff:

Ban Paradise Winds Deodorant
Sunsilk Hair Care 3-pc Set
Nair Hair Removal
Halo Pet Treats
Tiger Woods Foundation 'Start Something' Kit
Arbor Day Book and Poster

The Brat is not all interested in the catnip from Halo. He basically shows no reaction from smelling or eating it. At first I thought he did because he attacked the bag it was in at first, but then I realized that he just attacks everything. It's prob. best if catnip doesn't affect him, because he's already fairly crazy.

Item added to my Life List:

16. Eat at a sushi bar

Look at the Date.

I haven't watched any of the memorials or human interest stories or "how the U.S. has changed" or etc. (the polite term for it) segments on the television this week. I just...don't want to. Too many emotions would come from them, bad or good. I don't think I'll ever be able to watch any of those movies dealing with September 11th.

It just feels surreal still. I can't believe what happened. I can't believe what terrorists and OUR OWN government have done to us. I can't even read lj entries about it because I never know if they will make me want to cry or throw something--either at the media or the government or the poster. Wow. I think I just realized George W. Bush makes me angrier than terrorists. Maybe because they are abstract and so far away and Bush is supposed to be HELPING us, not making everything so much, much worse.

But I did watch Ellen today, and she had a segment about a woman, Ann Nelson, who died in one of the World Trade Center Towers. A while after she died, her parents found her Life List on her computer. (Ellen has been all about life lists this season: those lists where you write down everything you want to do/be in life.) Ann's story has been in The New York Times, Cosmopolitan, etc., and she has inspired people to keep their own life list (one such woman was also on Ellen, with Ann's parents). Her list was all about bettering herself and the people around her, not superficial things like "own a car" (which might actually be a big thing for some people).

I don't know what is was about her and her story. It was her picture, her parents, her love of life, the woman she inspired and what she told Ann's parents, the shots of her actual list...But my mom and I looked at each other, and my mom was crying, and I said, "I know! I feel like crying!" and then I started crying and...even if I had spent all day watching stories about 9/11, no other story would have touched me as much.

I tried to find something online about her with no luck.

I should make a Life List...but I'm almost afraid to. Like I'm afraid I'll never accomplish anything on it. I don't even know what I'd put on it.

ETA: I found The New York Times's article! Read it below.

***

May 17, 2006
About New York
Hope, Saved on a Laptop
By DAN BARRY

For a long time, Ann Nelson’s laptop computer remained dark.

It had been returned to her family in North Dakota, along with the other belongings she left behind in that great city 1,750 miles to the east. She was 30, lively, working near the very top of the World Trade Center, and — you already know.

In the small town of Stanley, halfway between Minot and Williston, a fog thick enough to blur time’s passing enveloped the Nelson home. Amid the many tributes to Ann, amid the grieving and the absence, it became hard to remember just when and how the laptop wound up in the basement of the one-story bank that the family owned.

There the laptop sat, for years, tucked away from sight in a black case. It was a Dell Inspiron 8000, bought shortly before Ann called home that day in early 2001 to say she had gotten a job as a bond trader at Cantor Fitzgerald — in New York! Soon she was living near the corner of Thompson and Spring, and working in an office 104 stories in the air.

Ann’s parents, Jenette and Gary Nelson, say the laptop remained unopened because they are not computer savvy. But it was more than that, Mrs. Nelson admits. “To tell you the truth, it was just too painful.”

Three summers ago, during an art class Mrs. Nelson was teaching in that basement, a couple of students showed her how to use the computer. After the class, she says, “I just left it there.”

Who knows why never becomes someday, and someday becomes today. One day last fall — “when I got to feeling stronger,” she says — Mrs. Nelson finally opened her daughter’s computer. She pushed its power button and started by looking at the photographs stored in its memory.

Soon Mrs. Nelson was learning how to play the computer’s games, including solitaire and hearts. These distractions both relaxed her and reminded her of the games she used to play with Ann. Somehow, this little black machine made Ann seem present, there beside her.

Getting lost in the computer became part of Mrs. Nelson’s after-work ritual, though she never bothered to open a file that said “Top 100″; probably some music, she figured. Then, two months ago and who knows why, click.

What she found was a catalog of goals, humanly incomplete: a list that reflected a young woman’s commitment to the serious, to the frivolous, to all of life. That night, Mr. and Mrs. Nelson sat down with the list, and were with their daughter again.

1. Be healthy/ healthful. 2. Be a good friend. 3. Keep secrets. 4. Keep in touch with people I love and that love me. 5. Make a quilt.

Mrs. Nelson used to sew all the time, until it simply became too hard to guide a needle properly with a joyous little girl frolicking in her lap. Then, when Ann grew older, mother and daughter decided to sew a tablecloth.

“I don’t think we ever finished,” Mrs. Nelson says, laughing. “She had to be doing 100 things at a time, and consequently some of them didn’t get finished.”

As for this goal of making a quilt, she adds, “I’m sure that I would probably have been deeply involved in this process.”

6. Nepal. 7. Buy a home in North Dakota. 8. Get a graduate degree. 9. Learn a foreign language. 10. Kilimanjaro. 11. Never be ashamed of who I am.

“Ann was in many environments where being a girl from North Dakota may not have been the most sophisticated label to wear,” Mrs. Nelson says, recalling that her daughter had traveled to China and to Peru, and had worked in the high-powered environments of Chicago and New York.

Even so, Ann always conveyed pride in who she was, who her parents were and where they came from — though never in a boastful way. “It’s an important point about her personality,” her mother says.

12. Be a person to be proud of. 13. Always keep improving. 14. Read every day. 15. Be informed. 16. Knit a sweater. 17. Scuba-dive in the Barrier Reef. 18. Volunteer for a charity. 19. Learn to cook.

By her late 20’s, Ann had actually become a fairly decent cook. Still, her mother laughs in recalling late-night calls, like the one that began: “Mom, what’s drawn butter?”

20. Learn about art. 21. Get my C.F.A. 22. Grand Canyon. 23. Helicopter-ski with my dad.

Then Ann Nelson’s list repeats a number.

23. Spend more time with my family. 24. Remember birthdays!!!!

Birthdays loomed large in Ann’s life. She would celebrate her birthday not for a day, but for a week — in part because her father’s birthday came the very next day, in part because she was proud to have been born on Norwegian Independence Day — which is May 17, today.

“Ann would have been 35,” says Mr. Nelson, who turns 65 tomorrow.

25. Appreciate money, but don’t worship it. 26. Learn how to use a computer. 27. Visit the New York Public Library. 28. Maine. 29. Learn to write. 30. Walk — exercise but also see the world firsthand. 31. Learn about other cultures. 32. Be a good listener. 33. Take time for friends. 34. Kayak. 35. Drink water. 36. Learn about wine.

Ann was supposed to attend a wine class the evening of Sept. 11, in keeping with Nos. 13, 19, 31, 36 — the whole list, really.

After 36, there is a 37, but it is blank.

Mr. Nelson reads the list as an inventory of his daughter’s values. “You don’t see any Corvettes in the garage or any of those material things you might expect from someone that age,” he says. “She recognized that you appreciate a few things and kind of live your life wisely.”

Mrs. Nelson interprets the list as another way in which Ann seems to communicate with her when she is most in need. So, just about every day in a small North Dakota town, halfway between Minot and Williston, the screen of a laptop computer goes from darkness to light.

E-mail: dabarry@nytimes.com

My Life List--Updated Regularly.

1. Love myself
2. Don't worry so much
3. Keep in contact with my friends/resist being a hermit
4. Learn how to knit or crochet (even if it's something small!)
5. Read at least one book a month
6. Don't let people get away with being bad friends
7. Dance (badly if necessary)
8. Don't take my anger/frustration out on other people
9. Finish a novel (publication would be lovely, but not necessary)
10. See panda bears in person
11. Visit the ocean
12. Don't feel guilty for saying "no"
13. Volunteer for a political campaign
14. Write letters to editors/politicians/newscastors
15. Keep improving
16. Eat at a sushi bar
17. Visit an art gallery displaying local artists

Steve Irwin. : (

omg!

Steve Irwin was killed this morning.

I used to love watching his show when I was younger. : ( That is sad. His poor kids.

Tom Cruise.

Aw, 'lil Tom Cruise is trying to do damage control now that no one wants to watch his movies.

Tom Apologizes to Brooke.

"'[Cruise] came over to my house, and he gave me a heartfelt apology,' the actress told Tonight host Jay Leno. 'And through it all, I was so impressed with how heartfelt it was.'

Won over, Shields accepted the apology, she said."

Um. Isn't he, you know, an actor?

I still think he's bat-shit crazy. Of course, I never liked him even before the whole brainwashed Scientology-thing.

Ugh. I hate people who think they're doctors. You don't understand the effing history of psychiatry, either, asshat.

I actually rather like this article.

"Cruise, who has never given birth, accused Shields, who has, of spreading 'misinformation.'"

Ha!

Right On.

"Let's be honest. Sometimes there's nothing harder in life than being happy for somebody else." --Carrie Bradshaw

Oh, Sex and the City. I had forgotten how much I loved you.

Al Gore = Sexy.

"I actually was not intending to be here tonight, but then MTV explained that Justin Timberlake was bringing sexy back, [so here I am]." --Al Gore, at the MTV Video Music Awards [which I did not watch, snooze and (mostly) mediocore music, but did see a clip of this OBVIOUS highlight of the night]

Hahaha.

Oh, Al Gore. I wish you were our president.

The Daily Show

`Daily Show' to Take Road Trip to Ohio

Why couldn't they have chosen to come to Cleveland?!

To tell the truth, though, I don't want to watch a week of shows poking fun at Ohio. We already have enough asshats blaming Bush's victory on Ohio voters (to which I say, it takes more than one state to elect a president, effers, and at least our state was CLOSE, which is more than I can say for some of you other losers), so I don't care to have more whining about it thrown our way.

Senseo! Computer Crashes!

Soooo...remember how I was having problems with my iMac? Yeah. Last night the thing went K-A-B-O-O-M and now I have to reinstall all of my software, etc. I managed to save some of my music and files, but most everything else is gone. Oh, well. I had too much crap music on it anyway; I kind of like starting over. But my computer crashing is more proof that I fail at everything.

Although, I do think I won this Senseo Gourmet Coffee maker (something else I discovered on freestuff).

!!! It says I should receive one in 2-3 weeks, but I'll believe it when I see it, knowing my luck. But how awesome! I don't even drink coffee, but it's so cute, I must have it on my counter! I hope I get a red one, but I doubt it.

And to think I almost didn't finish the survey-thingy for it, because it took f-o-r-e-v-e-r!

"Where do you go,
With your broken heart in tow,
What do you do with the leftover you?
And how do you know,
When to let go,
Where does the good go,
Where does the good go?"
--Tegan and Sara, "Where Does the Good Go?"

How much do I love Tegan and Sara? Quite a lot.

K-Fed and Dumb iMac.

So I watched part of this teen award show the other night.

Kevin Federline performed.

...I've been listening to a lot of indie/non-mainstream music lately anyway, but if Kevin Federline ever has a hit song, I swear I will stop listening to the radio, full stop.

So bad. So v. bad.

A-n-d my iMac is really getting on my nerves. Every once in a while it seems to randomnly delete some of my application files. Mysteriously all of my games, calendar, fonts, etc. disappeared today. I had to re-install Panther, which is effing annoying because then all of the applications revert to the old ones, so I have to download the updates, but I can't on this s-l-o-w modem, and then I have the previous system files that won't delete and sdgjldflg;lfl. People always say Macs have no problems, but that's a lie. I've had many problems with mine (but I still love it, I just don't think they're perfect and/or superior). If I ever get a laptop, because of these random problems, and because NO applications work on Macs unless you're willing to pay $50 more, and because Mac users have chips on their shoulders, I'm getting a PC again.

Wrong, Movie Makers.

Re: Previews for Barnyard.

Well, that's the first evidence I've ever seen of a male "cow" having udders! And two of them, to boot (possibly more?). There must be something going on at that "barnyard."

I write male "cow" because there's no such thing.

cow (also heifer) = female
steer = neutered male
bull = male

There's your agricultural lesson for the day, kids.

My favorite breed of cattle, by the way, is the Shorthorn. ; )

Seriously, though, shouldn't an animation company have people who check these things out? Oh, silly biology, what's wrong with you? Getting in the way with aesthetics like that.

Music & Freebies.

I recently attended a Billy Currington concert. I had other reasons to be a bit (naturally) cheerful that night, but I had a good time! I thought he put on a good show, but some people weren't happy with the sound system. Oh, well. I do wish he had some better material, but it could just be because I wasn't familiar with most of the songs.

But, whew! He is s-e-x-y. Also, anyone who sings "Family Tradition" by Hank Williams, Jr. is okay in my book (that was the highlight of the show for me!). He also sang some AC/DC, which was fun.

I could have gone backstage and met him, but, eh. I declined because I'm not really into meeting celebrities.

One thing that really made me like him: apparently Billy Currington, during contract negotiations with the venue where he played, had a requirement that the venue not charge over a certain amount for the tickets (which eventually cost $5.00--what a deal!). What a stand-up guy! See, U2, not everyone charges their fans an arm and a leg for tickets simply because they can.

---

I love George Strait's new song, "Give it Away." But the voice does not sound at all like him at first! I think the song sounds like something Conway Twitty would have sung.

---

Free stuff I've received so far from listings on :

Ortho Tri-Cyclen Lo Personal Pak
V. cute! I got the flower design, because it was the only one in-stock. I received it in less than a week. Unfortunately, though, I got my Ortho from the college's medical center, and they have special packaging for students, so it doesn't fit in the pak. : ( Once I start getting it from a regular pharmacy, though, I should be able to use it.

---

Has anyone else seen the video for "Crazy" by Gnarls Barkley? Isn't it wicked? With the ink blots? I love the song, too.

---

Why do companies think they have to have such hi-tech websites? I've been waiting for a Post-It website to load for f-o-r-e-v-e-r. I get that they want a cool website, but they're Post-It. I'm about ready to leave, and that will teach them for not thinking about people on modems!

Such Great Heights.

I've always loved Iron & Wine's version of "Such Great Heights": the haunting, folk version.

Today I listened to the Postal Service's version for the first time.

...no, no, no!

I know it was the Postal Service's song first, but they completely ruined the song! I love electronica, but to hear those lyrics with electronica music? It's jarring. I feel like all of the emotion has been sapped out of the song. There's nothing there in the Postal Service's version. It's too fast-paced, too upbeat. Ew. Just ew.

The Brat and Freebies.

At about 7:30 a.m., I was washing my hands in the upstairs bathroom. I looked in the doorway, and a fat, brat cat is looking at me and purring! I thought maybe mom had let him inside this morning when she left for work, but she said she hadn't when I asked her when she got home! The little Brat snuck in to see me. Aw.

Speaking of the Brat, we think we saw one of his siblings at the county fair this week (you may know that the Brat came to our house last summer by hitching a ride in my dad's truck after a meeting at the fairgrounds one night). She was about the same height and length as the Brat, with coloring that might suggest the same parents, but v. skinny and sickly looking. I was a bit upset, and mom said I couldn't save all the cats in the world. It's just v. sad. The Brat could look like that, if he weren't such a little sneak. : ( Now he's so pretty and soft and healthy. I love the little baha.

Okay, I am obsessed with freestuff. People post links to free stuff, like free samples of Dove soap, organizers from Office Depot, etc. Hey, when you're a poor college graduate, that stuff can help! A lot of the posts won't show up unless you're a member. But I think there are some cool and useful things (but also some junk)! I joined it, but didn't friend it. This way I can read the posts on their journal without my friendslist being spammed by them.

Favorite Artist of the Moment: Butterfly Boucher.

At the moment I'm listening to a lot of indie/non-mainstream music.

A lot of the music I'm listening to has been featured on Grey's Anatomy, which has the best soundtrack ever heard on television.

The show gives a lot of play to women and indie artists. It's an awesome show, but I'd watch it for the music alone. (You can just look up who has had songs featured on it, though. This Amazon page is a good starting point.)

A few of my favorite artists at the moment (whom you should check out):

Snow Patrol
Tegan and Sara
Jem
Psapp
Lisa Loeb
Brandi Carlile
Emiliana Torrini
Ivy

But my absolute favorite artist at the moment is the fabulous Butterfly Boucher. This woman writes her own songs and plays all of the instruments. Amazing!

I've heard about five songs from her album Flutterby, and they are all hits, in my opinion. I don't write about music v. well, I just know what I like, so you'd be better off reading how other people describe it. But some of the songs are upbeat and fun, and some are v. haunting.

My favorite song by her at the moment is "Never Leave Your Heart Alone." There's a point in the song where her voice gives me chills. Obviously, this song is not one of the upbeat ones!

"And it's open
For distraction
You found all the words you need
Well I found nothing
I just grumble
'cause I don't know what I feel

The moral to the story goes
Never leave your heart
Never leave your heart...alone

Run for shelter
An umbrella
Fights the rain but not the wind
And I'd be silly
To start preaching
'cause I don't know which point to make!

The moral to the story goes
Never leave your heart
In a box
Locked up
With cold cold ice
Never leave your heart
...Never leave your heart...alone

Am I frozen?
But it's summer!
Is that rain or is that me?
Yes I'm melting
Please be happy
One day soon
We might just swim

The moral to the story goes
Never leave your heart
In a box
Locked up with cold cold ice
Never leave your heart
...Never leave your heart
...Never leave your heart alone"

--Butterfly Boucher, "Never Leave Your Heart Alone"

Sharks and Our Flat World.

I have always been fascinated by marine life. For some reason, I just feel very drawn to and connected with water [even though the only water I've ever seen in person (basically) is Lake Erie!]. I used to want to be a marine biologist, actually. Still do, really.

Anyway! So lately I've been watching a lot of marine life shows on the Discovery Channel. Last week was Shark Week.

I watched a lot of fascinating shows. Great White Sharks are so amazing! There were numerous shots of them flinging their entire body out of the water and into the air as they went after seals and turtles (sad!). They're a huge animal, so to be able to do that? Wow.

And sharks aren't predators to humans. It's not part of their evolution to think of us as food. When people are bitten, most of the time it's because sharks think we're seals. Sharks are close to humans in the water all the time (without us knowing) and don't attack us. In one of the shows, there was footage of a man in a helicopter spying a couple of huge Great Whites in the water--and if they looked huge from the air...--and then noting how fifty feet away was a beach full of people (and noting that he sees this all the time).

Then I watched a new special on giant squids. Did you know more people have walked on the moon than have dived more than five miles in the ocean? The ocean is so mysterious and beautiful.

Anyway, a giant squid has never been filmed alive. A Japanese scientist and his friends created this camera that could go deep in the ocean and automatically snap photos every thirty seconds. After several tries and misses with it, they got about 400 photos of a giant squid. They were still photographs, but the show put them together in sequence and showed it like a slide-show. Magical!

Can you imagine how these scientists must feel? What a breakthrough. But it's still not as good as a film of them would be!

And just like in the myths, sperm whales and giant squids do fight! Squids are what the sperm whales eat, and the whales have scars from fights with them. Crazy!

I borrowed The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou from the library so I can see pretty (and fake) sea animals.

Do you know what else you can borrow from the library? CDs. Awesome! I borrowed Nina Simone's Remembering and Ani DiFranco's Knuckle Down. And what do you think I'm going to do with them?

I've started to read The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman, which is not exactly what I thought it was about. I'm freaked out, though. Did you know some accounting firms outsource our tax returns to people in India? And that this practice will probably be the norm in a decade? And that some hospitals outsource the reading of our CAT scans to people in India and Australia? Um. Not cool. All this after only reading about twenty pages? Ack.

P.S. I hate my slow-ass Internet connection. I've been trying to download something for several days now, and it ain't happening. Every time I get up to 70-90% done, the Internet conks out and I have to start all over! Gah.

ETA: Yea! I finally got it downloaded. *does a little dance*

Moving.

Hey, kids.

From now on, I will be posting to this livejournal blog: iWoman.

I have moved all of my entries here over to there.

I've had a livejournal in the past. They are much more user-friendly. On blogger you can, what, only type entries!

On livejournal, you can have user icons. You can respond directly to someone's comment, and the person will receive notification that you replied (if they also have an lj). You can have tags like "politics" and "books." People can click on the tags they want and only read blog entries that relate to those topics. You can put things in your memories, so you have easy access to your favorite posts (by you and other people).

You can easily friend people and communities! That way you can read all of the blogs you are interested in on one page, instead of having to click each person's individual blog.

LJ is much more about interaction. You can type in interests and find communities and people that like the same things as you.

I will still have my blogger, but I will not update it. I'm only keeping it so I can respond to my friends' blog entries here. But the cool people have lj.

Delete.

How pissed am I over Bush's stem cell bill veto?

Don't Save Screech's House.

...sometimes people MIND-BOGGLE me.

Remember Saved by the Bell and Screech? Well, now Screech a.k.a., the "comedian" and "actor" Dustin Diamond, wants us to pay $15 for a dumb-ass t-shirt so he can SAVE HIS HOUSE, a.k.a. MANSION.

I was watching The View (yes, really) and Dustin Diamond seriously came on the show and was all, "woe is me, help me save my house because I'm BROKE, blahblahblah." What, and the rest of us WORKING CLASS aren't broke? Why don't you just buy a house you can AFFORD like the rest of us?

For the basic story, read the article (and the scathing comments) here. Or you can read his boo-hoo side at his website (I feel dirty even linking there).

At first I was, like, what the hell? Then, for a moment, I pitied him (because he and his girlfriend lost their only child last year). Now I'm the point of, whoah! The nerve of celebrities, you know? They feel so entitled. They SCREW UP, and want us, the little people, to bail them out. The part that really burns me is how he tries to play it like HE'S the little guy getting screwed over. Um, no, you're not, guy. You got in over your head and now want to act like it's everyone else's fault.

I love this part: "'Let's face it, if he can't find the time to work on a mortgage for a famous celebrity, how will he handle the average person?'"

ENTITLEMENT.

I DON'T FEEL SORRY FOR YOU, DUSTIN DIAMOND.

The man has no pride. I mean, how embarrassing to come on national TV and BEG like a dog in a manger.

If his "situation" happened to us "normal" people, we'd be screwed. No one would bail us out. And he should be no different, because if you buy his t-shirt, don't delude yourself into thinking he cares one bit about you or would help you out of a pinch. That's the part to remember, if you start to feel sorry for or empathetic with him. One moment he's saying he's just like us; the next moment he wants to use his celebrity. I'm not buying. You have problems just like us? Then deal with them just like us. Not making any money being a stand-up comedian? Then realize YOU AREN'T FUNNY and move on. Also? Dustin Diamond doesn't get to label his OWN t-shirts "potential cult-classics." He doesn't get to be the determiner of that.

Ah, I love the smell of righteous indignation in the morning. Next thing you know, Urkel will want help paying for his yacht!

But, seriously now, kids. What a CLIFFHANGER!!! I hate those. I am biting my nails over here! Will we have to wait until next season to find out if ZACK saves the day for Screech again? Will Screech hear a lecture from Mr. Belding about the importance of saving money? Will Lisa Turtle finally go with him to the spring dance?!? Tune in next week (or year?!?), on Saved by the Bell Screech's House.

And Christ! Could people just GET OVER IT and let gay people marry ALREADY?

iTune: Get Set Go--"Wait"
iMood: aggravated

My Webcam Obsession.

During the school year, I was obsessed with watching a webcam of Pete's Pond in Africa, through National Geographic. I'd watch for elephants, zebras, crocodiles, etc. to come to the pond. It was so exciting! I know it's basically just like watching any wildlife show, but it was real time. The webcam was taken off for the rainy season, and I could no longer watch it. : (

But now National Geographic has a webcam that allows you to watch grizzly bears come to a pond in Alaska! Awesome. I haven't seen any bears yet, though. : (

There are tons of animal webcams out there. Panda bears are on the cover of National Geographic this month--so cute!--and you can watch panda beasr, cheetas, gorillas, kiwis, TIGERS, etc. webcams at the National Zoo's website. Baby tigers! I want to squeeze them.

iTunes: Sophie Milman--"Back Home to Me"
iMood: anxious

Summer Reading.

Latest novel read: The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank.

The type of women who read chick-lit can relate to chick-lit, and that's why the genre is so enjoyable and popular--because there's a lot of us singletons! Although people outside the genre might think it's "silly," it's really not. Or if if it is, then I guess most Western women's lives are silly. Sometimes women need to read about people who can be them or their friends and also realize that they aren't the only ones who experience the ordinary kinds of embarrassments, failures, and heartbreaks. We can't all be Scarlett O'Hara and Jane Eyre.

Portions of The Girls' Guide made me smile--amusedly or ruefully--because I understood how the narrator felt or I've been there. The Girls' Guide isn't the most successful chick-lit out there, for me, but it's mostly enjoyable. My main problem is that two chapters threw me completely out of the novel. Most of the book is a first-person POV of the character Jane. But then there is one chapter from the first-person POV of a character who has had no presence--or even a mention--in the novel at that point, and then she--and all of the strangers she brought with her--just disappear for the rest of the novel. I was left thinking, "what just happened here?" Another chapter is a second-person POV, which I dislike anyway, that is completely random and, again, "wtf?"

Also, Jane doesn't end up with the man I prefer! Urgh! And the synopsis on the book-flap is pretty much not-at-all what the book is about!

But I think it has a good "lesson" for women. Women are always told we have to follow certain "rules" of dating, even in modern times! Jane went her own way for most of her adult life, but then she got discouraged about dating, like we all do, and started to buy into "the rules." But eventually she realizes, hello!, men prefer her just the way she is, without those silly high school games.

So, yeah, it's enjoyable, but not recommendable. Go read Bridget Jones's Diary be Helen Fielding instead.

Three latest Oprah's Book Club books read: The Meanest Thing to Say, The Best Way to Play, and The Treasure Hunt by Bill Cosby.

Um. I still can't quite figure out why these books are on an adult's reading list. I guess they would be good for parents to read to their children, because they do offer up some alternate solutions to dealing with problems, such as bullies.

Latest memoir read (that is also part of Oprah’s Book Club): Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir. If this book were fiction, everyone would say it’s so unbelievable! But it’s a true story, and once again truth is stranger than fiction.

Stolen Lives is a memoir of Malika Oufkir, who was adopted by the King of Morocco when she was a young girl—not because her parents were dead or because they wanted her to be adopted, but because the king wanted his daughter to grow up with Malika. The king dies and his son takes the throne and raises Malika. When she is nineteen, her real father (Malika has been living with her real parents for several years at this point) tries to stage a coup de taut and assassinate the king. The attempt fails. Malika’s father is executed for this offense, and Malika, her mother, five siblings, and two servants are then put in prison for twenty years. One of her brothers was only three-years-old at the time of their imprisonment.

This memoir has a lot of promise, but I don’t think it lives up to it. The writing is merely decent. Background isn’t given, details are inconsistent, etc.

Also? As a girl, Malika was a spoiled brat (having lots of things isn’t what makes her spoiled, it’s her attitude) and she continues to be incredibly self-absorbed as a prisoner and adult, and at times I found her irritating and unsympathetic as a narrator. She barely acknowledges the sacrifice of two faithful servants who volunteered to go into exile with the family. She also barely comments on how the rest of the family cope and feel about their imprisonment—or what happens to them when they are finally released. I think two are mentioned to have had children, but that’s it.

And she’s so vain. During their imprisonment, she comments about how one of her sisters is “letting herself go” in terms of looks (in this case, meaning she’s getting fat), and they give this girl a nickname that has to do with fatness. They barely receive any food during their imprisonment, scraps that they have to divide between nine people, and Malika makes this sister go on a diet! Isn’t that outrageous? I v. much doubt that this sister was in any way overweight.

I also found her blasé attitude toward suicide troubling. I’m not talking about the various suicide attempts of the family during their imprisonment. I’m talking about how as an eight-year-old (and later again at fourteen), pampered little princess, Malika tried to kill herself. An eight-year-old shouldn’t even know what suicide is, let alone attempt it!

Ugh. So, yes, while Malika went through a horrible ideal and is admirable for surviving it (and so are the rest of the prisoners, which she tends to forget), I don’t like her as a person all that much.

iTune: Yo-Yo Ma--"Unaccompanied Cello Suite No. 1 in G Major, BWV 1007: I. Prélude"
iMood: tired

...

Denny Crane.

Summer Reading.

Finished another book! I've read more books recently than I ever have before.

Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay

I think a lot of women fear having the in-laws in this book! I would say the author of this book is v. skillful at creating stifling and oppressive atmospheres and characters, but so much so that I was irritable while reading it and never want the book mentioned to me again! I think it ends...hopeful, though, even though there's not much of a resolution. I guess that's why it's a hopeful--not happy--ending. While it takes place during the early 70s, the plot, of a woman feeling trapped and having to struggle to break free, can certainly be relatable today.

Well, I have some paperwork to fill out before my interview Thursday, and I have to find somewhere to fax it from, so I best get on it.

Another Finished Book!

I finished another Oprah's Book Club book: River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke.

I thought it was kind of boring, actually. It's about a young black girl dealing with the drowning of her sister, and is set during a time when there was still legal segregation. I just kept waiting for something to happen. I'm all for character studies normally, but this one. Eh. A whole lot of nothing.

I can't log into my e-mail. I think they must be performing maintenance or something, because I can't log into any of my university stuff, but how annoying! I have important e-mails to read, people.

Grey's Anatomy and Mystery! with Miss Marple are on tonight. Woohoo!

In case you were wondering, I did buy my "Pretty Pink" dinnerware. So cute!

Ack!

I have my first interview on Thursday! Ack. Actually, I'm not sure if it's an interview or just the assesment test I have to do that day. Either way, ack!

I've never really driven much to anywhere, so yesterday the parents and I got directions from Map Quest and took a test drive over there...My dad drove. We were in the car for, seriously, about five hours! Because we drove there one way, then drove back another, and my mom thought the way back seemed easier, so we drove to the place from the way we went home, then we had to drive back again. Urgh! Too much time in the car.

So I have to drive there on Thursday, and my mom has decided to come with me. Because she's paranoid like that. Can you even imagine the two of us trying to drive to Cleveland! I told her she better not even stress me out while I'm trying to drive, she harasses me even on a drive to town!, because I will be stressed out enough with having to take an exam. I thought I was done with those!

I've been bringing the Brat inside of the house a lot lately. Have I mentioned this? Oh, he's driving me insane. He keeps wanting to go to the very places he knows he's not allowed to be, such as upstairs and in my parents' bedroom. He hasn't gone to the bathroom while inside yet, so that's a good thing. The only time he behaves is if he's sleeping, I swear. This morning he left me a present of a dead mole on the porch, so that was lovely.

_In Cold Blood_ by Truman Capote.

After months of being on a wait-list, I was finally able to check out and read In Cold Blood by Truman Capote.

I'm not sure I can respond to this book objectively, since, like detective mysteries, true crimes are not typically "my thing." But I would recommend this book simply because Truman created a new genre when he wrote it, that of a nonfiction novel. There must have been something that gripped me, though, because I read it within two days and it's about 350 pages long. I'm sure it's the best written, researched, and detailed true crime novel. Truman is a brilliant writer. There's something suspensful about it, even though you know what happens right off. You are drawn into everyone's lives, like you know the people (the victims, the townspeople, etc). Even the murderers are human and not just charictures of evil. We are inside their minds.

Although, I don't have much use for them. Bad childhood blahblahblah. Lots of people have bad childhoods and don't grow up to be cold blooded murderers--and isn't that the rub? That the killers even admit that this family had never done anything to them, that they even seemed like decent people?

Don't read that as an indication of Capote making excuses for them; he doesn't. Capote's bias, if he had one, is invisible. It's not...sensational in any way. It's v. straight forward, here's what happened.

But mostly I came away with the feeling of how...I don't know. I felt depressed. An entire family was murdered for no reason, two children, and these senseless killings happen every day. Every day. I've heard that the two movies about the book kind of ignore the Clutter family (the victims) but Capote presents a vivid picture of them in the book, and it's hard not to picture the girl Nancy baking pies with a friend on the day of her murder and not feel hopeless about the world.

This book would be good to read in a book club, to see what kind of discussions arise. It would be interesting to see how people feel about the killers and about responsibility. Because while Smith actually pulled the trigger, he is, for many people, the more sympathetic of the two, and so many people feel Hickock is actually more responsible for the murders. I'm not saying whether or not I agree with that feeling, but to see how that seemingly crazy kind of reasoning can develop, read the book. ; ) ...okay, I do admit that, even for me, Smith was more sympathetic, but I'm not sorry both of them hanged.

I haven't seen the movie Capote, and I don't have any real desire to. I don't care for Philip Seymour Hoffman, and I think that voice would grate on my nerves fast. The movie is supposed to follow his writing of In Cold Blood, but it's not actually all that accurate. For one thing, Capote became close with Perry Smith, one of the murderers, during his research, and while Capote was present at Hickock's hanging, he couldn't bear to watch Smith's and left the scene before it happened. (This occurrence is not detailed in the book, however. Capote does not make himself present in the book, except for in one instance you know it's him when he refers to a journalist that meets with both Smith and Hickok in their cells.) In the movie, though, he stays for Smith's execution. I don't know how it's played out in the movie, but even with changing that detail, you change Capote's character, because him leaving the scene is actually v. telling. (Now I am to understand that, in the movie, Capote is "broken" after watching Smith's execution and people are led to believe he never wrote again? Well, he did.)

Hmm. I love this novel more after reading it than I did while reading it. I don't think you can truly appreciate it until you set it down and step away.

Job News.

Eek. While the Brother and I were in town, a place I had applied at actually called me back! There's a first. Unfortunately, I'm not exactly sure who it was. My dad had answered the phone and just took the lady's name and number. Urgh. He thinks it was an editing position. If so, I think I know which one he means, but even I couldn't tell you the name of the place, because it's something weird. But if it is that place, then it's the place that requires knowledge of computer software that I, uh, have never used before or even heard of. So negative points for me. Anyway. I'll call whoever it is tomorrow. I hope I don't have to do the interview (I hope there will be an interview, anyway!) right then because whoah, I'm so unprepared.

I just sent out a resume to someplace else, too. Blahblahblah.

Turtle Icon of the Day:

Literature Online.

If you can't find a novel at the library, you can read literature online at different websites. Obviously these websites mostly house classics, not modern novels. But the classics are better anyway! But how cool! Sometimes libraries don't have the lesser works of authors, so these sites are useful.

Some of my favorite online literature sites:

Bartleby (Contains literature, reference, and verse! You can spend days there!)
The Literature Network
Literature.org

Other sites:

Bibliomania
Project Gutenberg
Read Book Online

Books Read, 2005.

For my own edification, a listing of all of the books I read in 2005.

# = recommended

Fiction

Home Away From Home by Lorna J. Cook
# The Bright Forever by Lee Martin
One Thousand White Women: The Journals of May Dodd by Jim Fergus
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Heart is a Lonely Hunter by Carson McCullers
The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
# Sula by Toni Morrison (discussed here)
# Midwives: A Novel by Chris Bohjalian
# The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini (discussed here)
# Life of Pi by Yann Martel
# The Myth of You and Me by Leah Stewart
# "Brokeback Mountain" by E. Annie Proulx (discussed here and here)

Nonfiction

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid
Essentials of Corporate Finance by Stephen A. Ross, Randolph W Westerfield, Bradford D Jordan, and Bradford Jordan
Managerial Accounting, 11th Edition by Ray H Garrison, Eric Noreen, and Peter C. Brewer

Books Read, 2006.

For my own edification, a listing of all of the books I've read this year. Hopefully updated regularly!

# = recommended

Fiction
# The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath (discussed here)
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Mark Haddon (discussed here)
The Treasure Hunt by Bill Cosby (discussed here)
The Best Way to Play by Bill Cosby (discussed here)
The Meanest Thing to Say by Bill Cosby (discussed here)
The Girls' Guide to Hunting and Fishing by Melissa Bank (discussed here)
Vinegar Hill by A. Manette Ansay (discussed here)
River, Cross My Heart by Breena Clarke (discussed here)
Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts (discussed here)
Digging to America by Anne Tyler (discussed here)
Pepper Pike by Les Roberts (discussed here)
What Looks Like Crazy on an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage (discussed here)
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See (discussed here)
# Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd (discussed here)
A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton (discussed here)
The Pilot's Wife by Anita Shreve (discussed here)
Drowning Ruth by Christina Schwarz (discussed here)
Taming of the Shrew by William Shakespeare
The Giver by Lois Lowry
# To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
# The Things They Carried by Tim O'Brien (discussed here)
# Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien
Superfudge by Judy Blume
Tunnel in the Sky by Robert A. Heinlein
1984 by George Orwell
Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
# Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
The Cay by Theodore Taylor
# Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
# Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Paterson
Charlotte's Web by E.B. White
Tunes for Bears to Dance To by Robert Cormier
The Princess Bride by William Goldman

Nonfiction

# The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls (discussed here)
Stolen Lives: Twenty Years in a Desert Jail by Malika Oufkir (discussed here)
# In Cold Blood by Truman Capote (discussed here)
Night by Elie Wiesel (discussed here)
# Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner (discussed here)
# Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell (discussed here)

Entertainment.

Yesterday I beat The Lion King for SNES and finished the novel Where the Heart Is by Billie Letts. That novel was weird. I have nothing else to write about it.

I have three new favorite shows lately, but two of them haven't been on lately because of basketball, boo: Grey's Anatomy, Boston Legal, and House, M.D..

It's weird because I usually hate medical shows, and two of these shows are about doctors. But all of them are so smartly written (with awesome soundtracks, which is v. important!) and funny that I got over it. Also House is kind of different in that it's about diagnostics and not surgery, which is interesting.

An exchange from last night's (repeat, but I had never seen it) episode of House:

Dr. Gregory House: "You bastard. You invited my parents to dinner."
Dr. Wilson: "Geez, Cameron's got a big mouth."
Dr. Gregory House: "Ha! Not as big as yours."
Dr. Wilson: "Hey, you used me to avoid seeing your parents."
Dr. Gregory House: "Well, what do you care?"
Dr. Wilson: "I don't. I just thought it might be interesting to find out why."
Dr. Gregory House: "You could have just asked."
Dr. Wilson: "You would have lied."
Dr. Gregory House: "And you would have believed me. Which would have kept us both happy. Do you want your money back, is that what this is about?"
Dr. Wilson: "No! Wait, what? Have you got the money?"
[House starts to write check]
Dr. Wilson: "If you have the money, then why did you need the loan?"
Dr. Gregory House: "I didn't. I just wanted to see if you'd give it to me. I've been borrowing increasing amounts ever since you lent me forty dollars a year ago. A little experiment to see where you'd draw the line."
Dr. Wilson: "You're - you're trying to objectively measure how much I value our friendship?"
Dr. Gregory House: "That's five grand, you've got nothing to be ashamed of. So what do you say, one little phone call, one big check?"
Dr. Wilson: "Fine."
[takes check]
Dr. Wilson: "Thanks."
[gets in car]
Dr. Wilson: "Now, be a grownup and either tell mommy and daddy you don't want to see them or I'm picking you up at 7:00 for dinner."
Dr. Gregory House: "What do you mean? You just said... "
Dr. Wilson: "I lied. I've been lying to you in increasing amounts ever since I told you you look good unshaved a year ago. It's a little experiment, you know, to see where you'd draw the line."

Hilarious.

Another one of my favorite shows, Monk, starts in July. But eh. Last season wasn't all that fabulous, so I'm not as excited as I usually would be. Monk's been going down hill since they replaced the character Sharona with annoying Natalie. Also they've been making Monk so dumb when he's not. He's just obsessive compulsive.

Summer Reading / Brat's Antics / Music.

I recently finished the novel Digging to America by Anne Tyler. Two different American families, one Caucasian and one Iranian, both arrive at an airport the same day to pick up their adopted Korean babies. The families become linked after that, and the novel follows their interactions through the years.

Interesting concept, but I never felt connected to any of the characters, which obviously killed some of my enjoyment of the book. None of them ever seemed to embody a definitive personality, because the narrative jumped around so much.

***

The Brat left me a little present on the porch again. This time it was a dead frog. Lovely. Last night he jumped up on the bird feeder--which is taller than I am! I was not amused and told him to get his ass down from there. Then he climbed a tree and tried to get to a bird's nest. Then he attacked the black & white cat, then he etc., etc., etc. Lord save us from terrorist kittens.

***

When will my diploma come?!?!

***

The template I want finally works! On my computer, anyway. I'll have to check it out on the Brother's, because that was the one I had problems with.

One thing I dislike about Blogger is that there's no option to include "Current Music" or "Current Mood." I'll just have to include it on my own.

iTune: Tegan and Sara--"I Won't Be Left"
iMood: bored

***

"I won't mistake you for problems with me
I won't let my moods ruin this you'll see
I won't take everything good and move it away
I won't be left dancing along to songs from the past
Would you stay home and keep our memories warm with me
Would you give all your love for a run at the past with me
I know you're sad even though you say that you're not
I know you're scared even though you say that you're not
I won't get mad when you say things are getting too hard
I won't make all of your love so scared to come through our yard
I won't scream in my head and let it isolate me
I won't be left dancing alone to songs from the past"

--Tegan and Sara, "I Won't Be Left"

One Point for Intolerance.

Huh. I started to write a simple blog entry, responding to an article I read on the Internet, and I must feel more passionate about the issue then I realized, because it turned out to be quite the combative post. And that's why I'm not sharing it with anyone, because I wouldn't have the patience for anyone who disagreed with me (not that I know if anyone would). But it's one of those rare times that I feel like, if you disagree, you're an ignorant moron (yes, bad, I know). The more I would get upset about it in comments to people who felt otherwise, the more incoherent I would get, and so anyone who disagreed with me would feel like they "won."

I'm only sharing this story, because it's just interesting how simple things affect us. Like, why do we care so much about things that are mostly just theory, that don't even actually affect anyone all that much? Like, if you like the Steelers and I like the Browns, why should I feel like punching you in your smug face, when it doesn't really matter which football team you like, in the grand scheme of things? (And the issue was something political, not this silly thing! But no so silly to some people.)

Remembering.

I can make you believe any lie. I can make you pick a fight with somebody twice your size.

I been known to cause a few break ups...I can make you new friends or I can make you say bad words...

helping white people dance! I got you in trouble in high school. But college! Now that was a ball. You had some of the best times you'll never remember with me...

I got blamed at your wedding reception for your best man's embarrassing speech. And also for those naked pictures of you at the beach...

Zelda.

So I just beat Zelda on SNES.

Damn, I'm good.

I'm a bit miffed, though. It doesn't save that you beat the game! I was hoping after I beat it, I could wander around the world and the townspeople would be like, "you rock, man!" Or at least my "character" would be marked on the main screen as having completed the game 100%.

But no! After I beat the game, it went through this spiel and says "The End," and I had to reset. And when I went to play the game with my character again, to see if anything had changed, it sent me to beat the final boss again.

Asshats.

Also? The Brat has been impossible lately.

AFI's 100 Most Inspirational Films.

Last night I watched the television show about the American Film Institute's list of 100 inspirational films

The top five:

1. It's a Wonderful Life
2. To Kill a Mockingbird
3. Schindler's List
4. Rocky
5. Mr. Smith Goes to Washington

All movies that I love, except for Schindler's List, which I saw too young to really remember (and possibly understand?), but the clip they showed for it was...I don't know what word to use. It's the scene with Schindler so upset, thinking he could have saved more.

I watched To Kill a Mockingbird again the other day. That movie--and the book--is so spectacular. Wasn't Atticus Finch voted the greatest American hero somewhere? Because he so is.

Sidney Poitier was the actor who appeared in the most movies on the list, with five (In the Heat of the Night, Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, Lilies of the Field, The Defiant Ones, and Raisin in the Sun).

Why doesn't he act anymore? He was good. I always wanted to see In the Heat of the Night and haven't yet. (Actually, the show pointed out that Poitier was in the most, but Gary Cooper was also in five of the movies on the list.)

Pretty Pretty.

Um. I just bought this ring. Whoops?

(pictured removed because it's huge)

4.00 carats cushion cut smoky quartz sterling filigree ring. Whew. This baby could take someone's eye out. I love, love, love it.

Icons.

At one of my old blogs, I was able to upload a bunch of icons to use with my posts. Blogger doesn't have that feature. We just get one icon. :( But here are some icons that I used, because maybe I'll just do the coding myself and occassionally stick one in a post! You may notice that all of the "titles" I gave the pictures are from songs (except the first and last ones). I used to have more Vivien Leigh ones, but I think they're lost. More turtles, too, come to think of it. : ( Animal photos are from Getty Images.


Turtle Island


Into the Blue


Such Great Heights


Learning to Fly


We're Going to Be Friends


Don't Panic


Can't Smile Without You


Case of You / Take My Breath Away


Building a Mystery


Fool of Me / Me, Myself, and I


You're Not Entitled to Your Opinion

Latest Book, Black Squirrels, and Etc.

Bopbopbop.

((le soja)) loaned me Pepper Pike by Les Roberts to read. I'm not generally a detective-mystery fan, but this series is unique in that it takes place in Cleveland--and how. There are so many details about Cleveland, so much Cleveland "mind set," that I had to enjoy the book. If it hadn't been placed in Cleveland, I'm not sure that I'd bother reading anymore in the series--not because it wasn't well written, but because I'm just not a fan of the detective novel style, generally. Anyone homesick for Cleveland should def. read it, too--just remember that the series was started in the late '80s!

And, oh, The Absurd Pickle Jar asked about my black squirrel photos. I was studying outside last spring at my college, and I see a little baby black squirrel coming down from the tree. I start making baby talk at it--it's so cute--and it suddenly comes running toward me! I was a bit freaked out, actually. I thought it'd bite me or something. But no. It sat on my blanket, and I tentatively touched its tail. And when it didn't attack me, I pet it. And it wanted to lay in my lap and cuddle by me--seriously. It actually fell asleep on my Management book--it found it as boring as I did--so I just covered it with a page and kept on studying.

The Absurd Pickle Jar is posting novel fragments on his blog. Possibly his productivity will inspire me to start working on my "fragments," too! No other job is coming along--might as well be a failed novelist, too! ; )

Fun (and sad) Things.

Ahahahahaha.

If you get the Plain Dealer, open to the back page of the PDQ section and look at the bottom cartoon and its captions.

!!!

I was shocked when I saw they had selected mine. I just sent it in as a joke last Sunday, and I had completely forgotten it until I read the newspaper this morning.

If you don't get the newspaper, here's the cartoon at the website, but the winning entries aren't up yet.

My caption:

"Dracula had no way of knowing if he looked hot for his big date."

I bought three SNES games yesterday: Legend of Zelda, The Lion King, and Toy Story. V. fun. Well, Zelda is. I haven't played the other two yet.

...

The Brat killed one of the baby bluejays this morning. : (

Nature.

I was bird watching this morning, and I noticed that two bluejays were acting weird. I can't describe why I thought they were acting weird; it was instinct on my part. I got out the binoculars, and what did I spy hopping around the base of a tree but two fat little baby bluejays! They were adorable. (The Brat was with me own the porch, so I had to make sure he didn't notice them. I think the parents would have pecked him to death, though.) I don't know if they fell out of the nest or if the parents decided it was time for them to fly or what. I was v. concerned about the little babies. The kept hopping up the trunk of the trees and flying off--but they only could fly a few feet. And then one went in the ditch. Oy vey. The parents were looking out for them--they attacked any bird that went near the trees they were around, etc. Bluejays in general are mean little things. I had to go get ready inside to leave, and when I came back out, the little babies weren't in the yard (or ditch!) anymore, so I am assuming (and hoping) they made it back up the tree.

And shit. I was looking at templates the other day, and checking them out on my blog, and I swear I didn't "save changes," but for some reason my blog-look has changed, and all my sidebar info and links are gone! Aah! And I still can't get the one I want to work.

And oh--the other day when we were finding out info about renting a pontoon boat at Pymatuning Valley? Guess who rented one for the day, and were just pushing offshore? A family of Amish! On a pontoon boat! Who would ever think you'd see that? It was quite the picture.

Idiot Book.

I finished another book in Oprah's Book Club: What Looks Like Crazy On an Ordinary Day by Pearl Cleage.

Um. Yeah.

This book made me angry, actually, with it's (im)moral reasoning. It's about a black woman with AIDS (and there's no indication of that from the summary on the back or the cutesy, bright colored cover, so I wasn't expecting it!), and she falls in love with this ex-crack dealer/muscle man (she's actually a v. successful woman, we aren't supposed to get the impression that she's from "the streets," etc.). He went to prison for 10 years for killing two people (although it's implied he's killed more, but he was only caught for the two), and the book seriously makes it out like we aren't supposed to care that he's a murderer--like we are so judgmental if we don't want her to get involved with him--or even question whether she should--that's the big problem I have. That we aren't even supposed to care that he's killed people.

A passage (emphasis mine):

"Listen, little sister," Joyce said, shifting Imani to a more comfortable position and sighing like she couldn't understand what was the problem. "Ain't none of us sixteen years old anymore. We've done some good stuff and some bad stuff, but it's all our stuff at this point. I figure the best we can do for each other is try to understand and move on the best we can."

"I never killed anybody, Joyce."

"That makes you perfect?"

I hesitated. She had me there.

WTF crazy reasoning! She does not have you there! There's a big difference between killing people and being perfect, thank you v. much.

Look, it's not that I don't think criminals can be reformed or whatever, it's that this book says we aren't even supposed to be concerned a little bit, we're not supposed to have a moment of doubt whether she should be with him--we're supposed to just immediately accept and not care that he's killed people! And it'd be one thing if he completely reformed, but later in the book, he's prepared to so casually "take care of it," meaning kill some punk kid for the women--who is a troublemaker, but hasn't necessarily hurt or killed anyone.

I don't know. I just don't like that this book is so preachy--like if you are a bit leery of a convicted murderer, you're the one with the problem. I don't think so. Ending someone's life (multiple someone's) isn't on the same level as getting busted for drugs when you were a teenager, or even stealing a car or etc.! Yes, he's "paid his debt to society," but there's something inside of people that will allow them to murder someone--and he's shown that it's still inside of him, because he's willing to kill again--and v. cold bloodly, too. Fall in love and marry him, okay, I believe he's decent, too, and am glad for her at the end, but don't act like it wasn't a problem she had to think about, or that murdering someone is perfectly acceptable behavior, especially if it happened when he was young (which it didn't, actually), when it's okay to completely wipe the past.

:(

...and the hopeless job search continues.

Garage Sales!

The parents and I went garage saling today, one of my favorite things to do. We stopped at 21 of them. Yes, 21. I think I got some good deals!

What I bought (I'm not v. good at descriptions, so bear with me.):

$2.00: One of those square cloth purses, usually you see them with Asian designs? Mine has a design of turquoise-colored flowers. Good for if you don't want to lug around a purse, like if you're at an amusement park or something.

$1.00: A flower, silvertone bracelet from Avon. Adorable.

$1.00: A ceramic elephant, a little less than a foot in height and length. V. cute decoration. The color of it reminds me of mint chocolate chip ice cream.

$1.25: Funny Face DVD (starring Audrey Hepburn). New! With lots of special features. What a deal!

$.50: Wooden cat figurine.

$.50: Old-fashioned fabric, stuffed cat.

$.50: Set of Christmas dish towel, kitchen towel, and pot holder.

$1.00: What-used-to-be a 12-setting silverware set, now has about 11-each of two different kinds of forks, two different kinds of spoons, butterknives, and two serving spoons, serving fork, one of those little butterknives, etc. In good condition, just needs cleaned. Yes, $1.00. Now I feel less guilty about the $50 dinnerware set I plan to buy, since I got a silverware set for $1.00. Yeah, I won't be using them my entire life, but they'll last until I (hopefully) have a bridal shower.

I think that's everything. The parents found some deals, too.

We also went over to Pymatuning Lake, to check out the prices for boat rentals. Some time soon we're renting a pontoon boat for a couple of hours, and then have a picnic.

And I'm irritated at Blogger. I want to change the look of my blog, the format, but the one I want to change it to isn't working right! Argh.

The Brat & His Antics.

For two days in a row, the Brat has left me little presents on the porch.

Dead birds.

I'm not-so-much amused that I will prob. be catching bird flu because of him.

He's such a terror.

Summer Reading.

I've read three more books! Yes, that's pretty much all I do.

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See
I love books about different cultures (esp. books in which someone enters a culture different than their own, but that's not this book), so this is a pleasurable read. It's interesting to learn about the secret language the Chinese females developed. And, yeah, miscommunication sucks (how eloquently put!) ** 1/2

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd
This book is fabulous. The language is so beautiful, as are the descriptions. You can vividly picture South Carolina and the three black bee keeper sisters in their pink house. This book made me remember that the world and life can't be just randomness and science (and how sad for you if you think so)--but I wouldn't say that was the book's intention, maybe I just picked it up on my own, although it could have been. I'd recommend this book to people, for sure. It's weird because I tried to read Kidd's The Mermaid Chair, and didn't like it, so I thought I wouldn't enjoy this one. I'll have to give The Mermaid Chair another chance. *** 1/2

A Map of the World by Jane Hamilton
I started this book last summer and abandoned it. I do that sometimes, and it's no reflection on the quality of the book, because this one was enjoyable enough. It's an Oprah book. I've noticed that Oprah's Book Club books must contain at least one of these things: cheating husband, child molestation (or at least an accusation of), rape, questionable death, or incest. This book has three of those things. **

Dixie Chicks.

Remember in 2003 when the Dixie Chicks made some remark about Bush, and some country music fans freaked out, and stations actually banned Dixie Chicks' songs?

They have a new song, "Not Ready to Make Nice," which I love. Of course, there's a big to-do going on. And I just read a quote by some radio station person that made me laugh my ass off.

A person's excuse for not wanting to play the new song (from this article): "'But what concerns me about this song is it's backward thinking,' he added."

The Dixie Chicks are "backward thinking"? Oh, you so funny.

"I made my bed, and I sleep like a baby,
With no regrets and I don't mind saying,
It's a sad sad story
That a mother will teach her daughter
that she ought to hate a perfect stranger.
And how in the world
Can the words that I said
Send somebody so over the edge
That they'd write me a letter
Saying that I better shut up and sing
Or my life will be over

I'm not ready to make nice,
I'm not ready to back down,
I'm still mad as hell
And I don't have time
To go round and round and round
It's too late to make it right
I probably wouldn't if I could
Cause I'm mad as hell
Can't bring myself to do what it is
You think I should"

--Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice"