Honest to Blog?

Here's a new deal I cooked up...

FROM THE BLOGS

News: Sam's Club, Costco limit rice purchases as prices rise
I saw this on the Today show this morning, too. Apparently we are so busy using grain for fuel that we kind of forgot it's for eating, too. And now people are paying the price!

Entertainment: Aliens in America's Raja Joins Nip/Tuck
I just love that they are already planning the next season of Nip/Tuck. Even though it's not coming until this fall, I am already waiting in anticipation. Plus who doesn't love a Doogie Howser-type?

Images: This Says It All

Life: I Swear This is a Happier Post
Just when I start to whittle down my big pile of books to read, Jen goes and throws another stack of must-reads in front of me. By the way, have I mentioned how much I love the Amazon Marketplace and their $0.01 books? I plan to read 27 hours a day this summer. Right.

Random: I don't getz it.

OH HELL NO!

This might be my last week watching American Idol.

First, they go and eliminate Michael Johns.

WRONG.

Now, America has outdone itself in wrongness. They have eliminated freaking CARLY SMITHSON. On a night when she totally dominated singing "Jesus Christ Superstar"--in a super cute dress at that. EW.com agrees with me.

What is wrong with you America? Do you really think that dreads are hot enough to keep someone in a competition who really truly honestly CANNOT SING? What is your obsession with weird hair? First Sanjaya, now Jason?

GET OVER THE HAIR. This is a singing competition.

Yeah, yeah, knowing me I will be watching next week but if David Cook is ever in the bottom three, I'm done.

Andrew Lloyd Idol

Tonight's American Idol theme is a dream come true for me. Show tunes!

As much as I just love to hear bad karaoke versions of Dolly Parton and Mariah Carey every week, I am super pumped for a night of Broadway's finest with Andrew Lloyd Webber himself! This is going to be great for big voices like David and David, plus maybe Syesha and definitely Carly. I'm just hoping for a little Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat!


UPDATE:
Just as I suspected, the big voices were awesome. Carly totally owned "Jesus Chris, Superstar" and David Cook was a-may-zing singing "Music of the Night." I knew he could sing but MAN can he SING! David Archuleta kinda butchered "Think of Me" with his weird arrangement but sang it beautifully nonetheless. Brooke started over! A-what?! That was crazy. And seriously? Jason Casto sucks. SUCKS! We'll see what happens tomorrow night... I'm thinking Brooke or Jason is out for sure.

Post 200: 2 Conclusions I've Come To

Wahoo this is my 200th post. Pretty crazy.

In celebration of this momentous occasion, I will elaborate on two conclusions I've come to today:

1. Nobody reads this blog. Which is fine. But it's true. One comment in like a month is pretty much proof positive of that fact. So my question is this: if nobody reads your blog, is there any point to writing it? It's kind of like that old inquisition "If a tree falls in the middle of forest, does anyone hear it?"or whatever that saying is. I thought about it and I do this for myself, as a creative outlet, not to impress or even entertain anyone else but me. BUT what's the point of links and pictures and whatnot if I'm the only one looking and clicking?

2. Monday night TV used to suck. Not anymore! I love Samantha Who at 8:30, and then at 9 I can take my choice between High School Confidential (the show about my high school) on WE or The Hills and The Paper on MTV. I pick one to watch and tape the other. Mondays are usually kinda rough so it's nice to hang out and relax and watch some TV. Especially on a night like tonight when I only slept a few hours last night and barely have enough energy to type this out. I also kind of realized that the Writer's Strike was a good thing for me--I'm not sure I would have gotten all my job apps out and done all the lesson planning I needed to do if there were new shows on every night! Nevertheless, I am pumped for Thursday night!

Okay, enough revelations. Gotta get ready to sit and veg. Maybe later I'll write about it and nobody will read it.

Sounds about right!

In My Dreams, Unfortunately

So today Tony was showing me the external hard drive he "made" from his old computer; he took the old hard drive and put it in a case and --ouila--he now has a many-gig homemade external hard drive. I was thinking about buying an external hard drive anyway when I saw Tony's and thought about the old iBook sitting in my closet. Then I came across this "how-to" online and knew I just had to do it. From the sounds of that article, it seemed pretty darn simple.

WRONG. SO VERY WRONG.

Check out this 17-page instruction guide for how to remove a hard drive from a freaking iBook G3. This thing is harder to get into than the Pentagon. Holy crap! I counted and I swear to God you have to remove no fewer than 7,312 screws, plus "pry off" about 10 things and "carefully peel back" many tabs and tapes. Utterly terrifying.

My dreams are now shattered! This dream may be just a few hours old, but it's still a dream, darn it!

I guess I could risk destroying the whole laptop to get the hard drive out... I don't plan on using that laptop again anyway, but it seems just plain wrong to destroy a poor helpless Mac, no matter its age.

However, it would save me like $100 or something like that. I'll have to think about this.

Super Nintendo Back From the Dead

Val is here this weekend for a short visit (yay!) and we're stuck in my apartment for Street Painting (despite it being canceled), so what do we do? Bust out the old Super Nintendo.

I definitely only play when she is here, but it's fun to have someone who equally enjoys the poor graphics, basic game controllers and lack of special features. We're still trying to beat Super Mario World... it's taken us years, but I supposed that has more to do with the fact that we only play every few months than our actual skill level. At least I'd like to think that.

Today we ran into a hold up on Chocolate Island when we beat a level and it sent us on a path right back to the same level. I hate these damn secrets. We tried to figure it out ourselves, but no such luck.


So, what do we do? Being Super Nintendo nerds, we get online and look up secrets. Fortunately, there are millions of other Super Nintendo nerds in the world, so all the secrets are on random message boards and gamer websites.

Hysterical. I never thought I'd Google "Chocolate Island secrets" or "Super Nintendo Chocolate Island," but hey, we do what it takes to beat the game... in four years or less.

Lars = Real Dumb

I watched Lars and the Real Girl today. I had been looking forward to it after the critical acclaim it received.

Honestly? I don't know why this movie got such good reviews. I thought it was kind of boring overall. And not really very funny. It was just ridiculously awkward when he started treating the doll like she was a real person--taking her to the doctor, serving her meals, etc. And when the sister-in-law started playing into it, I pretty much lost interest. Her character seemed so down to earth but I guess she just wanted to do whatever she could to make Lars happy again.

Whatever.

Ryan Gosling did a good job playing the weird, awkward and super bizarre Lars, ticks and all, but it wasn't enough to get many stars from me. I definitely enjoyed watching Juno for the second time a lot more this week. ***

Can't Get Enough

I'm pretty obsessed lately with Panic at the Disco's new CD: Pretty. Odd.

It's actually Pretty. Awesome.

I bought it on iTunes and so got the electronic booklet and two videos, which only makes it all that much more amazing. Many bands sophomore albums are flops, but this one is full of catchy tunes and typical Panic lyrics. Love it.

Enjoy this short "making-of" video:

Television and Movies <3 Books!

How much do I love the TV/movie industry right now? They keep pumping out awesome adaptations of some of my favorite books.

My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult is heading to the big screen soon. The Memory Keeper's Daughter premiered on Lifetime last weekend. Gossip Girl is a breakout show on the CW (not necessarily my favorite books, but entertaining nonetheless). Even Lipstick Jungle was pretty fun overall as a series on NBC (I still say it would have been better without Brooke Shields).

Now another great author is getting her movie and TV dues. Jennifer Weiner, who already had one book adapted into a movie (In Her Shoes--love it!) has Little Earthquakes and The Guy Not Taken in movie development. She also reportedly has now inked a deal with ABC to develop a gal-friendly series.


I can't wait to watch that show and I don't even know what it's about yet!

Not Exactly a Red Hot Press

Last night was the premiere of MTV's The Paper, which I had mentioned before I was just a teensy bit excited for. I'm going to be a high school publications adviser, I can't help it. I'm a sucker for anything high school related; add in journalism and it's all I can do not to squeal with delight.

Unfortunately, The Paper's debut episode wasn't exactly riveting. Stupid me--for some reason I actually thought they would show a little bit more about producing the newspaper. They mentioned ad sales and showed computers with layouts on screen, but not much else. Sure, the episode's main plot point was who would be the next editor-in-chief, but the focus seemed more to be on the cliques within the staff rather than what that job would entail. And is it just me or was it totally bizarre that the adviser was making such an important decision alone, and based solely on a short essay? I digress...

As I should have predicted, so far the show is more about petty high school stuff than how a high school paper is run. Nevertheless, I will be watching it next week and taping it. You never know, I might learn something valuable for next year.

Great commentary/review on Slate.com: The Tracy Flick of Journalism

Journalism Going Down?

Everyone and their brother (including, weirdly enough, Perez Hilton) is reporting on the sudden down turn of the print journalism industry. Apparently layoffs are happening everywhere and nobody's making any money anymore.

It's all the buzz... in the online journalism world at least:
Time Blog
Editor and Publisher

Even the freaking New York Times is getting ready to lay off 100 people!
The Observer

Obviously with the surge of online journalism and sudden popularity of going green, print journalism would inevitably take a hit. But doesn't somebody still have to write the stuff for the Internet? I guess I don't understand--people still want news. Whether you're reading the New York Times in paper copy or headlines sent to your inbox each day, some reporter needs to be there reading it.

What does this mean for my future career? I'm getting ready to start a job teaching students to be journalists right when the industry is apparently failing. It makes me a bit nervous, but when you think about it, do that many high school journalists really pursue journalism as a career? Something to think about I guess--and even more reason to focus on convergence and inclusion of an online journalism format.

Oh Yeah, Redesign

Yeah I forgot to mention that I kind of did a little redesign. I was tired of all those dots. Even though I am obsessed with polka-dots, sometimes they can get to be a bit much, you know?

So I went with simplicity and redid my banner thing. I stuck with my favorites: blue and green. Big shocker there. I'm still not totally happy with it, but it works for now.

I figured I should comment on the fact that I changed the template, if for no other reason than to get it into my head that I did. I published my last post and went to "view blog" and was like WHOA WHOSE BLOG IS THIS? And then I remembered it was mine and I'm an idiot.

Let the "Book-Reading Nerd" Chant Begin

David and Chad and Tony love to tease me about my reading "habit." I think in their weird little picture of me I'm holed up in a cave with a million books around me, just devouring them page after page. It's really not like that.

BUT

If I did have a cave of books, apparently I should include these 110 Books that Britain's Telegraph decided make up the "perfect library."

Guess What?

I only own 23 out of 110. Guess I'm not a book nerd after all!

The Perfect Show For Me

Oh my gosh. I was just catching up on the JEA listserv and I came across information about a new MTV reality show. I know, I know, but THIS IS GOING TO BE AMAZING.

It's a show... about a high school newspaper! Now I guarantee most of you thought that was a total let down, but I am pumped beyond belief.

Reality TV + high school journalism classroom = I am so there.

The Paper premieres next Monday at 9:30. You can bet I'll be in front of my TV eating it all up.

• MTV
• Music Videos
• MTV Shows
• Entertainment News

America Votes... Wrong

Are you freaking kidding me American Idol?

Moments ago, the bottom three was announced. I was okay with it except for one HUGE thing:
KRISTY LEE COOK WAS SAFE. That is BS pure and simple. That girl is the new Sanjaya... without the hair.

But I figured Syesha would go after her screeching performance last night.

Uhhhhhh no.

Moments ago, MICHAEL JOHNS WAS VOTED OFF. You have GOT to be kidding me.

America! What were you thinking? Hot Australian accent? Cute as a button? Sings awesome Queen songs you can belt out in your living room along with him? Seriously!



You got robbed Michael Johns. Paula totally thought so. Randy and Simon looked surprised, too. Cut to Kristy Lee Cook in the safety of the couch.

Please, America. Get real or even MORE people are going to stop watching this show. I'm one of them.

Quickie Review: Everybody Into The Pool

For some reason, it took me like two days to get through the first "true tale" in Beth Lisick's Everybody Into the Pool. I don't know how that happened, since it took me only about 4 hours to finish the entire rest of the book!

Lisick's memoir made me laugh, made me feel uncomfortable for her awkwardness, and made me think--all great things when reading a book, at least in my opinion. In her humorous way, she tackles real subjects and real life events that anybody can relate to, no matter if you lived in San Francisco and traveled around with a lesbian motorcycle group or not (Me? Not so much). A super quick read (apparently once you get past the first ten pages) and lots of fun. *****

Next up: The Know-It All by AJ Jacobs--an Esquire editor reveals his journey through the entire encyclopedia. I already started it and I freaking love it.

The Shiniest Moment of All

I alluded to watching it last night, and now--thank you Internet--it's up on YouTube already.

Here's last night's "One Shining Moment" for the 2008 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament. Oh Luther Vandross, I love ya.

NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

KU beat Memphis tonight in an overtime victory 75-68!


THEY WON THE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!!

2008 NCAA NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!

Mario Chalmers hit a game-tying three with like a second left in regulation to send it to overtime. Then, KU DOMINATED.


I needed to be asleep like a half hour ago, but I had to stay awake for One Shining Moment...

I can't believe we did it.

For now, just celebration.
Actually, sleep, but celebration nonetheless.

Kite Runner Flies High

I realized today that I've had The Kite Runner from Netflix for almost two weeks. I NEVER do that. Rarely does it even take me a week to get a movie watched. However, I wanted to really give this film the time and attention it deserves, so that meant it too me awhile.

But today was the day, I had the time and so I popped it into my DVD player this afternoon. Often my Sundays are spent watching movies and simultaneously working on something or cleaning, but I soon realized that wouldn't be possible with this movie--I had to focus and read the subtitles! I knew in the back of my mind it was not in English but it didn't register until I started watching it. That said, I am so glad that it was actually done in the native language rather than in English with a Middle Eastern accent... that annoys me to no end.

It's been a year or more since I read the book by Khaled Hosseini, so I didn't remember every step in the plot, but I believe the movie was pretty true to the book overall. A few things were played down or ignored (Baba's relationship with Ali, how hard it was to get Sorhab back into the US, etc.) but that has to be done when a movie is only 2 hours long. I thought the kids did a great job with their parts and I really liked the actor who played the adult Amir. I guess I don't understand why this movie got somewhat panned at the box office and by critics, because it was a very nicely done version of the ridiculously-popular book.

Maybe some people just can't handle reading at the movies.

NYTimes.com review

Real Life Big Love

I've been watching Season 1 of Big Love on Netflix the past few days and I distinctly recall thinking "does this really still happen?" I mean I know about Warren Jeffs I guess but the whole deal with Roman and his control over his entire compound--it's insane. Do we really still allow this stuff to exist?

Talk about instant gratification--today I got my answer!

Apparently more than 200 women and children have been removed/rescued from a polygamist compound in Texas as of this weekend:

CNN story
NYTimes.com story

Polygamy basically baffles me and reading about all this does nothing to help me figure it all out. Maybe I'll get it by the end of Season 2.

ROCK CHALK!

KU just beat North Carolina by 18 points.

18 points!
They are headed to the National Championship game against Memphis Monday night.
NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIP!Plus, did I mention they beat North Carolina?
North Carolina!

Suck it Roy Williams!
ROCK CHALK JAYHAWK!!!

Quickie Review: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

It only took me three nights to finish Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safron Foer. Kelly recommended this book to me and I definitely enjoyed it-- you can probably tell by how quickly I finished it! This was definitely an odd book... filled with random pictures, pages with only a few words on them, and changes in point of view/narrator/narration style/grammar style. It was hard to keep up at times, but by the end everything was tied together and it was easy to see where Foer had been going in the beginning when I had been like "Uh... what?" Foer's novel had very prominent and relevant themes (the main character's father died in the WTC) but it didn't beat them into you like can happen lately with films related to 9/11. Overall, very interesting and one of the most unique reads you'll find--in design format, plot structure and execution overall. ****

Top 10 Teacher Movies

Over at Teach-J, they have a list posted of the Top 10 Movies for Teacher Motivation. Hello! Teaching? Movies? I'm so there.

I really am there--I've seen all of the movies and love them all. I totally bawled my eyes out at Freedom Writers... I am a total sap for teacher-overcomes-obstacles-to-inspire-students stories.

Here's the list, with my input in parentheses but without all of HIS (sorry!!!) commentary (feel free to head over to the post to see it though--quality stuff):

10. Radio (accepting differences in sports? love it!)
9. Music of the Heart (almost made me want to play the violin!)
8. The Emperor's Club (cheaters never prosper)
7. Stand and Deliver (teacher reaches out to inner-city kids and suceeds! me=tears)
6. Pay It Forward (love this idea for any classroom)
5. Freedom Writers (see above)
4. Lean On Me (the high school I'm at needs a principal like Joe!)
3. Remember the Titans (the ultimate feel-good, overcome-race-issues movie and OH GOD that poor guy in the car accident!)
2. Mr. Holland's Opus (just thinking about the scene where he sings Beatles to his son gives me goosebumps)
1. Dead Poets Society (Robin Williams' best performance ever...Carpe Diem!)

I'd also argue that Dangerous Minds should be on this list. Weirdly enough, it was my favorite movie in like 5th and 6th grade--I know! What was my mom thinking? But it was definitely inspirational. Getting those kids to read poetry--a-may-zing!

Any others missing you can think of? I'm going to continue to brainstorm. And go watch Freedom Writers! Ha!

Sick! Crazy! Yep Yep Yep.

I was inspired by Tony last night and looked back at my old blog from freshman/sophomore year.

OH. MY. GOD.

If you must, check it out here. Do not judge.

It was kinda painful to read. Not only was that a rough time for me in general, but it was also really scary writing, lots of random words (see title of this post and MUCH. MORE.) and bizarre rambling. I procrastinated all the time. I apparently was also very busy reading books and watching movies and TV so that may have had something to do with all that procrastination. Far too many posts in the middle of the night when I couldn't sleep. Far too many posts that including obsessing about Matt Wertz and/or random Drake people.

Kinda makes me sick to my stomach to look at it. It's kind of nice to have everything recorded, but honestly? Sometimes I'd rather not remember.

Old blogs are SCARY.

Overheard In the Hallway

Overheard earlier this afternoon:

Teenage boy: "Suck my left nut!"
Teenage girl: "It would only make the right one jealous..."

Wow--what you hear in the hallways of a high school.

Constant entertainment, I tell ya.

Jump On...

It's the PhotoShop Express! Choo-choo!

Adobe has released on online version of PhotoShop and it is all the buzz.

Apparently it's simpler than the real software version but it does basic things most people need, like red eye removal, cropping, etc.

This could be very interesting. Here's the NYTimes review of it. Very interesting indeed.

Good God!

What happened to cute little Michael Novotny (i.e. Hal Sparks)?!?

THEN

NOW!! OH MY GOD!
Crazy Gene Simmons hair or not, I still miss Queer as Folk.

Rock Chalk Jayhawk

After a win against Davidson in today's Midwest Regional Final, KU is on its way to the Final Four!!! Yes, it was a rough and ugly win but guess what? It was still a win.


The good news? We're headed to the Final Four.
The bad news? We have to play North Carolina and ROY WILLIAMS. Ugh.

Roy Williams meets Kansas for the first time since he ditched us for UNC 5 years ago?

Let the week of hype begin!

Things Keeping Me Sane While Sick

I'm still sick but getting better I suppose. Yesterday and today I did a lot of sitting in order to speed up that whole getting better process. I really don't like being sick. I don't like giving into sickness. But sometimes it's inevitable.

Here are a few amazing things that kept me sane during my sick time:

Love in the Time of Cholera
I finally watched the entire thing yesterday (I started it three times the day before but kept falling asleep--not because it was boring but because I was THAT SICK). I enjoyed this movie a lot! I wasn't sure if I'd like it because I read the book first, but it was a pretty good adaptation overall. I did NOT enjoy that its Netflix envelope said it was 1 hour 40 minutes long when it was actually 2 hours 10 minutes long. Not cool Netflix. The end got a bit long but overall this was a beautiful love story. Javier Bardem and Benjamin Bratt in a love triangle? Count me in!

Samantha Who?
I didn't start watching this show when it began last fall so didn't feel like I could ever jump in, even though I heard such great reviews. Fortunately, sick = tons of time to sit and watch shows on ABC.com so I caught up on all 9 episodes of the season so far. It's especially easy when they are only 20 minutes without commercials! The verdict: super cute show. I love Barry Watson as Todd and Jean Smart as Samantha's mom Regina. Samantha's friend Dena makes me feel awkward though... maybe strikes a chord a little close to home? Anyway this is a funny, unique and very cute show and I am excited for it to return a week from Monday for new episodes.

NCAA Basketball
An awesome upset (Davidson over Wisconsin) + a KU win (over Villanova) = perfect night of basketball last night. I really think KU could win the whole thing if they keep playing so well. I have also been watching tonight, and right now Louisville and North Carolina (grrr Roy Williams) are in a super close match. Gotta love March Madness! KU vs. Davidson tomorrow to see who goes to the Final Four! Rock Chalk!

Newsweek/Time
I caught up on all the issues I was behind on. I even took them all home for Spring Break and didn't get around to reading them. That changed yesterday--I read some great articles, including "How to Make Better Teachers" and tons and tons of stuff about Barack and Hillary. I also marked a bunch of stuff to possibly use next year for my journalism class.

Bloglines
It doesn't take much effort to click through my Bloglines reader, so I was able to stay up-to-date on news and entertainment stuff. Keeps me in the loop and endlessly entertained.

Arrested Development
Rewatching Season 2? A-may-zing! Love every episode and it's keeping my spirits up when I feel so terrible. Thank you Bluth family!

Book Sale Results!

Despite being sick as a dog and missing school today (I slept like 14 hours last night--minus the time I was up coughing I suppose) I did a pretty dumb thing, at least on the path to getting better, by dragging my congested rear-end to the Iowa State Fairgrounds for the first full day of the Planned Parenthood of Greater Iowa Book Sale.

Let me just say this first: whoever thinks books are becoming obscure and that people don't read anymore needs to head over to this book sale RIGHT NOW and eat their words. I have never seen so many people so pumped about buying books. People literally wait in line with boxes to get into this thing.


Then after waiting to get in, they wade through thousands of books in a hot room to make their selections, and then wait in a check-out line for 25 minutes (maybe that was just my luck but it seemed to be the norm) to pile their cart full of books onto a table and pay hardly anything for an amazing new personal library.


And I was right there with them. I may have been sniffling and sneezing a bit more than anybody else, though. Oh... the price of happiness.

Anyway here's what I left with, paying only $48 for a whopping 22 books:

Books for Fun Reading

• Vanity Fair by William Thackeray
• A Midsummer Night's Dream by Shakespeare
• Amazing Grace by Jonathan Kozol
• Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
• The Namesake by Jhumpa Lahiri
• The Know-It-All by AJ Jacobs
• The Tenth Circle by Jodi Picoult
• The Inheritance of Loss by Kiran Desai
• My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult (I had a copy of this but loaned it out and never got it back)
• Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen
• Angus, Thongs and Full-Frontal Snogging by Louise Rennison
• Dracula by Bram Stoker
• The Greatest Story Ever Sold by Frank Rich
• TTYL by Lauren Myracle
  

Books for Teaching

• A Writer's Reference
  
• The Freedom Writers Diary
• Head Over Heels: An SAT Vocabulary Novel
• You Can Write a Column
• Creative Nonfiction
• Woe is I: The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English
• On Writing Well
• Fiction Writer's Brainstormer
  

Like I need any more books! But who can pass up such great deals? I guess at least now I can start living up to the "book reader" reputation David labeled me with last night.

Book Sale Preparation

Today is the first day of the Planned Parenthood Book Sale at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. This is undoubtedly one of my favorite events of the year in good old Des Moines.

I was browsing blogs tonight after coming home sick from school and taking a three-hour nap and came across a link to this--the perfect preparation for my trip to the Book Sale tomorrow:

Freshome's 30 Most Creative Bookshelf Designs

Here are my favorites:

The Hanging Bookshelf

Who needs clothes? Hang your favorite books in your closet!

The Ceiling Bookshelf

Finally put that useless ceiling to work!

Stickiebook

Creates the illusion that books are just stuck to your wall. TOO COOL!

And yes, I am aware that I am a huge nerd for getting excited about book shelves.

Irrational Hatred

Here are four things I harbor an irrational hatred for:

1. Top of the list is ROY WILLIAMS
Here's an article that was on KUSports.com the other day about Roy. We're still talking about him because we all still HATE him for leaving KU for North Carolina... after he said he never would. Maybe that's a good reason to hate someone, but here's the clincher: that was 5 years ago. I should be over it by now. I'm not. Every time I see him on TV, I want to strangle him with his tacky mint green tie.
2. Cadillac Escalades
My stupid high school boyfriend who ended up cheating on me over the summer and dumping me in a very not-nice way drove an Escalade. I've hated them ever since. I'm about to get my Masters if that lets you know how many years ago THAT was. Crazy.


3. People who wear out their welcome on American Idol
Last year, it was Sanjaya. He could not sing, had stupid hair and took the spot of people who deserved to be in the top 10. This year, I think it's a combo of Kristy Lee Cook and Ramiele what's-her-face. At least both can sing better than Sanjaya, but they still make me pretty angry. Especially when Kristy Lee Cook pulls the sneaky (albeit genius) move of singing God Bless the USA last night. Maybe this hatred isn't so irrational, but why do I even care?

4. Carrabba's
I had a horrible experience ONCE at this restaurant and now I just make faces at the building and its stupid plant-covered roof every time I pass it. I'm sure the food isn't that bad.


There are probably more but my brain is clouded up from my stupid cold so I'm done.
Do you have anything you hate in an irrational way?

Dumb Da-Dumb DUMB

Today was not a good day.

Exhibit A:
I stapled my finger.

That's right, I stapled my finger.

And now it hurts like hell and it is throbbing.

I Googled "staple finger" and apparently I am not the only idiot to ever do this. Here's some funny responses on Yahoo Answers to a question about whether or not this is a serious injury. They made me laugh a little. I am glad people have such expansive input about a stapled finger.

I mostly just felt DUMB.

Another Picoult Masterpiece

As promised, here's a quick review of Change of Heart, Jodi Picoult's latest novel in 100 words or less:

Diving head first into controversial issues of prisoner rights, a new Messiah, organ donation and the death penalty, Jodi Picoult's latest novel does not disappoint. Her signature elements are in place—a touchy subject, landmark court case, multiple points of view and a boatload of conflicted characters. Change of Heart makes you wonder if miracles do happen as the story of Shay Bourne, a man on death row for a double murder conviction who wants to donate his heart to the dying sister of one of his victims, unfolds. The points of view switch suddenly, but it only adds to the drama and intensity of the story. A definitely must-read, especially for loyal Picoult fans.

Fine, that was 115 words. Whatever. *****

Random 3: Sunday Edition

Three random things:

1. I am in the middle of rewatching the entire series of Arrested Development. I love it even more the second time--I get to catch all the little jokes and foreshadowing instead of just waiting to see what happens next. LOVE IT!

2. I finished reading Jodi Picoult's Change of Heart. Very Good--review coming soon. Now I'm reading Everyone Into the Pool by Beth Lisick, a recommendation (or at least one of many in her book tower) from Jenn over at Jennsylvania.com. Now that I have a job I don't waste all my time job searching (ha) and have time to read again!

3. These PostSecret secrets made me laugh out loud today:


Happy Easter!

Quickie Review: Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

Tonight we celebrated my new job with a movie followed by dinner and margaritas at Cactus Grill--yum.

There weren't a lot of movies to pick from, but we finally settled on Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Now this film isn't going to win any awards and it didn't have any deep meaning but I did enjoy it. It was just a silly fun movie that was perfect for my celebration event.

Amy Adams was absolutely adorable as Delysia LaFosse (aka Sarah Grubb we find out) and OH. MY. GOD. I LOVED LEE PACE IN THIS MOVIE. I love him in Pushing Daisies but with that British accent and that stubble, too? Too wonderful. The costumes were beautiful, the music was fun and I laughed a lot. ****

More Miss Guided

Today I watched both of last night's episodes of ABC's new show Miss Guided.

The verdict? I am still really liking it!

How cute was Ashton Kutcher as the dumb sub? Seriously he is pretty ridiculously good looking when he wants to be. Plus Chris Parnell was even better as the VP and how relevant was that episode about the school blog? That kid looked just like Perez Hilton. Hysterical.

I will definitely keep watching next week!

Mamma Mia! Here I go again...

They released the full length trailer for Mamma Mia! It looks like another super fun summer musical event.

Hopefully I can refrain from standing up and waving my arms at the end like everybody did when I saw it at Mandalay Bay...

NEWS

Totally Unrelated to Media But Totally Related to ME:

I

GOT

A

JOB!

I totally thought I would end up subbing next year. Now I have an amazing job and it is totally surreal. I swear I am still in shock.

Premiere: MissGuided

In celebration of my teaching job offer last night (!!!), I watched the premiere of Miss Guided on ABC. Maybe it was just my excitement about my future working in a high school, but I actually liked it a lot!

EW. com wasn't so sure, and I see what they're saying, but I have enjoyed Judy Greer in supporting roles for such a long time (What Women Want, Jawbreaker, Arrested Development, etc. etc.) and am glad to see her finally get a leading part. Plus hello what future teacher doesn't dream of meeting a cute young guy teacher? And Chris Parnell is always hilarious. My one big complaint: what teacher/guidance counselor has enough time to get their hair so perfectly styled every day?

"No groping. No grinding."--the principal (priceless!)

I'm definitely tuning in next week. We'll see how it goes if I continue to watch it. I'll at least catch it on ABC.com if I miss it.

The Idol 11

I had nothing better to do tonight, so I sat around and watched American Idol for 17 hours. Maybe it was only 2 but it sure felt a lot longer.

Ohhhh boy did it feel longer.

They definitely, definitely should not have extended the Beatles theme to this week. Last week was amazing--great performances, great song choices, super entertainment. This week? Not so much.David Archuleta (thankfully) made up for last week and was pretty amazing. Other than that? Nobody was too great. Syesha was much improved. I kind of liked Chickizie's performance and a few others were, well... okay.

I'm thinking Kristy Lee Cook is out for sure. Other thoughts?

St. Patty's Day Present

Happy St. Patrick's Day! It's a great holiday because, well, it's the perfect excuse to dress head to toe in my favorite color: green.

I've been busy watching the first season of The Tudors again to catch up before the premiere on March 30. Well guess what? I don't have to wait until then to see it and neither do you.

Follow this link to watch the premiere before it officially airs on Showtime. What a fantastic St. Patty's day present for all of us!

Sunday Secrets Again

It's getting to be a bit of a cop-out of a post, but I have nothing much to say since I'm spending my time today either a)preparing for job interviews or b)watching college basketball... go KU!

Post Secret Favorites from today's batch:

Ah so true

No Day But Today!

I FINALLY SAW RENT TONIGHT.


I have watched the movie ten times at least, listened to the soundtrack a hundred times and know every word by heart, and watched dozens of clips on YouTube, but I had sadly never seen Rent on stage in person. Until tonight.

Tony bailed on me so I ended up going with my dad, who may have ruined it a bit with his "Who is that?" and "What did she say?" but it was still pretty darn amazing. The cast of the National Tour was very impressive--Roger was the guy who won some Australian/New Zealand Idol and he was great. Maureen was AWESOME. The seats were fantastic.

Unfortunately, the crowd was definitely lacking and the worst thing? They didn't give out Playbills! I have never been to a show without a Playbill--I keep them for every show I've ever seen. That was crap.

Despite all that, I loved every minute of it, and (as usual) wanted to see it again as soon as the final curtain went down. I can't believe it's leaving Broadway! Thank goodness for National Tours.

More on SATC: The Movie... Trailer

Hollywood Insider is reporting Sarah Jessica Parker's insight into the SATC: The Movie Trailer I was sort of upset about a few weeks ago.

She says that the trailer was made very purposely to show certain things out of context and may or may not have faked-out the viewers--in the least, it is totally open to interpretation. Which is awesome. I don't care if they mislead me as long as it means Steve doesn't cheat on Miranda!

May is getting closer and I am getting more and more excited for this movie!

Current Read Acrostic

I stole this meme from Gretch-a-sketch:

"Write the first word in the title of the book you’re reading right now (if you’re reading several, please just choose one). Then format the first word so that the letters have a separate line (yes, you’re right: an acrostic poem type thing). Choose a phrase for each letter that describes the book. Characters, places, and even types of food is fine. It just has to be something from the book."

I am currently reading (among other things) Change of Heart, the new Jodi Picoult book. So far, by the way, it is awesome and totally classic Picoult.

Court case (court room, lawyers, judge, etc.)--it wouldn't be a Picoult novel without one
Heart failure: a little girl waiting for a transplant
A man on death row who can make miracles happen
Non-biased jury with a young priest on it
Grieving mother/wife whose daughter and husband are murdered
Entertainment Weekly says "Picoult delivers, book after book" and they're right

Only halfway done, but I'm lovin' it!

Top Chef Returns!

Top Chef: Chicago premiered tonight. How much did I love it? THIS MUCH!

Anyway despite having the longest (and therefore un-quickest) quick-fire challenge ever, it was an excellent first episode. I like the group that they have chosen, although they don't seem super exciting or dramatic. Maybe this season will echo Project Runway--boring but super talented people. I'm okay with that.

After the slow-fire challenge of creating deep dish pizza (in Chicago? Who woulda thunk?), the contestants were paired up for head-to-head competition cooking culinary classics. Classics may have been a bit of a stretch, but whatever Tom Collicchio (sp?) says, I believe. They had superstar chef celebrity Rocco Dispirito (I know--who?) as guest judge but no Gail! She better be back later this season.

Apart from a few missteps, the food seemed to be really well done. (See what I did there? A cooking joke!) I am excited to see what other tricks the guy who did the smoky crab cake has up his sleeve. This season should be fun!

BVNW Confidential Debut

Last night was the premiere of High School Confidential on WE (aka the show about girls at MY HIGH SCHOOL!)

Here's a little review from Gawker under the "Things We Actually Like" heading

I was freaked out for the first 10 minutes at least (I was basically freaked out the whole time but I got over it a little bit by 10pm when the credits rolled). I was like "I painted those stair rails purple!" and "I ate lunch in that atrium" etc. etc.

While watching it, I talked with my mom once and my sister several times. They may or may not have been freaking out, too. My sister knows like everyone in the show!

EVEN BIGGER NEWS: She was on the show! My sister! For like 2.5 seconds but she was there. She is afraid she'll be in it even more when they profile the girls she played soccer with.

The show, overall, is nothing special, but it's not bad. It's not quite as drama-filled as I thought it might be--more documentary style and not too stereotypical. Unlike the show's website which simply labels each girl, the show actually shows pretty broad coverage of their four years of high school and (at least for the first two girls) shows actual growth and maturation!

At my high school! I KNOW!

Quickie Review: Superstud

After the decade it took me to read The Other Boleyn Girl, I needed a lighter book for my next read. Superstud by Paul Feig (Freaks and Geeks writer/creator) was the perfect choice.

I love memoirs, especially humorous ones like this book. It's basically a collection of short stories that all kind of tie together. So maybe it's not short stories as much as chapters that each have a distinct story but all connect chronologically. Whatever. Anyway it chronicles the failed attempts by Feig throughout his life to find romance in the, uh, physical sense. It made me laugh, it made me feel sad for him, it made me uncomfortable. It also made me feel a little better about my own social awkwardness--ha! Above all, it made me happy that I could enjoy it but also breeze through it in just a few hours of reading. I ordered another book from Amazon.com by Feig (Kick Me) and might read that one over Spring Break for some more fun.

Next up: A Change of Heart by Jodi Picoult!

Sunday Secrets 03.09.08

Here's my favorites from today's Post Secret Sunday Secrets:

A Game Too Good to Pass Up

I got this one over at You're Flawed if You're Not Free

- Pick 10 of your favorite movies.
- Go to IMDB or Wikiquote and find a quote from each movie.
- Post them here for everyone to guess.
- Strike it out when someone guesses correctly, and put who guessed it and the movie.
- GUESSERS: Don’t cheat!
- Put your guesses in the comments section so everyone can see.

1. "Perhaps you chastised her too vehemently. Good rule of thumb: treat each of these girls as you would treat your mother."

2. "We got no food, no jobs... our PETS' HEADS ARE FALLING OFF!"

3. "Come on up here, Brenda. Brenda will be taking a leave of absence from the show. How long are you gonna be gone, Brenda?" "Just nine months."

4. "What is this, 1958? Give the little wife a blender?"

5. "I swear, you let me down and it'll take them a month to count the blade marks on your back."

6. "Well 'Sinead O'Rebellion.' Shock me shock me shock me with that deviant behavior. "

7. "By the way, it says BALLS on your face."

8. "I HATE Uncle Jamie!"

9. "From the first moment I met you, your arrogance and conceit, your selfish disdain for the feelings of others made me realize that you were the last man in the world I could ever be prevailed upon to marry. "

10. "What we in the news business can never forget is that we are only as good as the stories we tell. "

Sad But True

In my re-watching of My So-Called Life, I realized one thing I had almost forgotten over the years:


Soooooo pretty. Sigh.

Across the Universe

I watched Across the Universe again tonight. I loved it in the theater and the soundtrack is a staple in my 3-hour drive home play list. The songs are so much fun, the visual stuff is awesome, and even though sometimes the plot ties between songs are a little weak, it all works somehow. I got it from Netflix, but I'm thinking I may need to purchase it soon so I can pop it in when I feel like a good dose of "Let it Be," "Hey Jude" or "Across the Universe."

Here's a little taste of the movie in case you haven't seen it, featuring one of my favorite songs, "Falling"...

Quickie Review: Into The Wild

I finally got to watch Into the Wild this week. I meant to see it in the theater but never quite got around to it. It was at the top of my Netflix queue for its release this week and I am definitely glad I finally watched it!

The whole thing was really beautiful--the scenery, the cinematography, the music... and especially Emile Hirsch! Ha. I was surprised at all the small parts played by well-known actors like Vince Vaughn and Catherine Keener, but I guess it was directed by Sean Penn after all. I would have really loved it if the Chris McCandless/Alexander Supertramp character wouldn't have totally reminded me of the creep who has brainwashed my cousin and gotten her pregnant--he doesn't "believe" in money or jobs either. Ick. One big question: he was great but how the heck did Hal Holbrook get an Oscar nod for that role? He was in the movie for like 1.2 seconds! I guess they gave it to Judi Dench for her 4-minute role in Shakespeare in Love. Whatever. Definitely check this out--they did the book justice. Oh, oh and I loved seeing a picture of the real guy at the end! Why does it make me so happy when movies do that? ****

Project Runway Finale

"As you know, only one of you can be the winner of Project Runway..." -Heidi Klum

I watched the runway shows and even though they were all great, I love Love LOVED Rami's! It was beautifully constructed, beautifully colored and showed a whole new side of him beyond Mr. I-Love-Draping.

Rami should win. He gets my vote. I will update in 10 minutes.

UPDATE:
Boo Christian won. Actually not boo--his collection was pretty awesome. He makes amazing clothes. I just loved Rami's. I'm sure he'll still do super well any way. Christian needed that money--he's only 21 for crying out loud! Congratulations to all three of them--all three collections were actually ver impressive.

I totally thought Christian and Rami would be in the finale from the very first episode. I should have put that on here for proof. I swear I did though! Oh and is it me or was this season like the nicest ever? No petty catfights or anyone I felt like was only on the show for good TV rather than good designing. Thumbs up to you, Bravo, for an amazing season of Project Runway. I will miss you!

Next stop: New season of Top Chef (CHICAGO!) starting next Wednesday!!!

Oh-HI-Oooooh!

Hillary wins Ohio!


And the Clinton Comeback begins...

Giving Memoirs a Bad Name

Okay so another author went all "James Frey" on us and totally faked her memoir. Great. Way to crap all over my favorite genre, Margaret B. Jones.

Here's the report on Slate, as they ask how it is that editors are so bad at spotting these memoirs now that another one has been publicly exposed as fiction. And really, how can they? Are they supposed to fact-check everything that someone remembers? Are they supposed to call the gang members this girl claimed to know and see if they actually knew her? Maybe not. It might have been good to at least double-check to see if James Frey spent two months in jail. Police records are public knowledge. Maybe then they'd see he only spent three hours there.

DESPITE ALL THIS...
My big question is: who really cares? I mean, no, it isn't fair to people who actually did live totally screwed up lives and end up writing about them, but is genre really all that important? Is it bad enough to recall books and cancel a book tour, like what happened to this Margaret Jones woman? Personally, I loved James Frey's books. When I found out it wasn't all true, it didn't make me want to throw A Million Little Pieces out the window. It made me want to read it again.

Thoughts?

Shoot me, it's the morning news

I thought when I started teaching that one plus about getting up so early would be getting to watch The Today Show or Good Morning America as I get ready.

Apparently, those shows are for people who go to work much later in the day. I leave before those shows even start. Unfortunately, this means I have to suffer through the morning news.

I thought I liked news. I was wrong. I like EVENING news. Morning news is like cats screeching in your ear as you get squashed by a giant boulder. Especially in Des Moines. I like female anchors, but these women are full of fluff and they just annoy the crap out of me at 6:15am. Even the meteorologist makes me want to throw my cereal at the TV.

Maybe they will move back the time school starts so I don't have to suffer through morning news anymore. I'm sure my TV watching preferences have that much pull. Right.

Flashback via TBS

Two times today I randomly turned on TBS and gasped with delight.

The first time, it was Ace Ventura: Pet Detective. I used to watch this movie once a week. Watching it now, I'm not quite sure why, but I loved it. I had the entire thing memorized. Turns out--I still do.

Thinking nothing could top that, I surfed channels later in the day and landed on TBS yet again. I could barely contain myself--it was Dumb and Dumber. Apparently they were having a Jim-Carrey's-early-career-goofy-movies-I-was-once-obsessed-with marathon. I might have loved Ace Ventura, but I LOOOOOVED Dumb and Dumber. I could recite the entire movie right here, right now if you wanted me to. But I'm sure you don't, so I won't. Believe me, though, I totally could. And sing all the music in the background. And let you know that the soundtrack to this movie was one of the first CDs I ever bought. But I won't gush any more.

Let's just say even though I only watched about 30 minutes of TV today, it totally made my day. Thank you, TBS, for that flashback to my elementary/middle school days of Ace Ventura, Lloyd Christmas and Harry Dunn. Good Lord my life is pretty sad when crappy movies on TV make my day!

Busy Busy Bee

I am super busy this weekend with Siblings Weekend. I've been spending my time sitting and giving out t-shirts and meal tickets, eating way too much snacky junk food (hello popcorn machine and Hawaiian pizza, etc.), playing far too many little games and laughing a whole lot.

While I run around hoping not to get called about a sibling going to the hospital, I'll leave you with this little gem today. Last night Tony and Chad made me watch MXC on Spike TV. It may be the most ridiculous show on television. Enjoy: