Oh, Halloween!

I know it's like sacrilegious to some people, but I pretty much hate Halloween.

Costumes, ghosts, witches, trick or treating--it makes my skin crawl. Ugh.

That said, I will use today to make a pledge. I may have only made it through 210+ days of Blog 365, but I will challenge myself again to complete NaBloPoMo.

After all, it's what inspired the creation of this blog one year ago.

One year! Who would've thought I would keep it going? Let's call this happy blogiversary rather than Happy Halloween. Makes it a much more enjoyable day for me, at least.

So, here goes NaBloPoMo 2008... let the blogging begin (tomorrow, that is)!

Yeah, It's Been a While

That's the understatement of the year! It's been more than 2 months since my last post and I can't believe it. I was doing so well with Blog 365! That is, until I started teaching, of course.

I guess I made it 200+ days... that's somewhat of an accomplishment.

I thought about posting many times, but then felt like I had so much to catch up on. Now it's been so long, I guess I can basically start over.

So, loyal readers (of which there are none), I'm back. I will post when I have time and no, it won't be every day, but I promise not to disappear for 2 months again. I'm not sure I can handle the separation again.

Give Me a Little Paul Rudd and I'm Happy

I came across this trailer over at Buzz Sugar for the movie Role Models. Sean William Scott sort of annoys me, and the plot seems kind of overdone, but honestly? Give me a little Paul Rudd and I'm happy. I really can't stop staring--he is just so darn cute. Look at how normal he is--buying AMC concession stand treats before seeing Pineapple Express:



Oh yeah, here's a trailer for that movie:


Role Models - Theatrical Trailer

Detour

Tonight I planned on being productive.
Tonight I planned on doing a real post, since quality has been lacking lately.

Instead...
Tonight I spent the night playing around on VistaPrint.com.
You can make all this cool stuff--like business cards, post-its, stickers, notepads, etc.-- for free.

FREE.

All you do is pay shipping and handling.

Too amazing.

Random Movie Trailer

Still reading (I know I should be done by now but I did have to be a little productive and it is 750+ pages long) so here's a trailer for a movie I had never heard of but looks like it might be fun:

Sex Drive (looks better than the title sounds AND James Marsden is in it!):

See more funny videos at Funny or Die

Happy Birthday to Me

I am officially the most boring 24-year-old ever!

Today is not only my birthday, but in a cruel twist of fate, it is also my first day of new teacher orientation. Don't get me wrong, I am pumped for teaching but not HR sessions ALL.DAY.LONG.

Plus, I can't even go out for a birthday dinner because I have to head straight to yearbook distribution. I'm excited to see my yearbook editors but not for the 14+ hour day.

So happy birthday to me! What a birthday it will be.

Spell Check

Nice work, NBC Action News. Or was it AP? "Who's" fault was it?:

Woman who's car went into river dies

Last Update: 11:56 am

ST. LOUIS (AP) - A woman's whose vehicle went into the Meramec River has died, a day after her grandson also died.

Sandra Branham, 63, of Crestwood, died Saturday at St. John's Mercy Medical Center in Creve Coeur, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported on its Web site.

And so on...

Who's vs. Whose
Don't we learn the different in elementary school?

You'd think the headline writer could get it right since it's correct in the first sentence of the article. Guess NOT!

Media Addiction Wordle

Make your own at wordle.net

I Noticed That, Too!

I totally saw THIS when watching Project Runway. Bravo should maybe focus less on making as many shows as possible from the Real Housewives of the OC and more on math skills.

Comic Sans to the Rescue!

This video* made me laugh out loud. Maybe just because I am a font geek.

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

*I have no idea why it is so wide/big. Deal with it.

Here I Go Again...

DID I MENTION TOMORROW IS AN AMAZING DAY?

Mamma Mia and The Dark Knight are finally here.

Being a total musical geek I will be seeing Mamma Mia tomorrow afternoon and Batman sometime later this weekend. I'm sure most people would do the opposite, but guess what? I'm not normal.

I. Love. Musicals.

POST 300: 3 Fun Things

1. Weeds
This week's episode was pretty great, actually. Back to the old quick-witted humor, bizarre antics and hysterical family interactions. I thought Celia returning was going to be stupid, but she totally fits into the motley Botwin crew. I love that Nancy has to work retail at an outlet mall on the border and that she finally apologized to and/or thanked everyone in her family--AND that she actually admitted she was a terrible drug dealer. I hope this seasons continues to get better and better!

2. Wanted
I went to see this movie with my sister and her friend over the weekend--mainly because I had already seen every other movie I was remotely interested in seeing and because Wanted featured Chicago. I was in Chicago, so it made sense even though honestly I had no idea what the movie was about. Turns out, it was super violent, pretty insane plot-wise, kinda goofy at times... but also very entertaining and full of fantastic special effects. Things I didn't like: The stupid train wreck part and Morgan Freeman dropping an F bomb not once but twice! That is Samuel L Jackson crap. Things I loved: James McEvoy dripping wet and the part where he flipped his car over a gangster guy's limo and shot him through the sunroof.

3. Swapping Lives by Jane Green
So I thought I was way beyond chick lit but I am having fun reading this book! It was a little hard to start but now I am hooked and it is very cute. Jane Green is a great story teller and really makes you like and identify with her characters. Nothing intellectual or ground-breaking here but a fun "beach read" amidst all of the education stuff I'm reading right now.

THAT WAS MY 300th POST! CRAZY!

iWant

Godddddd I want an iPhone.
But should I get one?

I've been reading everything I can find online about them including THIS and THIS.

I don't need one for any reason. But I want one! I can afford it. I have AT&T. I am a Mac geek.

Should I get an iPhone?

HATE

Sorry if you like it, but this song annoys the crap out of me:



They need to quit playing it on the radio, no matter how summer fun-y it is. Ugh.

Books a Million

The Big Read 100

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.

2) Italicize those you intend to read.

1. Pride and Prejudice - Jane Austen (One of my favorites)
2. The Lord of the Rings - JRR Tolkien (How is it possible I never read these?)
3. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte
4. The Harry Potter Series - JK Rowling (It's both because I've read two of them. Yeah, I know.)
5. To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee
6. The Bible (Not the whole thing but parts. Does that count?)
7. Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (senior year of HS)
8. Nineteen Eighty Four - George Orwell (also in school)
9. His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman
10. Great Expectations - Charles Dickens
11. Little Women - Louisa M Alcott
12. Tess of the D’Urbervilles - Thomas Hardy
13. Catch 22 - Joseph Heller (Summer reading for AP English)
14. Complete Works of Shakespeare (Again both because I've read some but not all.)
15. Rebecca - Daphne Du Maurier
16. The Hobbit - JRR Tolkien
17. Birdsong - Sebastian Faulks
18. Catcher in the Rye - JD Salinger (SO much fun reading this sophomore year with Mrs. Wilcox)
19. The Time Traveller’s Wife - Audrey Niffenegger (on my shelf waiting to be read)
20. Middlemarch - George Eliot
21. Gone With The Wind - Margaret Mitchell (the movie was enough for me...)
22. The Great Gatsby - F Scott Fitzgerald (AP English with Prib--not my favorite)
23. Bleak House - Charles Dickens
24. War and Peace - Leo Tolstoy (but I have read Crime and Punishment by Dostoevsky, does that count?)
25. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (DON'T PANIC.)
26. Brideshead Revisited - Evelyn Waugh (I want to read this before I see the movie!)
27. Crime and Punishment - Fyodor Dostoyevsky (oops there it is!)
28. Grapes of Wrath - John Steinbeck (Read it five or more times. My favorite!)
29. Alice in Wonderland - Lewis Carroll (Jabberwocky was enough for me)
30. The Wind in the Willows - Kenneth Grahame
31. Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy (It was on Oprah's Book Club list, after all)
32. David Copperfield - Charles Dickens
33. Chronicles of Narnia - CS Lewis (Only The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe)
34. Emma - Jane Austen
35. Persuasion - Jane Austen (Want to read for sure after seeing Jane Austen Book Club)
36. The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe - CS Lewis (mmmm Peter)
37. The Kite Runner - Khaled Hosseini (LOVE this book and especially love his second book)
38. Captain Corelli’s Mandolin - Louis De Bernieres
39. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
40. Winnie the Pooh - AA Milne (Never a huge Pooh fan)
41. Animal Farm - George Orwell
42. The Da Vinci Code - Dan Brown (Wayyyyy overhyped but interesting)
43. One Hundred Years of Solitude - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
44. A Prayer for Owen Meaney - John Irving
45. The Woman in White - Wilkie Collins
46. Anne of Green Gables - LM Montgomery (Love these books)
47. Far From The Madding Crowd - Thomas Hardy
48. The Handmaid’s Tale - Margaret Atwood (school again)
49. Lord of the Flies - William Golding (We not only had to read this horrible book in school but also saw a horrible play)
50. Atonement - Ian McEwan (Sooooo good)
51. Life of Pi - Yann Martel
52. Dune - Frank Herbert
53. Cold Comfort Farm - Stella Gibbons
54. Sense and Sensibility - Jane Austen ((I'm reading it again right now in 144 installations from dailylit.com)
55. A Suitable Boy - Vikram Seth
56. The Shadow of the Wind - Carlos Ruiz Zafon
57. A Tale Of Two Cities - Charles Dickens
58. Brave New World - Aldous Huxley (yeah another one read in high school)
59. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time - Mark Haddon (Such fun!)
60. Love In The Time Of Cholera - Gabriel Garcia Marquez (better than 100 Year of Solitude for sure)
61. Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck (Lenny and that mouse! Oh my gosh)
62. Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov Nabokov
63. The Secret History - Donna Tartt
64. The Lovely Bones - Alice Sebold (An excellent book but a little disturbing at times--I wish her follow-up would have been as good)
65. Count of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
66. On The Road - Jack Kerouac
67. Jude the Obscure - Thomas Hardy
68. Bridget Jones’ Diary - Helen Fielding (Love the books, love the movies, LOVE Colin Firth)
69. Midnight’s Children - Salman Rushdie
70. Moby Dick - Herman Melville
71. Oliver Twist - Charles Dickens
72. Dracula - Bram Stoker (I love epistolary/journal novels!!!)
73. The Secret Garden - Frances Hodgson Burnett
74. Notes From A Small Island - Bill Bryson
75. Ulysses - James Joyce
76. The Bell Jar - Sylvia Plath (Eh)
77. Swallows and Amazons - Arthur Ransome
78. Germinal - Emile Zola
79. Vanity Fair - William Makepeace Thackeray (waiting on my bookshelf)
80. Possession - AS Byatt
81. A Christmas Carol - Charles Dickens (Not a huge Dickens fan but I can tolerate this one)
82. Cloud Atlas - David Mitchell
83. The Color Purple - Alice Walker (Goooooooood that book is depressing)
84. The Remains of the Day - Kazuo Ishiguro
85. Madame Bovary - Gustave Flaubert
86. A Fine Balance - Rohinton Mistry .
87. Charlotte’s Web - EB White (EB White was a childhood favorite)
88. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom (Eh. Frankly, I thought it was a tad trite.)
89. Adventures of Sherlock Holmes - Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
90. The Faraway Tree Collection - Enid Blyton
91. Heart of Darkness - Joseph Conrad (I HATED reading this book in high school.)
92. The Little Prince - Antoine De Saint-Exupery
93. The Wasp Factory - Iain Banks
94. Watership Down - Richard Adams
95. A Confederacy of Dunces - John Kennedy Toole
96. A Town Like Alice - Nevil Shute
97. The Three Musketeers - Alexandre Dumas
98. Hamlet - William Shakespeare (not my favorite Shakespeare but better after re-reading it last summer for a class)
99. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory - Roald Dahl (Roald Dahl is awesome--the Twits, James and the Giant Peach--awesome)
100. Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (I love this story!)

Read count: 43--thanks mostly in part to my high school honors and AP English classes and also thanks to my book nerdiness

To be read: (only) 10-- sighhhhh... just add em to the list. I have about 100 waiting in my big cabinet.

Overwhelming Coverage

So... a few weeks ago I was all upset because China was reportedly going to screw with and potentially limit TV coverage of the summer Olympics.

Welllllll now it seems they must have changed their tune because NBC Universal apparently has HUGE plans for unprecedented coverage--some 3600 hours of it.

Good lord! 3600 hours? Is that even possible? Are there 3600 hours in the two-plus weeks of the Olympics? Let's see-- 24 hours X 17 days = 408 hours. Huh?!

Don't worry, the math isn't wrong--it appears that the coverage will be simultaneous on all of NBC Universal's television network, plus 2000+ hours of streaming live sports coverage online. Pretty cool (especially for fans of polo/archery/synchronized swimming) but maybe a little overkill, even for an Olympics nut like me. Taking a look at the schedule, though, everything I'm interested in watching is during primetime on NBC. Nothing new there.

I guess China's letting everybody in after all... or if not everybody, at least NBC. 30 Days!

Blahhhhh

This pretty much sums up how I feel today:


I spent like 2 1/2 hours trying to transfer something over from my (newer) laptop to my (older) desktop and it was ridiculously slow and frustrating. I ended up having to copy over the newer version of the applications to get anything to work at all! Good thing I am well-versed in file sharing via Ethernet cables. Otherwise I have no idea what I would have done. My 1GB flash drive would only have helped so much with those giant files.

Anyway I wanted to be way productive and instead nothing went my way. Maybe tomorrow!

Happy 4th!

"To live in a country where you can take an ugly old mountain and put faces on it--faces of great Americans who did so much to make our country super great--well, that makes me proud to be an American." - Drop Dead Gorgeous

Happy Fourth of July!

Won't Be Bitten Again

According to MarketWatch.com, cheap but chic clothing supplier Steve and Barry's is facing bankruptcy.
This is terrible news! I love Sarah Jessica Parker's Bitten clothing line. They had the cutest stuff for so cheap. Especially work clothes! They may not have been the highest quality but they lasted a season at least. Sad!

However, this does explain why they haven't really had any new clothes in the Bitten line in several months.

Just a few months back there was a big story in the NY Times about the success of Steve and Barry's. Must have been the kiss of death!

AD Movie In the Works! FOR REAL!

Jason Bateman has been shooting off his mouth for quite a while getting everyone (ridiculously) excited about the real possibility of an Arrested Development movie.

Now Jeffrey Tambor (i.e. George Bluth himself) has confirmed reports that the movie is really and truly on! Get Franklin and Buster's hook ready! Read the details here at EW.com

UPDATE:
Even though Tambor said it was true, the movie has not been officially greenlit--they are still looking for money. Always-funny Bateman blamed Michael Cera's superstar salary and attitude for it. :) Hint, movie execs: There's Always Money in the Banana Stand.