Paper Update

3 pages down, 7 more to go! (Only 5 if I'm going for the minimum, but the way I've outlined it, it should work out to be 9.5-10) I figure if I write a page or so day this week, I'll have it done by the weekend, giving me plenty of time to write my philosophy paper and study for my French exams.

I am also apparently channeling my inner Kafka and writing gigantically long paragraphs. Good times.

Movie Review - Mongol

Another film that Eddy and I watched recently, Mongol tells the story of Genghis Khan's rise from being a slave to the Khan of all of Mongolia. The film humanized a historical character who is usually thought of a cruel and ruthless person and was an interesting story about a culture that I have pretty much no knowledge of. The sweeping shots of a barely populated Mongolia were stunning. The film was pretty bloody - lots of warring Mongol hordes - but the violence was realistic without being gruesome. The score consisted of what I assume was tradition Mongolian music, which was really interesting and added a lot to the ambiance of the film.

This apparently is the first in a trilogy about Genghis Kahn's life, and I will happily go see the next two. ***1/2

Movie Review - Up

Eddy and I went to see Pixar's new movie Up yesterday and I was honestly a little disappointed. I'm not saying that it wasn't a good movie - I don't think I've seen a Pixar film that was without any redeeming qualities - it just wasn't as good as many of Pixar's other films. The story revolves around Carl, an elderly man going on the adventure that he and his wife had planned before her death. One of the things that I respect Pixar for is that it deals with themes like death and aging (or environmentalism with Wall-E) that you don't normally find in children's movies. They always strike me as very sophisticated for movies geared towards younger audiences. Anyway, Up's plot felt fairly disjointed to me, with the first part of the movie not really meshing with the second part until the very end. I though the talking dogs were a little gimicky, but Kevin the bird was absolutely gorgeous and charming. This, like many of Pixar's past films, was devoid of any major female characters, which annoyed me.

One thing that I've always liked about Pixar that I missed in the films is that the subjects of their movies are usually not something you would think of making of film of - like robots, monsters, fish, toys etc. There is something so clever about making films about these un-thought of subjects, and Up felt somewhat dull because it only focused on seemingly normal human beings. Yes, it is unusual to have an old man as the protagonist of children's film, but Pixar's medium seems better suited for more fantastical and visually interesting creatures. The imagery of the balloons, Kevin the bird and South American were all visually interesting, but I didn't think that the main characters were in anyway improved by the medium - certainly not in the way that Sully or Wall-E were.

The film is definitely worth seeing, but I don't think that it was Pixar's best effort. ***1/2

(The short at the beginning was fabulous. That's the kind of creativity that I expect out of Pixar.)

Music Sunday - Steve Miller Band

I played this on guitar hero yesterday, and now it's stuck in my head.

Hair Update

So. Don't freak out. Being sick of my current state of shagginess, I finally buzzed off all of my hair. Here's a picture.



(Please ignore the ridiculous messy room. My roommate apparently moved out over the weekend, though that doesn't excuse my side.)

I think it looks cute!

Music Monday

In honor of Memorial Day



ETA: Apparently Dad and I think the same way...

Il fait soleil!

Today is a glorious day, even though I have to work for 8 hours! I woke up early, went to the gym and then had a pretty un-eventful day at work. Now it's bright and sunny outside, I had a package (full of shoes!) waiting for me and Dr. K just emailed me and told me that I was officially in Arthurian Romance. All is right with the world!

Music Tuesday - "Ce Jeu"

Unlike Dad, I don't have an official day for posting random music, so have a music Tuesday. This has been my favorite song for the last month or so. It's upbeat, poppy and I can understand a good bit of the French. I think it's a perfect song for a crappy gray day.

Ugh

Today, one the school washing machines decided not to go through the rinse/ spin cycle - leaving my clothes sopping wet - one of the dryers ate my quarters, proceeded to leave my clothes wet after 80 minutes of drying and then ate more of my quarters. It's raining, I locked myself out of my room and the library gave me the third volume of a book that I put on hold instead of the third.

Today had so much promise! Blarghl

Random

Things Today:

I went to the gym for the first time. I've been meaning to go for ages, but I finally got my butt out of bed early today and went for about half an hour. I felt really good afterward though, so I'm going to try to go again sometime this week.

I register for classes tomorrow, yikes! I've become really paranoid since registration last quarter was so awful, but I think I'll be able to get the classes I want this time. Hopefully!

I'm meeting with Dr. Earenfight - the chair of the Medieval Studies department - this afternoon to talk to her about history classes and how to officially declare a minor. I have what lit classes I want to take in the next couple of years down, but I really want to take at least one history class. She's apparently an awesome professor, so I hope I'll be able to take something with her.

Hmm, I think that's it for today...

Á l'Opéra

The opera last night was fantastic! Eddy and I had some stressful adventured actually getting there, but we made it with 5 minutes to spare! Whew! The show was a great deal of fun and the seats we had gave us a great view. It was a bit difficult to read the supertitles though, being so close. I definitely want to go back sometime.

Bagel Update

Success! Though, they're a little soft. It's not that they're undercooked, they're just a little soft. I think next time I'll boil and bake them a little longer so they're a bit chewier. Still, they taste really yummy. I'll post pictures soon.

Recipe here

Music Saturday (Copying Dad Here...)

I went through this phase in junior high and high school when I decided that I did not like country music (because it wasn't cool!) and rejected a lot of the music that Mom and Dad played when we were growing up. In the last couple of years, I've started to slowly phase much of it back into my music library and I'm really happy that I have. The lyrics of this song are a little weird (as is Mr. Lovett's hair) but I really like it.

Book Review - The Name of the Rose

I finished Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose a couple of weeks ago. I've been meaning to review it, so here we go.

First off, I absolutely loved this book. LOVED it. Set in an Italian monastery in the 14th century, the main plot of the book revolves around a series of murders. The visiting William of Baskerville - an English Franciscan - is the story's Sherlock Holmes figure, armed with empiricism and the philosophies of Roger Bacon and Aristotle. The novel is narrated by William's scribe, Adso of Melk. The story goes beyond the simple mystery, however, and largely discusses the politics of the Roman Catholic Church, medieval heresy, the nature of truth and the danger of knowledge. This heavy discourse, coupled with the suspense of the mystery, make the book absolutely fascinating. Of course, the Medieval period fascinates me, so of course I'm going to enjoy this book.

The only complaint I have is that the subplot with Adso and the young village woman (she has no name in the book) seemed really forced to me. The writing of that section was gorgeous - the prose of Adso's narration was mixed with quotes from the Song of Soloman and other texts - but I really cannot understand the girl's attraction to Adso or why she got involved with him at all. This was not a hugely significant subplot though (unlike in the movie) so I didn't mind it too much.

The prose is a little dense, but totally rewarding to get through.

Boldly Going...

Tomorrow I'm seeing the new Star Trek movie on Imax at South Center Mall. Ahhh! I'm super excited. It's a 10:00 show, which means I won't be getting home too late (I have a French midterm on Friday.)

ps. Sara, do you want to go see it this weekend when I come home?

Ice Cream Epiphany

One thing I love about living in a big city is finding fabulous shops and restaurants that have been right under my nose for months. Yesterday, while walking to the mall to do some mothers day related shopping, I found the most awesome little ice cream shop on 10th and Pine that I had no idea existed until then. They make fresh waffle cones in the store, which you can smell a couple of blocks before you actually see the store. Eddy had a cone of balsamic strawberry ice cream and I just about died. The chocolate was good too. Sadly, I have no idea what the name of this store was, but it was pretty much divine. You can buy their ice cream in pints too...yummy!

Interview

Well, I think that went well. It was a little weird though, because the student consultants were the ones interviewing me, so I was interviewed by a guy in my philosophy class. Hopefully I didn't say anything too stupid. I think I'll hear whether or not I got the position next week. Here's hoping!

FREAKOUT!

My interview is in 45 minutes and right now I'm sitting in my room flailing my arms and going "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!"

Good times.