Musings on movies & tv

Since I don't have much to report life-wise (other than a ruined snow day, thanks to UNC making me come to class, sending me home as soon as I got there, making me come back, and then closing), I thought I would talk about my various TV shows, and the movie I saw this weekend, Slumdog Millionaire.

First, TV. I watch wayyy too many shows, as I have discovered as I try to keep up with them all. At least BSG will be over for good soon.

Battlestar Galactica (henceforth referred to as BSG): There are only 8 episodes left, and they've been very tense/dramatic, since last season's finale when they finally reached Earth only to find that it had been nuked. So far this season there have been a lot of deaths/suicides, and also a lot of nutty unexplainable Cylon-related stuff. At least we finally found out who the final Cylon was. I just hope they don't throw Adama out of an airlock like it looks like they may do next week. Shame on you, Felix.

Top Chef: 7 chefs left (out of 17), and all I care about is that Stefan does not win. Right now I'm pulling for Jaime or Fabio.

Ugly Betty: I may actually stop watching this for a while...back when I started it was funny, and was my only comedy show. Now it's serious with people having heart attacks, affairs, and Betty wanting to get away from her family. Not fun anymore.

Bones: The first half of the season kind of sucked because of the Angela/ Hodgins breakup, but it's mostly redeemed itself. Now it's on at the same time as Ugly Betty, and I think I'll be choosing it to watch.

House: I've been a bit disappointed in House this season; 13 and Foreman are getting annoying. Plus I don't know where they're taking it. Also they've kind of run out of at least mildly plausible illnesses.

Jon & Kate Plus 8: I love this show, even if it does feature a lot of kids yelling. Plus Kate has polycystic ovaries like I do, so I find it hopeful to watch. Also, their kids are super polite, and aren't allowed to run amuck like a lot of kids these days.

Lost: I haven't watched any of this yet. I'm saving it until Top Chef is over, so I can reduce the amount of shows I'm trying to keep up with at least a little.

*Whew* I really need to eliminate some shows.
Now, on to Slumdog Millionaire...

When I initially heard the concept for this movie (set in India, a guy from the slums goes on India's version of Who Wants to be a Millionaire), I thought it sounded stupid. But after it won almost every Golden Globe it was up for, I thought I should see it. And it was AMAZING. The millionaire stuff was the cover for the plot--but he ends up getting arrested because they think he's cheating, and for each question he tells a bit of his history and how he knew the answer to it. And he gets the girl AND the million (dollars, I guess...it was something like 10 million rupees), and then they all do a Bollywood style dance in the train station. Ah, excellent.

It's back to reality tomorrow, alas.

Weeks till Spring Break: 6.

Frustration

Well, the first week back certainly wasn't what I could have wished it to be.

Here's a quick run-down of my classes:

Discrimination and Inequality. This class has a lot of papers/readings (typical), some of which should be interesting and others of which are just ridiculous. Example: In a reading detailing forms of oppression, it picked marriage as the example to use for exploitation. Marriage. Really. The teacher is ok, at least, and I don't think getting a P should be too taxing.

Integrated Practice. This class is half direct, half macro and looks to be *gasp* actually informative. Unlike last semester, we're learning things we can actually use...in practice. I'm kind of shocked they're teaching us this. Too bad the macro teacher is an anti-Catholic lesbian (nothing against lesbians...I just don't like this one. It'll probably end up being mutual if she keeps making snide comments about Catholics).

Human Development II: Adulthood. More of the same from last semester. Hopefully less reading off the powerpoint slides like we can't do that ourselves.

Foundations of Evidence-Based Practice. This is a class about research and program evaluation. As such, it is potentially useful but dead boring. And also wayyyy too much work.

Foundation Field Seminar II. More of the same again--ie, could be useful and fun but isn't because they give us stupid assignments.

So, overall, more of the same--overwork, unnecessary assignments, and throughout a sense of being a guniea pig as every one of my teachers this semester has said, "We don't really know what we're doing since it's the first time we've done it...". In 2 classes they're trying to incorporate an online component which ends up being way more work than just reading articles and stuff. I wish I hadn't picked the year they decided to completely redo the curriculum...

In addition to all the classroom stuff, my fellow students and I seem to be on increasingly different wavelengths, with my feeling like I'm marooned on an island of permissive liberalism. Our stances on abortion are certainly radically different; it's not a solution for teen pregnancy, no matter what they might think. So, being back is frustrating on many levels.

Including being back at JFS. Admittedly I like it there much more than I like being on campus, but I'm already about 30 hours over where I should be, am having to work a lot of Friday evening events (which, since I've started working group programs for the Arc on Fridays, means I have to cut my work hours), manage two groups and sit on a committee (which usually have meetings Monday night, which I usually use for doing reading), 4 clients, and working on a grant, I am already looking like the living dead. And I've only been back a week. My dilemma now is, do I quit early because I'm so ahead in hours (we're allowed to do that), or do I just keep going and end up 50ish hours over at the end of the semester?

I'm also trying to figure out what classes to take next year (made more confusing by the fact that nobody knows what they're doing because it's new, of course) and where to intern. We have to have it all figured out by the second week in February. Here's hoping I make it that far.

A Look Back

Apparently, the future meant to bring a wicked bad cold that kept me in bed for 3 days (literally. Today was the first day I'd been out of the house since Monday. ) And a reality check--when I finally got back today all my textbooks had been delivered and I had (alas!) homework, several meetings to schedule, laundry, dozens of e-mails, and work tomorrow--not to mention a pile of errands I had meant to do over the course of several days and am now doing...before work tomorrow. Urgh.

SO, to stave off impending reality just a bit longer, I'm going to recap some of my favorite books/movies of 2008 (movies that came out in 2008, the books are those that I just read this past year). Because I feel like it.

Movies
My top ten movies of 2008: (in no particular order)

• Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day. Great costumes, music, and a happy ending. My favorite kind of movie.
• Valkyrie. Tension, WWII, and Nazis getting what they deserve. I could do without Tom Cruise's freaky fake eye, though.
• The Tale of Desperaux. This movie was very well animated, and I thought the story held some important moral lessons for kids (heck, for adults too). Plus it had Emma Watson in it.
• The Dark Knight. Wayyy better than the original Batman movies. If Heath Ledger doesn't get an Oscar, it's a tragedy, just like his death.
  
• 27 Dresses. Chick flick? Obviously. But again, a happy ending and an entire movie about weddings, which, as you all know, was a bit of an obsession for me this past year.
• Sex and the City. This movie had some stupid moments (Carrie's ridiculous bird wedding hat being one of them) but the look on Steve's face when he and Miranda got back together was worth it.
• Wall-E. Adorable robots, great animation,and, you guessed it, a happy ending (beginning to see a theme here?).
  
• Baby Mama. Tina Fey + Amy Poehler=Hilarious. No matter what they're doing. Even Brian thought this one was funny.
• Australia. Good costumes and sets, a really interesting and captivating story, and, of course, a happy ending. Mostly.
• Young@Heart. Old people singing rock songs sounds dumb..but it was AMAZING.
  

As for the WORST movies of 2008, here are my tops:

• Penelope. She looked better with her pig snout..which kind of gets rid of the whole purpose of the story.
  
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull...aliens?? really?
  
• Wanted. The only good part of that movie was when Morgan Freeman said, "Shoot me, motherf***er". There's just something wrong there.
• Hancock. This was just dumb all around. Shame on you, Will Smith.
• 21. Winner winner, chicken dinner. Alas, this film was not a winner.
• Fool's Gold. Generally I like romantic comedies. But Matthew McHoweveryouspellit got hit too many times with things that went "clang!" for this to be funny.
• Twilight. I've posted on this before so I won't repeat myself.

Clearly the Academy and I differ.

Books

What sticks out to me about books this year is my newfound addiction to the Pink Carnation series by Lauren Willig and the Inspector Lynley series by Elizabeth George. There are also a few standouts by non-series books:

• The Thirteenth Tale. I just finished this, and it was one of the best books I've read in a long time. It was...magical. I really, REALLY, recommend it.
• Julie & Julia. Cooking + chick lit=a book for me. Which is also getting made into a movie. BONUS!
• Brideshead Revisited. This was like a serious Jeeves & Wooster. I missed Tuppy and Stinker Pinker and all his weird pals...but not for long.
• The Blind Assassin. I love Margaret Atwood, and this was one of her best.
• The Perfect Summer: England 1911, Just Before the Storm. Only I would pick up and read a book like this...but it was very good and I recommend it if you like social history.
• The Memory Keeper's Daughter. I had written this off as a mindless best seller...but it's not.
  
• Mister Pip. I read this for a class..but this story of the embattled natives of Papua, New Guinea, involved one of my favorite books (Great Expectations) in such a fantastic way I couldn't have ever imagined it...but it was just right.

Ahh. What a refreshing look back. Now to the present..but more on that later.

Sudden Changes

2008 certainly brought its share of changes--graduating, getting engaged, moving into an apartment on my own, starting grad school....but the 2nd day of 2009 brought one of the most sudden: On Friday, Brian's dad had some chest pain just as he was about to start a surgery, and was forced by the hospital administrators to have it checked out. Nobody thought it was going to be very serious, so we weren't worried--until they got the tests back to find that all his arteries were 90-95% blocked. So I basically threw Brian and Maddy in the car and drove to New Bern in the middle of the night (NOT fun), and they're doing his dad's surgery today. I'm actually just waiting for the call that he's gone into surgery, and then i'll go over and sit in the waiting room. (I think Dante was wrong--i'm pretty sure purgatory looks like a hospital waiting room where they never come out to tell you how it's going. My mom had neck surgery when I was in the 8th grade, and I just remembered sitting there as being so utterly miserable. Ironically, it was Brian's dad who did that surgery, and while my mom was in the hospital was the first time I met Brian, even if he doesn't remember it--he was in 9th grade then and went by BJ. teehee.)

So, in short, i'm back home for the week unexpectedly and back to my old habits of forcing Brian to sleep and eat. I'm sad that we're missing out on what we had planned--he was going to spend a few days at my apartment and had only been there about 2 hours when we had to leave--but glad that his dad didn't have any heart damage and was lucky enough to be in the hospital when it happened. Who knows what the future will bring...

Resolutions

Since it's New Year's, I thought it would be good measure to make some resolutions (here, where other people can read them and I can't "forget" about them)...

• Eat healthy. This means more fruits & vegetables, and less pasta. This could be a hard one.
• Eat less sugar. I'm doing pretty good on this one, really....i've pretty much cut out any kind of candy or sugary snack, and only eat one helping of dessert at parties or dinners and such, if I eat anything--at restaurants it's easy to refuse since I save money too. Plus I finally hid the Godiva's box I got for Christmas and am trying to ignore it. I miss dessert, but it made me so cranky and miserable it's just not worth it.
  
• Complain less.
  
• Compliment people more.
• Don't quit school. (this sounds stupid, but as much as I am NOT looking forward to going back, it's realistic).

For a review of 2008, check back soon...

Goodbye, Christmas

Despite the fact that Brian continually insists that Christmas is 12 days long (ending on Epiphany, January 6), I already feel like it's over. I'm back in Chapel Hill, getting ready for work tomorrow --and for once, I really wasn't ready to leave home. Christmas wasn't as awful as I had anticipated (it was actually very nice, despite the un-Christmasy temperatures) and for the first time in a very, very, VERY long time, I had nothing to do and didn't feel guilty/bored. I spent most of Friday and Saturday reading and sleeping (helped along by a seriously bad headache on Saturday), and I have to say I wish I could do more of it. Work last week was beyond exhausting, and I ended up covered in bruises and barely able to move (thank you, whoever decided to send autistic kids to the roller rink). I'm hardly looking forward to it this week, besides that fact that no one will be in town for New Year's Eve--hence, I'll have to spend it alone. I think I was dreading most coming back here and being lonely--thankfully Brian comes back on Friday, as we have to go to a wedding on Saturday.

But enough for the negative.

For Christmas this year, I have to say my favorite gifts were decorations I can put up next year--I found it really hard to get in the spirit when all I had was a wreath on the door. I got a little plush tree on a stand (John), a Santa mug (Lara), a "Santa's Favorite Cat" pillow with a picture of Maddy (Brian's family) a Snowbabies statuette with penguins (Brian's grandma), and some snowman mugs/dessert plates (Dad). It's nice to start collecting things like that, and hopefully it will make next year's Christmas more...Christmasy. I also got a GPS (which is a seriously good thing, if you know how much I get lost) and a new iPod, as my old one died a watery death back in the spring when my thermos leaked. Not to mention a new thermos, one of those metal ones rather than the plastic ones, which I've heard are bad for you, and anyway start to smell after a day or two, and are hard to wash.

I also went to see Valkyrie, against my better judgement because I can't stand Tom Cruise these days but Brian asked, and he so rarely wants to see movies that I couldn't turn him down. It ended up being really good, in part because Tom Cruise's massive ego, which usually overpowers any character he's playing (Mission:Impossible 3, anyone?) actually contributed to the character, which was one of the major players in the plot to assassinate Hitler in 1944. I recommended it if you like dramatic WWII movies (there aren't many explosions, etc., but the plot made up for it).

Life Lessons

It seems that my main Christmas gift this year has been to learn a whole bunch of life lessons in a very short time span...

1.) Don't speed. This seems like a no brainer..but it is very tempting to drive 70 when you are on country roads when no one is in front of you. Note to self: Don't. Or you'll get another ticket and then you'll lose your license.

2.) Circular highway exits can be treacherous. They may lead you right into the cars of African-American obama-shirt-wearing women who are not too nice about it.

3.) Don't let your cat encounter your mom's cat(s). This will result in blood and an emergency vet visit, and a week's worth of tracking her down so you can put antibiotic ointment on her eye.

4.) I am not the only kid with divorced parents who hates Christmas (or for that matter,all holidays). I think we should mutiny and pick one spot where we can stay the whole day.

5.) Good movies with moral lessons DO exist...in the form of The Tale of Desperaux, a great movie with a good plot, animation, and voice-overs. I recommend it, especially for kids growing up in our ridiculous environment (just today in the newspaper there were letters to Santa, most featuring ridiculous lists of toys and video games. Alas, consumerism).

6.) Really young kids are now getting engaged/married...case in point, my stepbrother, who is 19 and just proposed to his 18-year-old girlfriend. Also the masses of people I know who are younger than me I see in the wedding announcements every time I open the paper. Perhaps I am just a 23-year-old fogie, but this scares me.

Now, having learned all these lessons, I must go forth and work tomorrow. Merry Christmas to me.