I hope you all watched the Dem convention. If you didn't, and therefore missed Clinton, Edwards, and Kerry, for shame. Clinton was superb, Edwards held himself back to make sure that he didn't overshadow Kerry, and Kerry made the speech of a lifetime. And that ends my political commentary for the day.
Other news. Bourne Supremacy. Awesome. Would have been better had I remembered BEFORE 5 minutes into the movie that I didn't see the first one, and consequently had had time to go out and rent it first, but hey, I was only confused for about fifteen minutes or so. Not too bad. This movie has the car chase that the Matrix aspired to create. AND it has Matt Damon. And Julia Stiles in a surprisingly unannoying, non-bitchy role. I like that for her. I was insulted, however, by the captions that continually proclaimed "London, England", "Berlin, Germany", "Moscow, Russia", and, the final insult, "New York City, New York". GOD. Otherwise, splendid.
Also, Sleepover. Everything that Mean Girls did right, everything that I hoped for, Sleepover did wrong. It's every possibly high school cliché fit into one movie, in fact, into the first TEN MINUTES of the movie. After discussing walking out, Ashley and I decided that a Wynnsong movie is too expensive to leave, and instead turned off our quality filter, the way you have to do to watch, say, Old School or Bad Santa, and pointed and laughed our way through it. Forget "That's so fetch," try on "That's so plush" for size. My favorite part is at the end where the mother finds out the girls snuck out and went to a bar and the daughter's like, Mom, it's okay, it's just part of being adolescent! and her mother's like, aww, I guess you're right, you're growing up, and they have a nice little lovey-dovey family moment. The girl in question is 14. My ass would be so dead. But my reality was very far suspended by that point, and I only woozily registered that something ELSE unbelievable was going on.
Then, Birdie. There is no one I would have rathered see that with than Joan. Except perhaps Holly AND Joan. But I don't know if the surrounding audience could have stood the comedy. Highlights of course include Ryder, who dances and sings like nobody's business. I don't know how we never noticed that when we, I don't know, DID A MUSICAL WITH HIM. Huh. Move over, Brian Hinman. He's cute, too. Also, Whitney was adorable, Jennifer, Brooke, and Jodi were fantastically cute, and Hugo was absolutely perfect. For such a large show, it was actually remarkably well put together. (I'm speaking, of course, of my sets. No, just kidding, I'm not that vain. Or am I...?) And DeWayne's black and white scene is brilliance. Kathy Tallent in a black and white mink and her head in the oven. That's what I'm talking about. Oh, and drama in the audience, because we take it with us wherever we go: "It's like Wicked, you know, the part where she says I'm Wicked! and flies off? And it happens exactly like that, too." There are more highlights, but I must not speak of them. I'm too busy being enraptured, anyways.
Kisses for K eiran, who can fit both his feet in his mouth AND go to jail at the same time. He's been practicing.
The Village tonight. Too bad the greater Knoxville area had the same idea. It was still good, though, even with people breathing down my neck on all sides. ::shudder:: I can't stand sitting next to people I don't know at the movies. Anyroo, go see it quick before you find out what the ending is. If I'd had it spoiled for me, it wouldn't have had any draw. The Sixth Sense was horribly spoiled for me and yet I still loved it. This will not be that movie. But if the element of surprise is still there, it's good. It's well-acted, at any rate. And if it's slightly predictable, well, Chris didn't notice until a good five or ten minutes after the secret had been revealed AND explained. Is okay, we love you anyways ...
Oh, Holly called it, bringing her to 4/4, if you're keeping score. Which we are. I apparently have the power to project whatever unholy inspiration this is across half a theatre, too. Because, I mean, the ending in under 20 minutes? Not too shabby. But seriously, y'all, she only does this when I'm there. It's ruining all the good twists! (Kidding, 'Caust. Or if I'm not, your Running Comedy more than makes up for it. Loves you too.)
Oh, I was Asian tonight for a brief moment of time. Chris squished my face together and then told me to open my eyes and, Voila! I was Asian! I felt so much smarter all of the sudden! Ooh, but you know what else will make you feel smart? Not only a 5 on 5/5, but 4 more to keep the one company. BAM. Collegeboard Is My Bitch.
Now, gotta translate that to the colleges. The List has become even more tentative as I've started filling out applications. UNC has been dropped and added and dropped, Columbia has been dropped and added back on with more force than ever before, even if I have to pay the damn application fee (which I do), Princeton is most likely gone forever, and Emory might be shortly behind. The only certainties now are that if I could spend the next four years of my life at UVa, Wash U, or Duke, I do believe I could sleep without worrying too much about my accruing debt, AND without feeling that I gypped myself out of a prestigious education. So, three first choices ... and Columbia as FirstFirst choice but with a tradeoff (that's the place where I lie awake at night thinking about how they're going to Own My Soul when I graduate, but love it anyways) ... I'm going to comfort myself by saying that's pretty decent odds.
Oh, just so you can all worry about me driving even more, I'd like to share that I discovered today that my truck does not have anti-lock breaks. Funny. Funny in a my-heart-ceased-to-beat sort of way.
Lastly, Go:
You can't say Nuclear;
That really scares me.
Sometimes a brain can
Come in quite handy.
That's how I like my fucking irony.
You ... I really hope you have some sort of explanation, and soon, before I have more time to brood. And I won't be lowering myself to asking for it, so consider this your one subtle hint.
Here we come, right back where we started from.
... I have nothing to add to the comedy of that.Four Tennessee inmates escape for beer run, return to jail to party
07/21/04Associated Press
ROGERSVILLE, Tenn. -- The party's over for four jail inmates accused of walking away from an unlocked cell block, buying more than two cases of beer and returning to share it with other prisoners.
Ridgy Dean Coleman, Jimmy Joe Stapleton, David Wayne Blizzard and David Allen Hopkins were charged Monday with escape and introduction of intoxicants into a penal institution.
The escape happened Thursday night after cell block doors at the Hawkins County Jail were accidentally left unlocked and a faulty control panel failed to alert jailers, Sheriff Warren Rimer said.
Two of the inmates then walked out through a fire exit, left the door propped open with a small Bible and made a hole in the exercise yard fence.
They walked to a nearby market, bought some beer and returned to the jail.
When the booze ran out, the other two inmates made another beer run to a different store.
Authorities believe the inmates bought a total of three 12-packs and an 18-pack of beer.
"I guess they thought if they came back they wouldn't be charged with escape," Rimer said, "but they were wrong."
The store visits didn't raise alarm because the inmates were wearing street clothes borrowed from other prisoners. The crowded jail doesn't have enough orange jumpsuits for all inmates.
"It's an unfortunate incident, and the inmates involved are going to be punished," Rimer said. "It wasn't really anybody's fault."
The sheriff pointed out that all 36 inmates on the cell block could have tried to escaped while the doors were unlocked.
"At least they came back," he said.
Oh, hell, have some more funny. War On Fox starts there and goes allllll week.
Additionally, as long as this post has already gone off in this general direction, anyone who's considering voting for Nader - Don't waste your vote that way. Do you really need convincing? All right. It's Republicans who are the ones donating the $2000 maximum personal contribution to his campaign. The same right-wing Republicans that are anti-choice and anti-environment are suddenly Pro-Nader. Nader may be stupider than we thought he was, but they're not. Don't fall for this, guys. Succumb to the The Lesser of Two Evils school of thought. It's rational over here.
"Why can't the city attract more minorites to the police department? Well, because black guys are afraid of water."
Don't ask, don't tell.
Nappy D, what's UP?! I have just spent two hours laughing out loud. You know that Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head sequence in Spiderman? Well, this entire movie is That giddy. You must all go see it now. Now. You'll find that just the opening credits sequence is worth ticket price and gas and non-stadium-seating. Your Mom goes to college. And, Get Out Of My Life And Shut Up, which I think would be a really good name for a song by, say, Blink or Less Than Jake. The Killer Time shot is priceless. And the Mexicans, because they hit so close to home. And so, so many more ... I'm going to have to go see it again so's I can remember what exactly was causing me to point and laugh tears. Not that I need a good excuse to see this movie again. Do you still need reasons? Kay. Tetherball. Ligers. Glamour shots. Billowing. Are you still here? Go, already. Your wildest dreams will come true...
Nearly as funny, but in a totally different way, is Dodgeball. I was skeptical. Holly swore up and down. And wouldn't you know it - she had a point. American Dodgeball Association ... of America. The Ocho. Chuck Norris. "So, what're you dying of?" It's got these shining moments of brilliance that are totally unexpected - like the two tons of irony. So perfect. A little less plain ol' good-hearted, but we can't ALL be Pollyannas. So, with only slightly less enthusiasm, I recommend this one as well, if for no other reason than Steve The Pirate. You had me at blood and semen.
Oh, OH. That pinata thing. It's so ... enticing. You'll see. You, and you, and you, you'll want to plan the exact same thing I am right now. It'd be quite a way to get out some pent-up frustration, PLUS we get candy. Please?
Build her a cake or something.
So, I'm too scattered right now to try again. But I feel as though I should at least affirm my existance because my page looks all neglected and whatnot. I'm alive, I'm happy, I'm healthy, and I direct your attention to Marathon Funny, where I, as usual, have made a fool of myself in ways I can't even remember. It's okay, I'm in good company.
I'll post about the wonder that is Wash U at some point. Yes, I've fallen in love again. Yes, I'm fickle. It happens. I think it's serious this time, though. Really.
More disturbingly, I'm losing myself when I'm driving again. I haven't done it in a long time, but I did it Thursday, and again last night. What happens is, I'm driving, I'm thinking or talking, and then I end up somewhere I was not trying to go. I don't drive recklessly or fast when I do this, I just waste my time and gas and usually terrify myself when I notice where I've ended up. Also, it tends to make me late going places, though that hasn't happened yet. I don't like it. I mean, I love the calm feeling of driving and clearing my mind ... this isn't the same, somehow. I don't feel relaxed when I've finished driving if this happens. More likely, even though I laugh about ending up somewhere I wasn't trying for, I'm on edge. And worried. I'm thinking too much again, too. Every time I get a call from a number I don't know, I tense up. I've been spending a lot of time at the Playhouse, to get it out of my system. It's been somewhat successful. And that's where I'm going now. To play with the power tools who have somehow always been so much more therapeutic for me than a bubble bath.
Thursday, Mother and I completely abandoned all pretenses of fighting fair in one of our most cataclysmic knock-down drag-out fights ever, after which I left the house, jumped in the car, put Wicked on, and drove. I meant to go to Turkey Creek, but then I didn't want to see people, and then none of the exits looked enticing, and my CD was still playing, so I just headed out. Windows down, head thrown back, sunglasses on, music loud. Barefoot. It was absolute perfection. I ended up in Sweetwater with the funny feeling that I was looking for something, but indication of what that might be. Whatever it was, I didn't find it. And when I finally found myself at home again, without really remembering how I got there, I was off for the rest of the night. Several rants were typed, and not posted, Thank Goodness.
Friday there was babysitting and power tools and a generally cheerful outlook on life. And I went out with Chris, and he was driving to dinner and I thought he had some idea of where he was going, but then he got off 40 at the West Hills exit, and proceeded to turn right on Kingston Pike and head all the way back to Farragut before he found something he wanted to eat. So I've spent an inordinately large amount of time in cars lately. And then, armed with tissues (not for me), we headed for The Notebook, which was much less sappy and much more tolerable than I thought that it would be. And then I had too much time to myself to think (why don't I ever go to BED at night?!) and got into A Mood again and more rants were lost to cyberspace, and good riddance to them.
Today I dragged my exhausted self out of bed a good 8 minutes before I was supposed to be at the high school for a flea market. My bad. So I went in pajamas and played the cute little girl, because that's the only thing I've found to do to get them to respond. But there were some adorable old people today - the one woman who told me to go back and charge her friend another $5 for something I'd missed the first time around, and her friend who said, loudly, that it was worth $5 to find out if a friend would do such a thing, and then they laughed. And the old man and woman who picked at each other the way Kyle and I do now. And the way that woman said, oh, we tease, but we think the world of each other, DON'T WE, as she brandished her cane over the man's head. They's adorable. And the ones who creeped me out? We won't dwell on that. I forget how lucky we are to be in Oak Ridge, as much as I bitch on about it. And then I had to work in the afternoon too because everyone's useless and I was bitchy about that until Dr. Luther started pouring on the praise for me as an officer, and then I realized I was being immature and I shut up and cleaned up the trash and sweated and planned the untimely demise of all those who turned me down.
Just kidding, I'm just going to make them all work the next two flea markets. Which, considering the temperatures outside these days, is actually a fate worse than death. So have fun with that, kids. I'll be calling the shots from air conditioning, now, because I definitely paid my dues today.
Summer's more than halfway over. I'm sorry, guys, but it's true. What've I done? I started some essays, gave up. I started summer reading, gave up. I'm reading books I love and I did a show I love and I'm having fun and messing around at the Playhouse again and generally enjoying myself and not just sitting around all day but I can't help feeling like I'm not doing enough. I feel like I'm behind, like I'm not preparing. Like the reading and the volunteering and the chores and the fun and all of that, like it's a waste of time unless it helps me for later. Just once, I want to get out from under that feeling. I want to not be preparing for anything anymore, I want to be ... doing it. Soon, I hope. But then there's internships and grad school and jobs ... Huh. Retirement. I'll be one of those old ladies at the flea market, selling the remarkable collection of junk I'll've ammassed over the years, with white hair and tacky jewelry, sniping at someone like Kyle. And then I'll be calm and there won't be a lecturing voice in my head. Until then ... loud music usually drowns it out.
And just as a summary of all the ups and downs of the past couple of days...
Who can say if I've been changed for the better?
But because I knew you, I have been changed for good.
"I know his strength. I know his conscience."
Thank Goodness.
4th of July fireworks off without a hitch, followed by frogs, gossip, sending Dustin home at 4 in the morning, and piling three people on a couch, comfortably. Preceded by Mike's birthday party, which, well, it wasn't so much horrible as it was just unpleasant. Too many rower boys, in their purest and most concentrated form. Funny how the boy I was most comfortable around is the one I know regards me with distaste a good portion of the time, with occasional bouts of amusement and tolerance, because I know exactly what he's thinking and it's completely mutual. It's the glasnost of that particular relationship that's so refreshing. I mean,
Me: Can I play poker with you guys?Really. And I'm perfectly fine with that. At least there's no surprises.
Boy: No, it's just a boys' game. I'm sorry, Joy.
Me: Dude, no you're not.
Boy: Yeah, I'm not. You're not playing. What's up?
Mini-Review: Spiderman 2
Beautiful. It's just that simple. That was a beautiful movie, the epitome of what a comic-book-turned-movie should be. When the opening credits had me spellbound, I knew stealing Black Lightning to get back on time was going to be completely worth it (don't ask. Loves you, Roo.). That sequence was spectacular, as was the Love Nest, the repeated hatred for cars, the pizza-stealing, The Tobey. The brilliance that was The Elevator Scene. The Raindrops Keep Falling on my Head sequence that kept a smile on my face for a good ten minutes. The Best Part? A setup for 3. So Bright, So Beautiful. I cannot reiterate enough. Go Get 'Em, Tiger
Mini-Review: Fahrenheit 9/11
Oh, MM. You could have so much more of an impact if you weren't so blatently subjective! I mean, honestly, most of your spin and bias will fly under the radar if you're less obvious about certain things - that opening sequence for Bagdad, for example, or the part where Bush's picture appears on screen as you say "stupid idiot" of someone else. Too much. You're above that. Present the disturbing facts, and let the masses draw their own conclusions. And the worthy will come to the conclusion you meant for them to have. And Disturbing facts, of course, are fast and furious here. Bush needs some new contacts, it would appear. Ones that aren't his daddy's friends, or Bin Ladens, or Saudi money managers, or associated with Halliburton in ANY way. And the Orwell quote? Was out of context. Why suddenly jump to Eurasia and Eastasia, and the use of war to keep a group of people down? That's not the issue here. It would have been a perfect ending quote for ... a completely different movie. In conclusion, flawed though it may be, it's still MM and it's still, for the most part, a justified and rational rant.
Read: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy
Reading: The Restaurant at the End of the Universe
Flicked: Alex and Emma and Badder Santa
This is really heavy.
