Things I want to buy

I have some hard core shopping fever. Including a list of stuff to buy at Target a mile long. Some of which I actually need. So I probably will buy zero to none of these things, but it's nice to look. And hey, maybe I'll manage one or two of them.

First:





















This tshirt from Urban Outfitters. My mom collects nesting dolls, so I'm always vulnerable to nesting doll themed items. AND there are tiny houses on it, which I love. This one might be managable at $22.

Second:












This weaving kit from the Land of Nod. I have no clue what I would weave, but this thing is awesome. It's only 35 dollars too, which is probably as affordable as looms get. Nonetheless, I doubt I can justify this so this one's a dream.

Third:


















These socks look super comfy and super warm. And they're only 6 bucks a pair. These may be the first to fall. www.sock-dreams.com

Fourth:























There's no way in hell I can afford this dress. It makes me wish I worked in an office though because then I might need it AND might have the $ to justify it. Found at http://www.reddressshoppe.com/Dresses.htm via http://www.16sparrows.com/blog/

Movie Illiterate

A while ago, kottle.org posted a list of the 100 movies you should have seen to consider yourself movie literate (acc. to Jim Emerson):
"...they [are] the movies you just kind of figure everybody ought to have seen in order to have any sort of informed discussion about movies. They're the common cultural currency of our time, the basic cinematic texts that everyone should know, at minimum, to be somewhat "movie-literate."

Here's the list and the ones I've seen have an *
* 2001: A Space Odyssey
The 400 Blows
8 1/2
Aguirre, the Wrath of God
* Alien
All About Eve
* Annie Hall
* Apocalypse Now
* Bambi
The Battleship Potemkin
*The Best Years of Our Lives
The Big Red One
The Bicycle Thief
The Big Sleep
* Blade Runner
Blowup
* Blue Velvet
Bonnie and Clyde
Breathless
Bringing Up Baby
*Carrie
Casablanca
*Un Chien Andalou
Children of Paradise / Les Enfants du Paradis
Chinatown
* Citizen Kane
* A Clockwork Orange
The Crying Game
The Day the Earth Stood Still
Days of Heaven
Dirty Harry
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
* Do the Right Thing
La Dolce Vita
*Double Indemnity
* Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
* E.T. -- The Extra-Terrestrial
Easy Rider
* The Empire Strikes Back
The Exorcist
* Fargo
* Fight Club
*Frankenstein
The General
The Godfather
The Godfather, Part II
* Gone With the Wind
* GoodFellas
* The Graduate
Halloween
A Hard Day's Night
Intolerance
It's a Gift
It's a Wonderful Life
*Jaws
The Lady Eve
*Lawrence of Arabia
M
*Mad Max 2 / The Road Warrior
*The Maltese Falcon
The Manchurian Candidate
*Metropolis
Modern Times
* Monty Python and the Holy Grail
Nashville
The Night of the Hunter
Night of the Living Dead
* North by Northwest
Nosferatu
On the Waterfront
Once Upon a Time in the West
Out of the Past
Persona
Pink Flamingos
*Psycho
* Pulp Fiction
Rashomon
* Rear Window
Rebel Without a Cause
Red River
Repulsion
The Rules of the Game
Scarface
The Scarlet Empress
* Schindler's List
The Searchers
The Seven Samurai
Singin' in the Rain
Some Like It Hot
A Star Is Born
A Streetcar Named Desire
Sunset Boulevard
Taxi Driver
The Third Man
Tokyo Story
* Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
Trouble in Paradise
*Vertigo
* West Side Story
The Wild Bunch
* The Wizard of Oz

That's only 38. Pathetic. Although there a few that I've seen in enough 30 minutes chunks that in theory I could count them including Godfather, Chinatown, Bonnie and Clyde, etc. And then I've seen other films by the people that made these films like Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, You Can't Take it With You, City Lights, etc. But seriously I'm ashamed of myself. How can I have not seen Godfather 2, It's a Wonderful Life, Casablanca, Taxi Driver, On the Waterfront, etc, etc, etc. I'm almost too ashamed to post this.

Wedding season

Last fall, two of my best friends in the world got engaged within a week or two of each other. I found about one of those engagements while I was in New York at another wedding. It was wedding-rific. Those two weddings plus my cousin's wedding (she got engaged earlier) are all making this wedding season. This is a little hard to blog about because I don't want to put up anyone's picture without their permission. And I don't want to get their permission because this is a secret blog. Life is so complicated.



Anyway, this first picture is of my cousin's wedding cake. Beautiful isn't it? The second pic is the most revealing person-wise but I think enough of the faces are covered that it will be okay. This is S's wedding in India in February. I was so disappointed I couldn't (afford to) go--it was the time I've regretted choosing grad school the most. It's one thing to get hair cuts less frequent and put off car repairs. It's another thing to miss major life events. Anyway, S is having a reception in Baltimore over Labor Day that Stephan and I will be attending. Yay!!! The third picture is the dress my friend A picked out for her October wedding. I love this dress and it's perfect for A. I'm in that one and I'm super psyched. And last but not least is a picture of Lane and Zach from Gilmore Girls who got married an episode ago. It was a really great, really funny, really touching three part fictional wedding. Huzzah wedding season!

Boston Terrier puppies

I saw an ad for three Boston Terrier puppies today. I want one SO BAD. Damn my stupid irresponsible life. This little guy I found online, but I kind of imagine my would-be puppy would look just like this. For the time being, I have three new little froggies that don't need to be walked a few times a day. Their names are Dale Davis, Ron Santo, and Clarence Verdan. They're super cute. Almost as cute as a boston terrier pup.

If I were moving to Europe . . .

So my cousin Jungle Navigator(http://www.myconcretejungle.blogspot.com/) is moving across the deep and blogged about what she would want to bring, movie, music, book-wise. Here's what I would bring:

Movies/DVDs: Pride and Prejudice miniseries, Freaks and Geeks, Bend it Like Beckham, 12 Monkeys, Vertigo, Big Lebowski, Star Wars, City of Lost Children.

Music: my IPOD!!!! Oh man, not only would I be able to bring ALL my music, but also my favorite podcasts (Cinecast, Ricky Gervais) and maybe even a few favorite episodes of some favorite tv shows (The Office, Lost, etc).

Book-wise: Jane Eyre, P&P, Our Mutual Friend, Lolita, From Bondage to Contract, The Road to Reno, a new Murakami, The Ground Beneath Our Feet, Alice Munro, Songbook.

Strangely, these don't correlate that directly with my favorite stuff. Or rather I would say that most of this stuff is on my favorites list, but not all of my favorites are on this list. That makes sense for the books, since I would want to bring/buy stuff I hadn't read yet, but it's weird that The Graduate, You Can Count on Me, Shadow of a Doubt, etc, didn't make the break! Sorry favorite movies--you're too intense for too much repeat viewing!!!!!!!!!!!!

Guilty Pleasures

I feel like there are two levels of guilty pleasures. Ones I'm more than happy to admit to(level A) and ones I'm less willing to admit to (level B).

Level A:
Little House on the Prairie (the books)
America's Next Top Model
Degrassi
Fleetwood Mac
Guitar Hero
Daytime movies on TCM (I mean the bad ones like Heaven Knows Mr. Allison, not the good ones like His Girl Friday)


Level B:
Little House on the Prairie (the show)
The View
So Notorious
McDonalds
anything Gwen Stefani
"If It Makes You Happy" by Sheryl Crow
Rolling Rock
The Cubs

Drawing Rest

Yesterday I saw Drawing Restraint 9 (or Drawing Rest as the marquee put it; the wife member of the theater owner pair thought DR9 might be better). I am relieved to say I am too old for this. I have seen all 5 Cremasters. Sober. I appreciated them at the time. But I just can't do this anymore.

Not to mention that the whole time I kept thinking Barney was swinging off Wes Anderson's nuts.

You Belong in London

A little old fashioned, and a little modern. A little traditional, and a little bit punk rock. A unique woman like you needs a city that offers everything. No wonder you and London will get along so well.

What City Do You Belong In?

How awesomely accurate is that?

Degrassi: The Next Generation

So Degrassi is BACK on the N. Now. I am not Canadian. I am not a pregnant teenager. I am not a teenager. As a teenager, I was not stalked on the internet. I'm not bipolar. I'm not gay. I'm not a battered girlfriend. My mom wasn't a pregnant teenager. I don't have parents who are alcoholics or absent. What I'm saying is I don't love this show because I can relate. But. I do love this show. It's awesome. Do Canadians (Jungle Navigator I'm talking to you here) think less of me for loving it? Are they repulsed by the blatant evidence of my Canadian fever? I don't care. Degrassi is awesome.

The first two episodes of this season were pretty good. I liked that the birth of Liberty and JT's baby was the B story, not because I hate these characters or that storyline, but because I think that it's appropriately respectful to keep it low key. We went through the drama when they hid the pregnancy/dealt drugs to provide for the baby/decided to give the baby up. I think the quiet reference allowed them to keep their dignity. And yes I know these are fictional characters. I also felt that the Paige/Alex thing was handled well. Yeah, we already had a coming out story, etc, but it was interesting to see Paige deal with losing her identity as the straight kid in the family. I'm upset about Snake. And I'm happy they're letting Craig leave with minor Ellie/Manny drama. That said, what the fuck are they making Manny wear lately? Slutty and dowdy. How do they manage that?

I think this is the part where I talk about my favorite characters. Okay, first I miss Shaun and Terri A LOT. They were two of my very very favorites. I have a soft spot for Manny because she's Filipina. And I love Ellie and Emma. I know Emma's lame; shut up.

And in fact I OWN tiny fimo beads of these characters as fetuses. Along with a couple Ricks. Please go support Fetopia (http://www.fetopia.net/signature/celebrity.html). People who create things this awesome deserve to be rich and famous. Look how awesome:

Blogging Etiquette

So I've been reading http://thebusynothingsreport.blogspot.com/ due to a link on Romancing the Tome. And it was there I discovered that not only is it NOT lame to thank someone that linked to your blog, it's also POLITE to thank someone that linked to your blog. Who knew? So this is a belated thanks to Romancing the Tome (http://www.romancingthetome.blogspot.com/) I was super giddy when it happened. Ask Stephan. By the way, I also really enjoy The Busy Nothings Report. Both RTT and TBNR embody my favorite kind of old timey-anglophile vibe. Go old-timey anglophile vibe!

Wear some flowers in your hair, damnit

So I was in SF with Stephan this past weekend for my cousin's wedding. My mom/cousin/uncle/the professional photographer have all the wedding photos but here a few of my favorites from the tourism part. I'd just like to make the disclaimer that my hair was not happy about the rain starting, stopping, frizzing, etc.

Indiana, Oh, Indiana

So the Simpson had a really great reference to Indiana in their last episode. In it, the nuclear power plant gets outsourced to India, and Homer goes along as the single union member they need to keep it legit. Upon arriving, this conversation takes place:


Homer: Wait, this isn’t India! Where’s the University of Notre Dame, the Indy 500, Wrigley Field, Dodger Dogs?

Woman standing next to him: You ignorant American. You have confused India with Indiana, Indiana with Illinois, and the Cubs with the Dodgers.


I love it. In honor of this magical Simpsons moment, I guess now is the appropriate time to talk about how much fierce and bizarre Indiana pride I have. Despite it being a red state with, to be honest, not that much going on. Or maybe it's because it's a red state with not much going on that I feel the need to defend it. I will say this. Indiana, though red, has a significant blue tinge: the farm aid vibe, Unigov, one of the more tolerable Republican senators (hi Lugar!), one of the less tolerable Democratic senators (hi Bayh!) though his dad was great, and the home state of Eugene V. Debs. I will not mention all the horrible things Indiana has done politically. I also like that Indiana represents a sort of middle America vibe, from Middletown on out. Anyway, if you would like to pretend that you are also from the glorious Hoosier state, here is a list of movies that are about or include scenes from Indiana:

Hudsucker Proxy
North by Northwest
Hoosiers
Going all the way
Breaking away
The Man Who Knew Too Much
History of Violence
October Sky
Madison
Rudy
The Opposite of Sex
Alice Adams
The Magnificent Ambersons
Brown Bunny
A Christmas Story
Close Encounters of a Third Kind
The Hoosier Schoolmaster
The Gentleman from Indiana
In and Out
All the Young Men
Night and Day

RIP Rik and Vern

Kafka on the Shore

My parents bought me the hardcover copy of Kafka on the Shore for Xmas this year. Usually I prefer softcover, but I didn't want to wait until next Xmas to get it or God forbid--buy it myself--so hardcover it was. All that said, I hadn't managed to get to it by mid-March so I brought it to Boston.

So I guess I should preface this by saying that I really love Murakami. I find him really comforting to read, especially when I'm stressed out or upset, because his stuff is incredibly absorbing and though often sad, it's not devastating like I feel a lot of contemporary literature is. I also like Murakami because he's consistently good. I may have favorites but there aren't any that I've been disappointed in. I've read Hard-boiled Wonderland, South of the Border, Wind Up Bird Chronicle, and most of After the Quake.

Anyway, so Kafka itself. Wind-Up Bird is my favorite, but this is a close second. Murakami always has the nice mystery, and this one was well done. I loved the fake military reports in the beginning, partly because they really sounded like they were written by the WWII military social scientists I encounter doing research. I read a lot of this stuff and it's got a vibe, and Murakami captured it. This one also had a nice batch of characters. I wound up really fond of Nakata. Kafka himself was good. And I loved Oshima. I feel like I should have more to say about what was great about this book, but really I'd just be making shit up, so I'll leave it at that.

I was less convinced by the Oedipus parts. And I'm also not quite sure of what I think about Kafka and Miss Saeki doing their thing. Which is an appropriate thought to be left with, because I'm moving on to Lolita next. Lolita is tangentially related to my dissertation(ha! almost anyway), so I can pretend it's work.

Presents for Me

So, lest you worry I only buy things for others, here are some things I've bought myself. These iron transfers are from Joann's. The eskimo ones are racist. I'm a horrible person.

Then I also bought these silhouettes on ebay. If I do say so myself, they're really gorgeous.

Presents for R

So I'm sending my friend R a present. She's currently teaching English in Korea. I hope she likes this stuff. So stuff I bought:

R loves finger puppets. I also included a tiny paint box and this set I found in the dollar section of Target. You build little cardboard houses. I mf love it. I made her a few things too, including:

these pompoms. I found the tutorial at http://belladia.typepad.com/bella_dia/. They're super fun to make. And inspired by Angry Chicken's mail order club http://angrychicken.typepad.com/angry_chicken/, I made this:

I wrapped the new trident gum packs in wrapping paper and then made some secret club cards to put in it. Most people would think this is incredibly lame, but I think R will like it.