The summer bug

Things I should be doing while I'm home alone in the summertime:
*Posting stuff on my travel and video blogs
*Working on a website I'm supposed to be designing
*Getting ready for VidCon aka watching YouTube channels I've never seen before
*Watching Good Movies!
*Brushing up on technical film stuff. Reading all those film books I have lying around.
*Going outside.


Things I'm actually doing:
*Playing Diablo 3 almost nonstop and getting very excited when I sell something I found (mostly for game gold, but hey, I did sell something for $5.50--real money!)
*Watching Buffy, duh. Also other miscellaneous TV shows.
*Sitting on my balcony and just staring at the pond behind my apartment.
*Making feminist graphics on photoshop.
*Staying inside.

new things

so i know we said we'd be backing off of here and working more on side projects, which is true. but this is still the only place where the two of us post together! that's important to me. so here's a look at some things i have planned for the trope:

1. a buffy chat - lili and i have both started watching buffy the vampire slayer obsessively. we're going to have a pretty serious film-studyish chat about the show, the plot, the metaphors, joss whedon, and the clothes (i have A LOT to say about buffy's clothes) and post it here.

2. more movie (and book) reviews - i definitely have been meaning to do more serious, in-depth movie reviews. i've watched/read so much. and, if you have suggestions, we love suggestions. suggest!

3. youtube reviews - with john and hank green's many side projects and things like the new (weird? i find it weird) show wigs, amongst a ton of other cool stuff, youtube is definitely becoming a medium worth taking seriously. i'll review some of my favorite youtubers, providing you with plenty of links to the greatest videos i have ever seen.

happy summer!

Updates

Hi Tropers!
Erm.. yeah.. so you may have noticed The Trope isn't really an ongoing thing anymore. Sorry about that! The truth is, we had a lot of fun with it, but I guess we've moved on to other things. But don't worry! That doesn't mean you'll be stuck without reading our stuff. We've just sort of branched out onto our own stuff. So here's a nice pile of links for you to read what we're up to now.

Lili-
Videotrope: A tumblr about all things video--movies, tv shows, and even YouTube channels.
Undercover Tourist: A Wordpress blog about travel, with tips on traveling in general as well as restaurant/attraction recommendations.

Mollie-
the osprey: a tumblr of everything i ever wanted to reblog, plus a few posts of random tumblr media
the hybrid animal machine collective: another tumblr, but this time no reblogging! mostly right now it's screenshots from buffy the vampire slayer and a lot of my artwork.

We still love you!

Spring into Spring

Wow, I am really sorry we haven’t posted in so long! I hate to be so cliché, but life kind of got in the way. Don’t worry, we didn’t forget about you guys because we’re having a ball every day (well, actually, that was the case for two weeks, but more on that soon), we’ve just been swamped with a million responsibilities.

Now that we’ve gotten through that apology, let’s move on, shall we?

Happy Spring! It’s officially spring time, and you know what that means… Actually I have no idea what that means, really, but I know this week I’ve been noticing warmer weather, more plentiful sun, summery Starbucks drinks, and lots of people lying down or playing in the park.  It’s that time of year when it seems like *nobody* has a job. I mean, really, what are all these people doing in the park at 2PM on a Wednesday?

For me, I know this means it’s time to let my inner child out to play more often (hey, my inner child isn’t the one with responsibilities! right?).  That = me staying up much later than usual watching movies (last night: “The Goodbye Girl”) or the Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson, spending more time lying by my window and reading fantasy, and even going to the park and playing with sticks as my friend teaches me how to perform stage combat with a quarterstaff.  And for those of you affected by the seasons, this is your time!  No more dreary winter days and cold, biting winds to get you down.  Just sun, blue skies, and the promise of blooming.

I realize I sound overly energetic and optimistic right now, but this is important.  Because we all have things weighing us down, but the coming of spring is an excuse to let go of that for a day or two, have a good time, and raise our hopes up.  Cities in Spain have a holiday virtually every two or three weeks, and they’ll take advantage of any excuse to avoid work and just *live*.  And, really, I think the U.S. needs to learn a lesson or two from them.  So go!  Take a day trip, feel the sun warm your face, stay in bed with the shades open and read your favorite book.  Give yourself a little slack before the summer starts and the heat becomes a constant reminder of pressure.  This is spring!

A little dorky and serious

train of thought:
zelda's 25th anniversary! --> I'd like to play the very first zelda games --> but I'd have to buy some of the consoles --> I was too young for the NES --> but why didn't I ever get a gamecube? --> I want to have all the nintendo consoles --> but I just bought an N64 --> why did my dad give mine away? I could've just used my original N64; it'd be great --> well at least I have my original super nintendo. that's pretty awesome --> and it's still works and I play with it! --> that's kind of incredible --> but should it be incredible?
--> my iphone didn't last longer than 18 months.

Why is it that technology's getting progressively worse? Or is it that all modern day digitalization has a fast expiration date? Can we put a stop to this? I have two propositions:

1) Let's, as a cohesive whole, push for value in our electronics/technology/products, etc... We don't have the money, landfill space, or a real reason to be switching out all of our electronics every one to three years.  I am curious to see if there is a movement for this already.  It may seem insignificant compared to other issues, but changing our perception of consumerism could form a social unconscious that is generally more aware--of consequences, resources, sustainability, and economic factors, to name a few.

2) Nintendo, please don't ever make a Zelda app.

(For the record, if it seems like I'm targeting the video game industry in particular, I'm not.  Console and game developers such as Nintendo tend to appreciate and strive for longstanding value more than companies like Apple do, though I am hoping Apple's trend does not catch on too much with the gaming industry.)  

Equivalent song exchange

Merry December, fellow Tropeians! Remember how we mentioned October is a good month for us? November tends to be a bad month. But then--alas! December is a good month again.  We will try to post more than we did during October, but it might have to wait until next week. On to my super-short post.
There are two songs that have been swimming around in my head (often escaping through humming) for the past week. They've been battling it out up there, and I'm not sure who's going to win.

1. "Man Or Muppet"--Because The Muppets Movie was awesome. If you saw the movie and didn't like it, you have no heart. I never cry at movies, and I didn't cry with The Muppets, but I did almost tear up a little when I saw Mickey Rooney singing and dancing to "Life's A Happy Song" (another great song. it's got my vote for best original song oscar [not that my vote counts]). Man Or Muppet is less heartfelt and more hilarious.  Flight of the Conchords' Bret McKenzie's influence (whoa, sorry for those awkward possessives) is obvious with the absurdity of the song.

2. "Again" by Yui AKA the first opening for Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood--This opening is just beautiful. I love the animation and the song is pretty and catchy. It's a shame I can't actually sing along. But I wonder if it sounds even prettier because I don't understand the words and they're just nice sounds to me.  It's kind of a nice mystery.  As good as this intro is, though, I can't help but laugh every time around 0:50.  Why put Winry there at all? Nothing's actually happened to her. Oh no, wait, her legs became rubbery for a few seconds. Trauma.

Well, this muppet of a woman is out. We'll talk again in a week or so.

well that's embarassing

confession: i just watched never been kissed.

ag! i know. it's drowning in bad acting, terrible wardrobe, predictability, plot holes, etc. but i somehow convinced myself that it would be better coupled with my french homework. it wasn't.

but a small discovery was: it was james franco's first film! i noticed him lurking in the background in a black leather jacket looking all cute and james dean-y. and so i immediately imdb-ed. and yes! james franco's first film, everybody. take it or leave it.

unhealthy relationship music vids

anyone else notice the similarities between these two music videos?

the one that got away

we found love

of course katy perry's is cuter, and rihanna's is grittier. but still. you see it right?

i prefer the katy perry. johnny cash ref? diego luna? sold.

rihanna's is unsettling. (yeah, i mean the ass tat that says, "mine." is unsettling.)

lady jane

oh heyyy 1986.

i just spent the last half of my night watching the historical biopic lady jane. trevor nunn (a theatrical director with little film credit besides this) interprets the true historical account of lady jane grey, queen of england for nine days sometime in the 1500s, as a love story. but a tragic one--as in england, in the 1500s, political intrigue often leads to beheadings, and so it does here. but in this case it apparently also leads to cary elwes (as her husband, guilford) making faces like this:

hotttt.

most of the 2 hours and 20 minutes of lady jane are helena bonham carter (who stars as jane) lookin' like an awkward bird. at this stage in her career, she hasn't fully grown into her acting skills or her face. sometimes she's just a pair of eyebrows. but in this role, i think it works. the character [jane, that is] is an awkward, bookish, sheltered young girl who finds herself both married and in line for the throne of england in a very short amount of time.

for me, the best part was the first half, which i found to be cinematographically brilliant. the movie opens with an extended winter hunting scene that is achingly beautiful, reminiscent of the bayeux tapestry or breugel's hunters in the snow. it sets the perfect tone for the rest of the film.

somewhere in the middle there is a time that captures the spirit of the best part of jane and guilford's fictionalized life: the time when they were together, and in love, and alone. in one scene, jane wears a nightgown and man's boots in the dining room, where the lovers pass up their obligations and smash glass goblets for wishes. it's beautifully executed; the young actors somehow portray both the intensity and the silliness of their situation.

however, some parts seemed awkward or stilted, particularly the dialogue thorughout. but, like helena bonham carter's early acting skills, it worked. a sexually tense scene finds helena bonham carter explaining protestantism to cary elwes while he stares unabashedly at her breasts. but when they kissed i still found it sweet and true.

after they inevitably fell in love, my interest in the plot lagged and mingled with the usual sense of dread that comes with watching a movie based on irreversible historical fact. it was still, surprisingly, interesting, though, shifting the focus towards the short, idyllic reign of jane and guilford. they run about the palace giggling, they give the royal wardrobe to the poor, and they re-issue the shilling with its former worth in silver. they live out the political ideals they once smashed goblets for. it's revolutionary, a little, like secretly they were sort of hippies long before their time.

in they end they, of course, die, as we all knew going in they would. and the question i ask myself everytime i watch a movie like this is answered by a line uttered by jane, "well still." so the lovers die and the throne is taken by bloody mary, who will undo what good has been done, but jane and guilford were together and they changed things and they smashed goblets and ran around a palace and made promises and loved. well still.

3.5/5 stars. it's worth the experience. and if you aren't convinced to watch it now, consider this:

cary elwes is unapologetically adorable. also it's on netflix instant play.

EER!

Why isn't eer a word? There's eerie... but no noun version of it. I don't want to say "I like eerie things." I want to say "I like eer." I guess it would sound like "ear" when spoken and people would wonder why you like ears and then wonder why you said ear (singular) instead of ears. And then you would be that weird kid.
But, we are weird here at the trope, so I'm going to say it:
I like eer.
Aaand, since Mollie wrote a lovely post that was not about halloween and it's way past halloween (so now is obviously the time to post halloweeny things) I'm going to list some of the eerie things I like. (Also, I'm officially giving up on the idea that our posts won't be in list format)

*Twin Peaks- Duh. I figured I'd just go ahead and put that first since I'm sure you already knew it was coming and would just have been waiting for it. And what's the best way to enjoy Twin Peaks? (other than with your secret lover, obviously) With Twin Peaks-themed food, of course! Heavenly pie, damn good coffee, and creamy brie on baguette. Ok, so that last one was only in one episode, but it just sounded absurdly delicious. And so that's what I did! I could've probably used some donuts, too, but I am not a policeman--just a Dale Cooper and Peaks enthusiast.

*Travel Channel shows on America's "spookiest" and "most haunted" places. Pun-filled narration + vague visuals + over-dramatization + ??ghosts?? = quality TV for *any* season! To be honest I'm not entirely sure why I love these so much. The narration does amuse me quite a bit actually, and it's interesting to hear the backstories to these supposed ghosts. One of my favorite places they often list and discuss is...

Be careful with the door to nowhere!

*The Winchester Mystery House- While this is less of a story of a ghost than it is of a woman who believes in a haunting, the whole of it is really interesting.  The story goes that Sarah Winchester, a woman with a wealthy husband and beautiful daughter in the late 1800s, was so distressed after the sudden death of her husband and child that she sought out a medium in Boston.  The medium told her that the deaths of her loved ones were caused by spirits that haunted her family and fortune.  These were the spirits of men that had been killed by Winchester rifles--American Indians, Civil War soldiers, and others.  The medium stated, though, that there was a way to keep the spirits at bay.  Mrs. Winchester must move west and build a great house for the spirits, the construction of which must never stop or Mrs. Winchester's life would be in danger.  Sarah Winchester did just that, moving to San Jose, California and hiring construction workers to build a maze of a house without stopping even on weekends or holidays.  It is said that Mrs. Winchester conducted seances to decide what the construction plans would be.  The mansion is full of doors that open into walls, stairs that hit the ceiling, and secret passageways. If you want to see one of the travel channel segments about it, it's right here.

pants and bemoaning

i spent my first november weekend pants shopping and bemoaning the lack of smart, classy, well-read boys on my campus via watercolor doodles [as seen above]. (but srsly WHERE ARE THEY? i gotta spend more time in the library or something.)

i highly recommend girly notebook doodling as an antidote. i don't consider myself a girl with "boy problemz" but it sure is nice to have a crush.

in other news, i did find some pants that i plan to wear for the next three weeks without washing or removing.



(i wish that was a joke.)

the happiest halloween

i know, i know.

we said we'd post exciting october things but here it is, the last day of october, and we've barely posted all month. SOOOORRRY.

also happy halloween!!

i was considering making a halloweenier post, but lately i've been listening to this song on repeat, and it's hardly halloweeny. it's more like...Stuff You Listen To When You're In Love.

maybe you're in love with a person or a dog or maybe the world or yourself or a book or a movie. but me, i'm in love with the world today, and that makes me that annoying, giddy girl that walks around singing to herself and eating chocolate cake. but i love it! (duh. i love everything.)

no more sulking about in my cut-off wedding dress quoting the virgin suicides! only yellow dresses and candy corn and dancing around and tasty coffee all day looong!

here's some happy things [that i will try desperately to relate to halloween]:

movies:
-penelope
a fairy tale--that's halloweeny right?--about a girl born with a pig face. (not to be confused with this girl with a pig face.) christina ricci, james mcavoy, really cute clothes, magical sets, and some reese witherspoon-ing. (something about reese witherspoon makes me love everything! she's so happy and blonde and wholesome or something.) one of the final scenes is even at a halloween party!!

-she's the man
the poster movie of my generation? don't tell me you don't love this movie. amanda bynes, channing lots-of-abs-or-something, that really funny guy who plays the principal, and the plot of twelfth night! this was the first movie i was allowed to watch in a theater with no chaperones, and for me it will always be full of decent jokes that i will never not laugh over. plus, shakespeare is all about crossdressing. you know what else is all about crossdressing? HALLOWEEN. bam.

(a quick list of my fave nineties/00s teen flicks: she's the man, 10 things i hate about you, john tucker must die, easy a)

coffees:
-quick, capitalize on starbucks' pumpkin spice latte opportunities! you've got nine hours[ish] till the pumpkiniest holiday ends. also, sometimes on halloween they give out free cookies and stuff. run, run and give the corporate machine your cash!

tv:
-what's creepier than the trope's fave tv show TWIN PEAKS? (answer: nothing. nothing is creepier.) halloween it up and laugh with dale cooper and the gang. just try not to, in your lovey state, focus too much on the whole dead people/double lives aspect. (extra points to anyone in a twin peaks costume. double triple extra points to anyone dressed as audrey horne because i love her.)

books:

-today is not a day for books! i can't sit down and focus. today is a day for archie comics! read about the trials of archie, betty, and veronica. dress up as jughead. laugh with moose and reggie or one of the other characters whose names escape me because it's been ten years (a lie: it's been like two) since i've read an archie comic.

-or read the article in usa today about THE HAPPIEST WOMAN IN AMERICA! (it's me!) (no it's not!) (but i feel that way!) (the point is the happy!)

so go, tropers, and curl up with a slice of fallin' in love pie (waitress reference, anyone?) or do as i do and dance around the room to "stars" on repeat then hide in the closet and wait for your roommate to come home.

OCTOBER!

Nerdy, Weird, and Eerie.

Hiya,
I've been sick and busy and mainly sick and so I haven't posted in a while, but YEAH post now. First, a few cool nerdy things:

*For Nintendo 64 people: A Mario Kart love song. Just about one of the cutest things ever.
*For anime/Naruto people: ohmygah; ohmygah! If you watch Naruto Shippuden then I'm sure you've already seen this since it's one of the ending credits.. but it still makes me laugh every.single.time.
*For anyone: funnyy clip from Flight of the Conchords. Song? "I'm Not Crying"
*For geeks/nerds/anyone: Want to get cool shirts and lament the loss (or lack of acquisition) of other cool shirts? Check outtt teefury.com.

I could probably go on, but I'll save some cool things for later. I'm supah excited about my really low-key plans for tomorrow: reading The Hunger Games and having a Twin Peaks marathon. I'm reading hunger games for the first time. I actually wasn't expecting to get into it but I'm so into it. And I also feel kind of awful because I'm acting like the Capitol and those awful viewers of the hunger games that enjoy watching these awful games. BUTTT they're not real. And I know they're not real people getting killed by other kids. SO. I'm not a horrible person. Speaking of the hunger games, you should go to panemoctober.com right now. It's an alternative reality game starting real soon! The website's pretty confusing right now, but stick with it; it should be pretty cool once it really starts up. So I'll probably do some of that tomorrow, too. For now, though, it's Mario Party time.

october

i'm four days late, but HAPPY OCTOBER. october is a well-loved month here at the trope, and in honor of that, i plan to be way more celebratory in this month's posts. SO GET READY!!!!!!! FOR EXCLAMATIONS!!!!!!! AND ALL CAPS, ALL THE TIME!!!!!!!

ok maybz later.

but for now, a "pretty chill" [my stoner neighbor] song my brother played for me in the car last week. it's not too celebratory, and the video is definitely a bit of mindfuck sadness. but it is from a pretty rad album about divorce. have fun thinking about that for the rest of this happy tuesday.

[reading over my vocabulary in the last paragraph leaves me thinking i should perhaps spend less time with my stoner neighbor.]

and on a happier note: i recently saw tUnE-yArDs liiiiiiive!!! and can assure you that merrill garbus is just as cool performing as she is recorded. [her fans on the other hand, with their copycat assymetrical haircuts, are not my favorite.]

herez some szongs:
(turn your volume up now plz.)
-gangsta
-bizness
-lions (aka the song that originally made me love her)



have the best october 4th ever, world!

fifth grade yeeeah

my latest amazon haul included only books that are approximately fifth grade level (ok ok--and one issue of lula). heck yes.

of course no spontaneous purchase of fifth grade books that shaped your perception of the world would be complete without sharon creech. and my favorite (growing up) was always walk two moons. mmmhm.

walk two moons is named for the adage, "don't judge a man until you've walked two moons in his moccasins." it follows the main character salamanca on the search for her mother, supplemented along the way with the story (as told by salamanca to her grandparents) of her friend phoebe. through this story, sal figures out her own, etc, etc, i'm making it sound cheesy and it's totally not just buy it 'cause it's definitely worth the the two dollars i paid for a used copy on amazon.

also purchased was the boxes, a novel i remember reading, but not necessarily liking. it just stuck with me. [basic plot: annie--your average girl--inherits two boxes from her exotic uncle--you know that one uncle that never got married. for a long looong time she does not open the boxes. but they call to her (or something???) and she does and the little crazy metal alien stinkbugs that live inside build a city and have class issues (!!!).]

i don't really know why something in my head told me to read the boxes, but i started having dreams about it last week. so i bought it. i believe in dreams. but i haven't reread it yet BECAUSE

during a conversation with a friend about buying fifth grade books, he brought up sharon creech. and when my amazon package arrived (bundled shipping!), i couldn't resist starting with walk two moons.

other purchases:
- from the mixed up files of mrs. basil e. frankweiler by e.l. konigsburg and
-maniac magee by jerry spinelli and
-absolutely normal chaos by sharon creech

but i think my actual favorite book from childhood is the westing game by ellen raskin. i've owned it since sixth grade and read it about once a year every year since then. incomparable.

it's amazing to look back at these things that i loved then and see what that says about me now. sort of like salamanca--telling one story told another. that's how i feel about the books i loved growing up.

moral of this story: read them.

Singing, Nathan Fillion, and Escapism

There are plenty of ways to cope. Honestly, I think it's crucial to find at least one way to cope--something that can distract you from what's been worrying you, a bad time you're going through, or just a generally crappy day.  A musician might get lost in playing his instrument, some people might like to go for a drive, and others might read a novel.  [Personally I think it's important to note that it should be things like that rather than drugs, drinking, or smoking, since then you just have a self-destructive dependency on your hands. But I don't want to sound too didactic.]
My escape usually involves a movie or tv show. It has to be something engrossing and not all that close to real life.

1. Mickey Rooney and Judy Garland musicals- I know that as a film student I should say that it was a classic like Casablanca that got me to appreciate old movies, but that would be a lie. One day I was flipping through the channels and as I passed TCM Mickey Rooney's exhilirating face caught my attention, and I watched all of "Strike Up the Band" with the remote still pointed towards the tv. Mickey Rooney is just a blast to watch. He always looks like he's having the time of his life, and you can't help but share his enthusiasm. And of course, Judy Garland is a singing goddess. As soon as the movie ended, I rushed to my computer and ordered a set of musicals with the both of them (my second favorite: Girl Crazy). Strike Up the Band also threw me into this musical phase in general, and so for a long time I would pick myself up from a bad day by watching a musical. And I started tuning into TCM more and more often, and I discovered a world of good old movies. Strike Up the Band is a B-movie in formula, but it's a great way to realize that black and white sure doesn't need color to be lively.

2. Imogen Heap- Yeah, that's a music artist and not a movie or tv show at all, but her music is my ultimate method of escape. I feel like her albums and songs mark different periods of my life, depending on what they've helped me through.  I'm just hypnotized by her music.

3. And most recently.... Nathan Fillion- Can I just say that Nathan Fillion makes everything better?
It all started (for me) with Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog, which = the meaning of awesomeness in 45 minutes. Then I watched Firefly and decided that Nathan Fillion is the greatest guy in the 'verse. So now I'm on a Fillion binge: Castle episodes (fun), Waitress (adorable), and extra Firefly and Dr. Horrible (ohmygodd.)

twin peaks

this is my attempt to stop posting in list format.

so twin peaks. (i'm actually not finished with all the episodes yet, eek.)

let's start with the title sequence: it's creepy. but i don't know why exactly. for one thing, it has almost nothing to do with the events of the show. [but maybe at the same time everything????] it's just this slow montage of random bits of scenery around twin peaks--a bird or two, the saw mill, etc. [maybe that's the point????] but not a shot of laura palmer; her homecoming picture usually shows in the end credits.

and of course the song--oh the song--so creepy. it's this slow, anticipatory instrumental weirdness that somehow both calms and excites me.

the whole show is kind of just one weirdo creep party. but it's also one of the best tv series of all time. so many things about it are so perfectly done. there are numerous characters, but i can keep up with all of them. the whole show's focus is laura palmer's death, but i never feel bored. i also never feel like i've found an answer. which is part of what keeps me going back. but i think also--i mean, look at that picture--it's a high school girl at homecoming. somehow the picture is average but personal. laura palmer becomes personal though (so far) the only shots of her are this, a short video of her dancing around, and her dead. it's a compelling picture.

and that's it right there. besides the awesome late eighties/early nineties style and the weird dark humor and the adorableness of dale cooper and his tibetan detective ways and my desire to be more like audrey horne and all the secrets of all the double lives in twin peaks [do you see that DOUBLE, TWIN? you see it right?]--besides all that, i keep watching twin peaks because of this picture.

so whoever had the idea to put a dead girl's homecoming photo at the end of each episode--good idea, you brilliant ol' creep.


[also that thing about wanting to be audrey horne is sooo not a joke.]

media binging aka the overload

lee friedlander (from MoCP), rushmore cover art, david jackson & james merrill (found on this blog)

lily collins (from teen vogue), audrey horne and dale cooper (found here), i am curious--blue


i am overloaded with fascinating/entertaining/worthwhile media right now.

to name a few (and by a few, i mean all):

1. i just now (literally three minutes ago) finished the unutterably awesome familiar spirits: a memoir of james merrill and david jackson by alison lurie. i can safely say i almost never like memoirs, and this is my new favorite book. highest compliments.

2. on that note, finished the changing light at sandover by james merrill but feel i must go over it again after the above read.

3. also reading the shape of a city by julien gracq. class reading. it's not boring. but it's also not about or by james merrill, so i'm a little reluctant to dive in.

4. at last received the (amazing) zine by the author of hipster musings [isabel slone], plant magazine. the slogan on the cover is "fashion-feminism-nature" WHAT MORE COULD YOU WANT?

5. on the opposite end of the spectrum, a mysterious benefactor subscribed me to teen vogue two years ago, and i am still receiving them. thank you, mysterious benefactor! i do love clothes. and more than clothes, collages made from teen vogues. october issue in today [hellooo eyebrows. i like em.]

6. another class assigned book. [well sort of--the assignment was to pick any book of photography from the library.] i chose self portrait by lee friedlander. i think it is less serious than most photography books and also an inspiration for a photography project i would like to do.

7. also borrowed from the library the two wes anderson movies i have never seen: bottle rocket and rushmore (his first and second, respectively). so far rushmore is good, very wes anderson, and the only reason i haven't finished it yet is an inconvenient fire drill that put me off it for a whole day. bottle rocket still to come.

8. yet another film, this one swedish. vilgot sjoman's i am curious--blue (i might've chosen i am curious--yellow. but blue is my favorite color. obviously an academic decision.) as the back cover blurb states, "confronts issues of religion, sexuality, and the prison system" etc etc. the director cites influences like godard and fellini (particularly 8 1/2). it came out in 1966.

9. oh and! i'm watching twin peaks, just started season 2 and i WANT TO BE AUDREY HORNE plz. or dale cooper 'cause he's such a weirdo-genius. and i want dr. jacoby's glasses.

it's nice to live in a place with so many brilliant works and such easy access. (did i mention that i love my library? I LOVE MY LIBRARY.)

How to pay the bills when you direct an independent movie

You direct the masterful, expressive Never Let Me Go and then you pay the bills by making THIS.
No, seriously, Mark Romanek directed that commercial.

A Clusterfuck of Things and Thoughts

I'm not entirely sure of how to start this blog entry. I've already started it about three different ways. What I want to get at, though, is that something got me thinking about how one could look around my room and see so many things that one could learn about me through:

*a small laughing Buddha

*Egyptian gods (Ra, Anubis, Horus...)

*a Zen garden

*a Spanish fan

*Matryoshka doll

*several perfumes

*postcards of movie scenes and actors

*postcards of paintings I've seen in museums

*a poster of a Harry Potter movie

*candles

*a postcard from Patrick Rothfuss, the ridiculously amazing author of the Kingkiller Chronicle (I have this not because I am important, but because he is incredibly nice)

*a porcelain Greek muse

*a music box filled with foreign coins

*a list of movies I need to see

*a small Eiffel tower, a small glass pig made in Murano, a small pen holder in the shape of the Florence cathedral

*two anime action figures (Shikamaru and Itachi from Naruto Shippuden)

Oh, actually... That's just some of what's on my *desk*.

Okay, YES, I seriously need to organize my room, especially my desk, on which there's barely even enough room for my laptop. (Thankfully, it's one of those L-shaped desks, so it's quite spacious for a desk) 

I think it's obvious, though, that I am a woman of many interests. And this list of objects on my desk only covers some of those interests. And I'm finally starting to wonder: And what the fuck is wrong with that?

I've read about all these film directors that spent their childhoods writing scripts and making movies, and it makes me feel a bit like I don't deserve to become a film director. That isn't what my whole life has been about. When I was younger (and for many years) I wanted to be a zoologist. For a very brief moment I wanted to be a chef. Being a travel writer has always been alluring to me, and I will always feel like Psychology and Anthropology are something I would delve into in another life, if I could. So Film isn't my one and only love... But... Is that a bad thing? Isn't an important aspect of Film its versatility? There's all sorts of movies (so many different tones, genres, styles), and nowadays as we get more and more different kinds of media, they all begin to weave and merge more and more with each other. Many TV episodes are as long as feature-length movies, games are striving to become more cinematic and story-driven, and blogs like this one often display and talk about works from all these different forms of media.

I just wish that getting a job that pays enough money for all the ridiculous amount of things we spend money on daily wasn't such a big deal. Or that at least that job didn't take up most of your life. It's such a crappy way to go through life. That's why it's really important to me that I end up having a job that I truly enjoy. Because job = life. At least that's how it seems.

Hm.. I'm about to watch Dollhouse, which I'd been thinking of as a Joss Whedon scifi show about a fictional organization that wipes peoples personalities and memories and programs them to perform some sort of task or fantasy for million-dollar clients.. but now I'm thinking... Allegory?? Hmmmm. Maybe more on this at some other time.