That's My King!

That's My King from Heartland Community Church on Vimeo.

Sweet Justice

As I was driving home late last night, a car pulled out in front of me from a stop sign. I had to slow down significantly to avoid hitting it; I even tried to beep my horn, but I didn't find it/press it hard enough in time. That's when I noticed that the car behind the errant one at the stop sign was a cop. Sure enough, as soon as I'd passed and the cop had pulled out, the lights went on and the deviant got pulled over. How's that for instant gratification?

It's Funny Because It's True

Because It's a Muuuuu-sical*

This is my dream life.


*A dollar to anyone who know where that's from.

It's Official

Actually, two things are official. 1. The right person has agreed to chair my dissertation. 2. Guitar Hero does rock. 2A. My students probably won't have a quiz tomorrow because I was up until 12:30 playing Guitar Hero rather than writing their quiz.

Influenza.

I've been especially sick of late. Fever, sore sore sore throat, aching body--basically all I had the energy to do was lay in bed and keep my eyes open. So, I watched a lot of tv and movies from Friday morning to Sunday night. (Unfortunately, I wasn't able to go to Good Friday or Easter services.)

Two episodes of 24 Season 2
Eastern Promises
Everything is Illuminated
Four episodes of Battlestar Galactica season 3
August Rush
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (plus special features)
Three episodes of Buffy: The Vampire Slayer season 1
and lots of TLC and FoodTV.

I suppose I should have been doing more reading and grading, but I just couldn't concentrate or care that much. Now that I'm on the mend, I need to quickly get ready for the week, which includes a very important meeting with the individual I hope will be my dissertation chair in which I hope to say "This. This is what I'm doing my dissertation on."

And We're Back

While it seems a bit cavalier to not address the shooting, my experience then and coming back, it's just something I don't think I can articulate here, so while I missed most of the Oscars because of the memorial service, I choose to discuss my movie watching of late.

I did manage to watch all of the films up for Best Picture, not too much else besides, and after careful consideration, I've come to the conclusion that I preferred There Will Be Blood to No Country For Old Men. And the internet, in terms of the IMDB top 250 list, agrees with me! TWBB is number #30 compared to NCFOM's #41 placement.

In honor of my preference, and the fact that this makes me giggle upon every re-reading, I give you a list (technically a link to a list) from McSweeney's of "Other Things There Will Be, In Addition to Blood."

I don't have any words yet.

Results In

In case you missed the scream around 3:30 yesterday afternoon, I received The Letter with my exam results, and I passed both! I'm rather excited and a little nervous because now I really have to start work on the dissertation.

Aftermath and Heath Ledger

Sorry for the long break. I've kind of taken the first couple of weeks of the new semester as the break I didn't have. I'm reading a couple of books for fun; I'm watching tv and movies; I'm going to the gym. All the things I didn't have time for while studying for exams, which I'll hopefully know the results of next week.

Whenever I'm not posting, I still narrate events of my everyday life in my head as if in a blog post, or determine my opinions and reactions to things per something I can write. The mental post I've worked on the most is one about Heath Ledger. I was sad to hear that he died; I was surprised. His was an unexpected death to be sure; there are a lot of people in young Hollywood whose death I would have been less shocked by.

My question, now that we have a complete body of work--well somewhat complete, who hasn't been eagerly anticipating The Dark Knight for over a year now, and felt bittersweet watching the trailer for I'm Not There--how will we determine his impression, his legacy as an actor?

I've thought a great deal about how he compares to River Phoenix as a clear talent, who seemed still on the way up, who would do incredible things in the future, but died suddenly. Now, we can only evaluate them on what they did do, not on what they had the potential to do. At first, I was questioning if Ledger could be compared to Phoenix, but now I wonder if Phoenix can be compared to Ledger. I haven't seen the complete oeuvre of either actor and am probably more familiar with Ledger's works, so I know that I am perhaps not entirely unbiased. Of course, by naming Ledger as the more significant actor, than I have to reach higher for comparisons. Is James Dean a stretch too far?

And the Countdown is On.

In exactly nineteen hours and twenty-one minutes, I will be done with my exams!!!