My Shame

I literally asked the Blockbuster checkout girl not to judge me by movie choice this evening: Step Up and Alex Rider. I generally am fairly free about owning up to my low brow proclivities--I vehemently argue for the inclusion of pop culture in education--but, I guess I was feeling guilty about putting A Scanner Darkly and Don't Come Knocking back on the shelf in favor of these.

I've watched Step Up, and I'll admit to enjoying it quite a bit. The exciting/interesting/disturbing? portion of the film came when I noticed that Nora's (female protagonist's) mother was wearing a shirt that I have hanging in my closet. This was the first time that I've ever had that experience hence the excitement. It made me wonder, gee, whose job is it to go to Ann Taylor Loft to shop for movies, how interesting. But, seriously, I'm 26, should I be wearing the same thing as the mother of a high schooler? That I find slightly disturbing.

Most Exciting Thing Ever?

The first day of break is always wonderful, especially when I already cleaned my room amongst the height of finals week becasue I needed a break from writing my papers! So, that leaves the not-to-be-taken-lightly task of choosing the first book to read for fun. Right now contenders are:

• Small World by David Lodge "a post-structuralist parodying academic comedy," basically it's supposed to be a smart, funny, book about academics. It was short-listed for the Booker Prize and will probably be on my field exam list.
• Flaubert's Parrot by Julian Barnes, whom I've met! Interestingly, this was short-listed for the Booker the very same year (1984) as Lodge's and will also probably be on my field exam list.
• Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, a teen fantasy novel about vampires.

In the mean time, I've done a little de-tox by watching Mindhunters and Love the Hard Way. I also am extremely excited about seeing Eragon, forget that I haven't seen any of the probably Oscar contenders like The Departed, The Queen, or Babel yet. Bring on the dragons!

1.9 Miles Close to Home

Because it's such a 'breaking news story' and because it's right down the road from me, I'll draw your attention to this associated press article.

"A man who authorities said wanted to commit acts of "violent jihad" against civilians was charged Friday in a plot to set off hand grenades in garbage cans at a shopping mall, authorities said." You can read the rest of the article here.

That shopping mall is my mall. The one I go to for coffee on my way to school, the one I worked at last year, the one that is my mall. He was planning to attack on Friday the 22nd when the mall would be chock full with all the holiday shoppers in this, the second largest city in the state.

There are times that I get frustrated with the current war on terror and by no means do I claim to be up-to-date on what's going on with the politics of the day; however, this does make me realize that there is a threat, that people do want to kill lots of other people for religious reasons. Now this man was acting alone and is not affiliated with an organization, so there's no clear group enemy just a single extremist. I'm not sure what that would mean for national politics.

However, for locals, it makes me wish that this guy had been loved more. A person who is truly loved and accepted can't do these sorts of things, can he? I love my church here, and I am excited by its mission, by its message. They (We!) believe that people matter to God and they should be loved like Jesus loved. Is it naive to hope that a difference can be made through this institution? That the community can becoming more loving and accepting, so that hate won't drive people to actions like setting of grenades in a crowded mall?

Robert Altman (1925-2006)

An amazing and innovative director.




Obituary

Crisis Averted?

The stress knot in my spirit has been gradually increasing in regards to The Future. I often struggle with perceived implications of importance. Case in point: what I do next semester in regards to both the classes I take and teach will determine what my dissertation looks like, and what I do for my dissertation takes up the next two and a half years of my life, determines my academic persona, which is how I can present myself on the job market, thus affecting the kind of job (if any) that I get and decides the entire rest of my future and any career happiness and satisfaction I may wish to have. The fact that I haven't yet published an article (to get into the profession, they expect that you are already a functioning member of the academy) seems to indicate that I will never have anything of interest to say in this my chosen field. See how simple, logical, and tortuous?

Yesterday, however, I had an hour and a half conversation with my professor/mentor/hopefully-dissertation-chair about The Future (at least my academic one), which was comforting. I feel as though I'm on the right track with the course I'm planning for next semester (it's actually literature, not comp!), and we set up a plan for an independent study that will allow me an official time and space to explore what I want to do with my dissertation, rather than me needing to do that undirected and in addition to the rest of my load.

I feel better. At least, I know what next semester is going to look like. Although, I still have to put together an independent study proposal, which means research to find a book list, etc. Plus, finish this semester, I have a paper due in two weeks that has not been started yet, egads.

A Different Kind of Flood

Of late, I feel like I haven't had much to post about, but then all in a rush, I'm so overwhelmed with options and such little time that I again I fail to post. A minute sampling:

David Sedaris. We all know and love him, but now I've seen him live and loved him, though still from afar. I didn't wait in line to meet him; Liz's long ago blog about how chatty he was frightened me. I really don't want to meet and talk to famous people, especially ones that I like. I seriously doubt my ability to be unique and engaging, and I'd rather be anoynmous than ordinary.

Marie Antoinette. I enjoyed it a lot. I love the 80s glam-rock and anachornisms (Converse sneakers in 18th century Versaille?!), but my complete and udder lack of knowledge about the history hurt the impact the film could have made. So, I recommend a bit (seriously, I'm sure whatever wikipedia has will do just fine) of research to give the film a little context. Otherwise, the movie is like Lost in Translation, pointless.

For My People...

Because I know that my (albeit small) readership is heavy on the English nerd scale, I submit a fun grammar website that I actually found because there's a podcast--Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing. Uber-cool.

Jump Start

Being well on top of things that I need to do is not my normal state of being. I've set today aside to work on a presentation that I have to do in two weeks, but all I can seem to do is watch Food Tv (with the occasional foray into Style and BBC America) and stare at the piles of books and articles in a semi-circle about me. I've gotten brand-spankin' new post-it page markers and index cards, so I've got everything I could possibly need. Except being engaged in my topic--you, clever reader, are correct in assuming this blog seems to be yet another procrastination technique. I think I'm going to abandon the presentation work and work on next week's class work...

On a completely unrelated theme, I watched The Singing Detective yesterday. Now, Robert Downey, Jr. is one of my boyfriends; Jeremy Northam and Adrien Brody are nice as well; I love the noir and modern takes on it; I enjoy complex narrative structures; I'm a sucker for musicals; so, keeping all this in mind, why didn't I like it especially well?

Ernie, Why Do You Have a Pot on Your Head?*

This weekend I switched desks in my room, which turned out to be a much larger project than I had originally anticipated. One issue was that I was going from a computer desk with a couple of shelves to a desk (I think a bureau, actually) that belonged to my grandmother. So, the organization of materials was different. Because I intended to do a minimal amount of work, I put everything on my bed, pulled the desk out, vacuumed and put the new one in.

But that's just the beginning, then I decided to move where the desk was to the corner that had my entertainment center. So, piece by pice I moved out the clutter that lined the wall, pushed the 800 pound center (without moving any of the electronics out of it--those things are a pain to connect) to its new home, put the desk it the now vacant corner, and painstakingly recreated the precarious balancing along the wall with the remainder of stuff because attempting to go through all that is definitely another day's project.

*The entire time I felt like the Seaseme Street sketch where Ernie broke the cookie jar so he had to put the cookies in the flower jar and had to put the flowers in the milk jug and put the milk in the fish bowl and had to keep the fish in his hat, so he had to wear the cooking pot on his head--or something like that...

Stilling Running in the Same Hamster Wheel

My Google homepage quote of the day struck me as dreadfully apropos:

Someone's boring me. I think it's me.

Dylan Thomas, in Rayner Heppenstall, Four Absentees (1960)

Man Movies

Last night, I watched She's the Man and Inside Man. The first was, eh, just okay. I think Amanda Bynes is quite talented in general, but not especially brilliant in this. True, the boy was beautiful, but I really didn't see their relationship develop at all. As far as the Shakespearian adaptation, it was interesting enough, but no where near the dead on meld of teen and Bard as in 10 Things I Hate About You.

The second film was interesting. I didn't see much of Spike Lee, the auteur in it however, which was a little disappointing. Of course, my boyfriend, Clive Owen was wonderful--when isn't he? (oh right, Derailed), and I enjoyed the clever aspects of the heist--who doesn't? Samuel L. Jackson's character was interesting, more nuanced than one might expect; I guess that belongs to Mr. Lee. All in all, a nice film.

Some Quotes From This Week's Reading

For a classic Hollywood cinema presentation:
"Few people recognize opportunity because it comes disguised as hard work and application." Cary Grant

For American literature 1830-1865:
"No reason can be asked or given why the soul seeks beauty. Beauty, in its largest and profoundest sense, is one expression for the universe. God is the all-fair. Truth, and goodness, and beauty, are but different faces of the same All." Emerson from "Nature"

And last, but not least, from Old English:
"Nu tod[ae]g Godes gela[th]ung geond ealne ymbhwyrft m[ae]rsa[th] p[ae]ra eadigra cildra freolstide,..." King [Ae]lfric circa 1000. Pretend that all the [th] have one of two interchangable symbols (thorn or eth) and that all the [ae]'s are smooshed together into the symbol for the a, as in bath, sound. I spent about three or four hours translating ten lines. Blah-dy-blah.

Diluvian Rain

We had a lot of rain on Monday, or rather it all came in a short period of time. This picture from The Rockford Register Star (am I going to get into trouble for using it?) is about two miles from my house. Coming home from a church function with my parents, our car stalled in the middle of three feet of water a block from home. We got out (the water filling the car), waded home, and waited a few hours until we could walk back and get the car, which--thankfully--started!

Some Media

Angels & Insects (A.S. Byatt): I just finished reading it, knowing that if it didn't happen this weekend, I wouldn't get to it until next summer or so. It's scary to know that I will have very little time to read anything other than school stuff for the next semester and that Christmas break will be so busy that I won't be able to handle capital L Literature.

Anyway, the book is two novellas: "Morphia Eugenia" which, I'll confess I 'read' the movie first, is visually sumptuous but somewhat redundant to the movie (meaning the adaptation well-portrayed the text and didn't interpret it). But, I hadn't seen the film in years, so this was a nice repetition of story. Not to spoil the story, but the switching of letters around in "INSECT" makes for a wonderful connection to the natural world. A poor natural scholar gets caught up in a too-perfect family system that, of course, must be revealed.

"The Conjugial Angel" is interesting in how this follows up the impeccable Possession. This time the historical poets and poems that intertwine with our story are real. Alfred Tennyson's sister tries to contact, through seances in a lovely Victorian setting, the man (Arthur Hallstum)she was to marry years ago who died that Tennyson wrote In Memoriam about. Very interesting in how it weaves together Romantic and Victorian poetry with spirits in a type of ghost story. Basically, Byatt can do no wrong in my eyes, but it doesn't rival her magnum opus.

Katie and I saw a last movie together before she jetted off to London--The Illusionist, and I have to reaffirm for those in doubt that yes, I am available to have Edward Norton's babies. It was wonderful, the story, the acting (at least by Norton, Sewell, and Giamatti), the illusions (cinematography and cg)! While not being particularly impressive, Jessica Biel does a fine enough job and, most importantly, does not distract from or ruin the film. Katie and I were clever enough to figure out most of the story, but even 'knowing' what was happening didn't make the film any less enjoyable. Turn of the century Vienna is becoming more and more interesting to me as a time period; modern Western Europe, but tinged with Eastern influence (as this movie is). Especially interesting is Norton's show which is not just a magic show, but somehow a philosophic exploration on big issues: time, life, death. If it's showing near you, run don't walk!

New Post

So, school's starting. Grad school is fun because every day is different, since classes generally only meet once a week. Rather than having a first day of school, I get a first week!

I'm not teaching this semester because I'm working in our writing center and our computer lab. While excited about both of those assignments, I'm missing teaching this semester. I was sad that I didn't get to design a syllabus and schedule, print out a class list, make out the new page in my gradebook. All of that.

I did end up replacing my laptop. The combination of a failing computer and a week and a half of actual vacation between summer school and the semester weaned me from my daily habit of spending hours online, which thus increased my email return speed and blog posting regularity. Now that I'm back to school and working a job where I'm supposed to sit in front of the computer, I'm sure I'll be plugging into the world of the virtual fairly quickly.

Of Computers and London

So, I've been having computer issues lately that may result in a new laptop (hopefully not though). I've done a little bit of looking at new ones, and they have about four times the power of mine for about a third of the cost. Maybe a new one wouldn't be so bad... However, I'm not sure I have the budget for it because I just bought tickets to London!!!

I'm going to see Katie over New Year's! I'll be there for two and a half weeks, and I'm dead excited. Already we have plans to go to Scotland and Mount St-Michael (in France, where I can utilize my nearly useless French skills from this summer--provided no one tries to speak with me and writes doewn whatever he/she is trying to communicate!). I hope we can eat curry in Brick Lane, go to the British Museum (can you believe I didn't go when I was in London before?), and ride the Eye--strange touristy phenomenon that it is.

So, until I get to go do all that I'll have to content myself with being an anglophile in the USA, reading British authors like AS Byatt (I'm in the middle of Angels and Insects), watching BBC America (Life on Mars and The Kumars at No. 42 are fantastic), and planning my travels.

Fantasy--About and Actually

First, I just finished reading American Gods by Neil Gaiman. Sigh. It's absolutely genius, having many of the qualities that I appreciate most in fiction: a high amount of symbolism/mythology that borders on allegory (at parts); humor, I mean it's fun to read; lots of clues/foreshadowing, if you're clever enough to catch on early (sadly, for the most part, I wasn't); truth and love triumphant. If this guy wasn't already married, I'd being driving around WI right now looking for him to throw myself at.

That said, who wants to go see House on the Rock and Rock City?

Second, I was on my department's homepage, where we have a "Quote of the Moment," when I saw this:

Fantasy remains a human right: we make in our measure and in our derivative mode, because we are made: and not only made, but made in the image and likeness of a Maker. -- [J.R.R. Tolkien]

Not only is it cool, but I can't believe that it was coming from my rather secular department. Nifty, says I.

Ho-hum

So, one week of summer school, then about a week and a half before the fall semester starts. It's starting to feel rather weird because I won't be teaching. I'm working as a tutor in the writing center and then helping in the nwr (networked writing resources...computer lab stuff). Well, hopefully, I'll be teaching literature in the spring and not just another composition course.

I finally succumbed and joined myspace today. Interesting, very interesting. I just hope that I can keep myself from spending (actually, wasting) too much time on it.

Over the weekend I saw two excellent movies: the first, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and the second, The Exorcism of Emily Rose. The former had a fresh narrative technique and Robert Downey Jr. being oh so talented and charming. The latter blew me away. While I occasionally indulge in scary films, I am no connoisseur; however, I do find the spiritual messages, symbolism, etc. often thought provoking. This one seemed downright evangelical. If all my dreams come true and I am one day teaching film at a Christian college, this will be on my syllabus.

Just In Case There Was Any Doubt

You Should Drive a Saturn Sky

You're sleek and smooth, and you need a car to match your hot persona. Besides, sometimes you want your top up - and sometimes you want it down.

What 2007 Car Should You Drive?

It's Nice to Know...

...that M. Night Shyamalan and I would totally be friends (based on his iTunes Celebrity Playlist and his American Express commercial/magazine ads). And he'd be understanding that I haven't seen his movie yet, because, you know, he's cool like that.