Even more ch-ch-ch-changes

Yeah, so I changed the layout. There is just something I like about my navigation on the right side. I can't really explain it.

Posts to come:

*My thoughts on the great Alias rewatch
*Posts about loving my Wii
*Thoughts on the great Buffy rewatch of 2008/2009 (Beth will be pleased by my new found appreciation of Faith)
*Posts about books
*A post about my failure to relisten to all my music

I bet you all can't wait.

Hey y'all

So, I took a little break there, didn't I? It wasn't really a planned thing but you know, it happens. I've been meaning to post something about all the books I've read for a while but then I got overwhelmed by life and such. You aren't getting the full blown deal like I normally do, mostly because I have a lot of books to tell you about. So, here goes.


My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare by Jess Winfield: Two guys named Will. One is Will Shakespeare pre-fame. The other is Willie Greenberg Ph.D. student. How do these two intersect? Read the book and find out.


Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling: Nice fables that I will read to my children someday, if I ever have them.


Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle: Three interlocking stores; two of which are told by two of my fave YA writers. Fun and fast read.


Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk: One of the most awesome things about my book club is that we read such a wide variety of things. I am still trying to figure out who was real and who was in the imagination of the unnamed narrator.


Paper Towns by John Green: Green's third book. Adored it but I still like Alaska better.


Mansfield Park by Jane Austen: Has possibly the most wretched character ever written in Aunt Norris. I suggest watching the 1999 film.


Emma by Jane Austen: Loved the book but was often annoyed by Emma herself.

Every Boy's Got One by Meg Cabot: Final installment of the "Boy Series" that is loosely based on Meg's own elopement.


Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot: Meg gives the reader a fun, cute romance.


The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot: First in the "Boy Series". These are stories told via email and memo. Adorable.


Books Read in 2008:


My Name is Will: A Novel of Sex, Drugs, and Shakespeare by Jess Winfield
Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling
Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson, and Lauren Myracle
Fight Club by Chuck Palahniuk
Paper Towns by John Green
Mansfield Park by Jane Austen
Emma by Jane Austen
The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot

Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot
The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot
Size 14 Is Not Fat Either by Meg Cabot
Size 12 Is Not Fat by Meg Cabot
Thumbsucker: A Novel by Walter Kirn
The Off Season by Catherine Murdock
Dairy Queen by Catherine Murdock
Even Cowgirls Get the Blues by Tom Robbins
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen
The Hotel New Hampshire by John Irving
The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
Persuasion by Jane Austen
Queen of Babble Gets Hitched by Meg Cabot
Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
Love Walked In by Marisa de Los Santos
Belong to Me by Marisa de Los Santos
Gods Behaving Badly by Marie Phillips
Queen of Swords by Sara Donati
Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson
Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
Airhead by Meg Cabot
Meridon by Philippa Gregory
The Favored Child by Philippa Gregory
Wideacre by Philippa Gregory
Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale
Girl at Sea by Maureen Johnson
Into the Wild by John Krakauer
Naomi and Ely's No Kiss List by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
River Secrets by Shannon Hale
The House of Sand and Fog by Andre Dubus III
Feed by M.T. Anderson
Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade by Diana Gabaldon
The Attack by Yasmina Khadra
North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
She Went All the Way by Meg Cabot
Dramarama by E. Lockhart
Rebel Angels by Libba Bray
Princess Mia by Meg Cabot
Pants on Fire by Meg Cabot
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray
Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart
Stowaway by Karen Hesse
The Boyfriend List by E. Lockhart.
Spike: Asylum by Brian Lynch and Franco Urru

Ch-ch-changes

I've decided to resume the old discarded dots template. I kind of missed the dots and I was ready for something different to look at all the time. Enjoy!

I love ya tomorrow?

Tomorrow night the place where I work is hosting a thing that is kind of important to a few people in America. I don't care what your politics are (well, I do but that's a different post) whether you like elephants or donkeys or hammers and sickles; it's been fun to be at a place to is so energized and excited about an event.

I am looking forward to and also dreading tomorrow. I mean, it's pretty cool to have my campus be the host for something the nation will be tuned to. The flip side of that coin is well, all the practical stuff that you have to deal with. I mean, I am glad I take the train to work because parking is going to be (and already is) a bitch. Plus, eating on campus is going to be a nightmare. Also, if you don't have your id they make you turn around and leave...hey, I smell a vacation day.

I didn't get carded today but I did get tell a member of the media (if you consider a make-up artist for Access Hollywood media) where the media credentials building was. So, that is something but I think the deluge will be in full force tomorrow.

I plan on packing the camera and I hope to get some awesome pictures. If I do, I will post them.

Links: here, there, and everywhere

So, recently people have decided to stop blogging. Or they don't blog frequently enough to make them a daily stop. And sometimes my daily stops change, so my blogroll should maybe reflect that. At any rate, the side bar has been tweaked.

On a completely non-related note, has anyone who reads this blog been to Montreal, Canada? I am going next month for a conference and I was hoping you all could tell me about some good food, music, caffeine, etc.

It's Friday and I don't feel much like blogging

So, it looks as though you are prefer fall, it won with a whopping 66% of the votes. Shockingly, no one voted for summer as their favorite season. Something tells me this is due to the fact that we are no longer school kids.

So, now I am curious who is your favorite John Cusack? Enquiring minds want to know.

Finally, on the t-shirt front: I need to pimp two shirts. The first is a new Glarkware Now or Never. For those of us who love and miss Arrested Development, there is Annyong, Hermano! The other shirt is from GMYH. GMYH fulfilled my wish and created a girly version of Steely Dan Sucks. I can't thank him enough.

New beds and other miscellania

About two weeks ago I bought a new bed. Macy's was having a big July 4th bed sale. So, I took them up on their offer. It was past time to get a new bed. I'd had my old bed for about 17 years or so. It was old. It was starting to get uncomfortable. My bed was always squeaking. Any time you sat or laid on it, well, it was noisy. My friend Melissa even mocked me for it when she and her hubby slept on it over Christmas. She said my whole bedroom was one big squeak between the hardwood floors and the bed. Honestly, I always thought my bed squeaked because of the wooden frame.

I am here to tell you that it ain't the frame. On Saturday morning, Macy's delivered the new bed. First of all, it's so taller. It's literally a foot higher than my old bed. I actually have to do a little bit of a run to get into it. What can I say? I'm a little on the short side. Anyway, the bed no longer squeaks or creaks or makes a noise of any kind. And, though my back is still adjusting, it's a very comfortable sleep. It's the best $500 I've spent in a while.

Right now I am aching because I had my first session, with my new YMCA membership, with a trainer last night. You know how there is knowing something and there is knowing something. Well, last night I found out just how bad of shape I am in. The trainer worked me pretty hard last night. Too hard, honestly. My sprained knee which hasn't bothered me in ages had shooting pains last night and twinging pains all day. This is why I will be swimming for a while. Swimming is the reason I joined the Y to begin with; I could have gone to 24 hour Fitness but I chose the Y for the pool. So, laps and water aerobics here I come. My knee is thanking me already.

On the Buffy front, I should have the dvds waiting for me at home. But I guess I will find out soon enough.

Hope springs eternal

Today is graduation day at my university. As I was driving into work this morning I saw a plethora of students in their regalia. Some were walking with their families, others with friends, and some were walking alone to their commencement.

I really like graduation days. It seems to me to be a time full of hope, pride, and a general feeling of the world is someones oyster. I like to think that students were like me, filled with hope and fear and a deep desire to be done with my book learnin'. Plus, the regalia here is just kind of cool. In a week I am heading back to Cutesville, IN to see a pal graduate and I can only hope that her future is filled with wonderful things.

In other news, I went to a beer festival last week and I can't believe I didn't blog about it. Last weekend was the Heritage Festival. What can I say? I am a sucker for 50 different beers in four hours. Well, I didn't actually try all 50 beers but I did hit a good 20. Anyway, I thought the festival was good fun, even if it did smell a bit like manure. I guess that couldn't be helped due to the high levels of rainfall on the grass and so they felt the need to mulch over muddied areas. Anyway, I really like the Honey Beer by AB and the Pumpkin Beer was pretty good too.

What I learned from the Heritage Festival was an old lesson. Never give your real name to a drunk dude trying to hit on you. See, I used to hang out with this girl Rochelle a lot. When we would go to bars and boys would chat with us we would give them fake names. It's not like we were ever going to see these guys again, so who does it hurt. I usually went by something plain like Jenny or Julie or sometimes Ariel (after the Little Mermaid, yo). Rochelle usually went by this made up name we used to mock our friend DiRRty (see we sort of bastardized his name and came up with whole concept of if we could get him drunk enough to dress like a girl, what would his name be) and thus Rochelle became Shavona. I know. It's dumb but a lot of vodka went into that plan. Anyway, this guy who I gave my real name to became sort of a pain in the ass. He kept turning up and yelling some other name that he thought sounded like my name but was actually the word Jubilee. My friend Nadia and I were laughing so hard the first time we heard it but it became less funny to me the more it happened. So finally, I hid behind Squater and made my friends Nadia and Blake run fast and we were able to avoid him the rest of the evening. We then proceeded to drink more beer.

In other news, Squater and I did get our matching tattoo. Mine is on my right shoulder blade/back area. If I had a picture of it I would post it. Maybe I will take a picture once all the scabbing heals.

Taking a break

I am going to be going away for a few days. I am taking some vacation time since Squatter is coming in town for a visit.

I don't have much to say anyway. I've been plowing through the Harry Potter series. I started book five last night. As usual when I read the Harry Potter series, I have many Harry Potter themed dreams. Sometimes I am me but at Hogwarts, sometimes I am Hermione, other times I am a Weasley. Anyway, I had another dream last night all about book four which makes sense as I had finished book four earlier in the evening. I do love having dreams about living at Hogwarts.

In other news, last night was the second to last episode of Gilmore Girls. I discussed a while back my desire to see this show end with some dignity. I still want that to happen. But I find myself much more sad about this show ending than I thought I would be. It's nothing on the level of my Everwood heartache but a sadness none-the-less. For the last seven years every Tuesday night I sat down to watch this show. That's a long time, my friends. But it is time for this show to end. I'm not getting my Lorelai and Luke wedding. I have to be content with what we get and I am trying to do that. I just wish we hadn't been led to believe that a season eight was going to happen. I would have liked them to actually plan for a series finale rather than say this one episode could be both. I am going to reserve my final judgment for next Tuesday. However, I am now able to enforce my self-imposed boycotting of CW for canceling Everwood.

So, here's my second to last GG breakdown (man, I haven't done this in a while).

The Great

The look between Lorelai and Rory when Rory got her diploma. It was so sweet and loving. Looks like they made it.

The Grandparents singing. I cringed more at that than Lorelai's tune last week. But it was sweet.

Rory choosing to be single. I think it's important for her to learn more about herself.

Kirk in a box. Of course, now I can't help but sing "it's my Kirk in a box." Ladies everywhere should be scared to open a box with a Kirk in it.

The Good

I liked all the townie interaction. Was it idiotic for the town to think they could go to the graduation? Yes, but it was also cute and sweet. Plus, Taylor in a wheelchair just makes me laugh.

I like the Liz/Luke interaction.

The Bad

Sigh. I wish Luke and Lorelai would get their shit together and just have a real conversation not in front of the whole frakkin' town.

Also, while I didn't think the Logan proposal was bad or Rory saying no was bad; I did not like the way they walked away from each other. I mean, no goodbye kiss? Really? That made me smad.

Only one more episode left.

Where should it go?

So, I am getting a new tattoo. It's been picked out and approved by moi. I am not even getting it alone. Squater and I are, in fact, getting matching tattoos. Now the question is where do I put the damn thing on my body? I thought for a time that our matching tattoos should go in the same place but since Squater is putting his on his left arm (as part of his soon to come left arm sleeve) I basically nixed that idea. No other tattoo will detract from the beauty of my Hand of Fatima tattoo (although, that picture on Wikipedia is kind of ugly and looks nothing at all like my tattoo).

So, all this begs the question, where should I put my new tattoo? I've been pondering this question for several weeks now and I have shot down most every idea I personally have come up with. Currently, I am giving serious thought to my right shoulder blade or upper right arm. So, what do you people think?

Happy New Year and other things

Well, today is the first day of the Iranian New Year. Here's to hoping that this year will only be better than the last year. Although, last year wasn't so bad. I mean, a year ago I was in the middle of nowhere Indiana and today I live in a city. That's a pretty good thing in my mind.

Last night, to celebrate the New Year, I went to see a movie with my sister. Music and Lyrics is pretty much exactly what I thought it would be: light hearted, Hugh Grant filled, cuteness. It wasn't the best romantic comedy I've seen but it wasn't the worst either. Plus, I can't help but like Drew Barrymore. I kept wondering if Hugh and Drew actually sang for the movie. The singing voices sounded close enough and yet different enough to make me wonder. Also, all the Wham influenced 80's flashback stuff was freaking hilarious. Pop goes my heart, indeed.

ETA: According to Wikipedia, Hugh and Drew did sing their songs.

I finally got my Buffy comic last night. Although, I thought my cousin might have a fit when I pulled the comic out of the plastic sleeve he put it in (yes, my cousin is a comic book geek and has been one for like 30 years). Anyway, after receiving my detailed instructions about how to carefully read the comic as to keep it worth money (put the comic on a table, turn the pages at the corner, you might want to wear gloves, OMG already just give me the frakkin' comic!); I went home and read the damn thing. And, it was good. Of course, I wanted more. So much more. It's probably due to the fact that I never had to wait a week for an episode of Buffy let alone a whole month for a new comic book. So, I am kind of impatient with the waiting and all.

I won't spoil it for you all who have yet to read it. But I think we may need to start a Buffy comic reading group. Any takers?

Chaharshanbeh Suri

Last night was Chaharshanbe Suri or the Festival of Fire. For all you non-Persians, it's a pretty special night. Chaharshanbe Suri is the night before the last Wednesday of the New Year (the Iranian New Year is the First Day of Spring). On Chaharshanbeh Suri, people burn bonfires to celebrate good overcoming evil. Traditionally, one is supposed to jump over a flame saying Zardî-ye man az to, sorkhî-ye to az man (literally: "My yellowness for you, your redness for me; ", but figuratively: My paleness (pain, sickness) from you, your strength (health) from me. Essentially, one is supposed to burn off all the old things from the previous year in preparation for the new, clean year.

While it's true that Iran is an Islamic Republic, Chaharshanbeh Suri and really the entire Iranian New Year is rooted heavily in Zoroastrianism. Plenty of people over the years have tried to beat these rituals out of the Iranians but no one has ever succeeded.

Anyway, last night I jumped over a candle to burn off my old year and usher in a new year.

So, happy belated Chaharshanbeh Suri to you!

WSOPC: Big Bucks, No Whammy

So, B-Mart alluded to my weekend plans with her and GMYH over on her blog. I can tell you with great ease that I am filled with equal parts fear, doubt, hope, thoughts of world domination, and pop culture. I really have no idea how this will play out. All I can hope for is that we frakkin' bring it. I know I plan on being as on my game as I can be. Either way, I imagine copious amounts of alcohol will be imbibed following our trial by fire. Wow, if you read that sentence you might think I was taking the ACT and not a quiz about movies, music, and television.

In other news, I am all caught up on the brilliant Battlestar Galactica. There really are just no words for how frakkin' awesome this show is. As I called, season three made so much more sense to me once I had seen the miniseries and the first two seasons. Now I wish I had bought that Frakkin' Toaster shirt Glarkware had on sale a few months back. My only hope is that they offer it up again sometime soon. I really can't wait for the upcoming episodes which I am calling "The Passion of Gauis." Seriously, is James Callis rocking the Anglo-Jesus look or what?*

So, Gilmore last night. B-Mart, I am sure we are to disagree as you like the Chris and I do not. So, I was glad to see him leave, although it was quite babyish. However, I kind of felt badish for him last night reading that letter. It was more like an exasperated, "DUH, tard boy. How did you not remember that you were never a father to Rory. God. And aren't you the tool who frakked Lor three seconds after she left her fiance'? How are you not the rebound guy? Sigh. Why do I take this stuff so seriously?" Also, poor Grandpa Gilmore. They better not hurt him or else.

Lastly, I finished the Jane Eyre miniseries on PBS. As someone on TWoP said, Toby Stephens is "TEH SEX and I want to lick him." To that I say, "word". Now, I am watching the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejuidice. I've never seen it before. And nobody plays stick in the mud like Firth. So far, part one was pretty darn good. Unfortch, the wet shirt scene is in part two. Why does Netflix vex me so? And, since Bill brought up Bridget Jones, I thought those of you who like P&P might find this piece from the cutting room floor wherein Bridget interviews Colin Firth (like in the second book) pretty funny.


*Sorry to possibly spoil Bill but you can't get me addicted to a show and then expect me to never speak of it.

Walkout

This weekend I didn't do a whole lot. There are a couple of reasons for that but mostly it's because I just didn't feel much like going out.

I did get to see my family on Saturday. One of my nieces turned three and so I went to a little party for her. Watching a three year old unwrap presents is pretty entertaining. Then, I had an impromptu slumber party with my oldest sister who didn't want to drive home in the snow only to turn around and drive back to the city for work on Sunday morning. That was fun.

I also watched an interesting HBO docudrama called Walkout on Saturday. Walkout is the true story of the Chicano student movement of 1968. The movie focuses on the core group of student demonstrators but especially on a girl named Paula. With the guidance of a Chicano teacher, the students build support in the, then, five high schools in East L.A. to get equal education for the students. The movement gained momentum and eventually support when the walkouts continued to happen. It was a pretty inspirational film and just goes to show that collective action can make real changes or at least it used to. The following school year the number of Chicano students enrolled at UCLA increased from 40 to 1,200.

I did get to watch Rome last night. It was pretty bitchin'. I am sad to see that Max Pirkis will not be back for the rest of the season but I suppose Octavian needed to age at some point. Also, Cleopatra totally checked out Pullo and I think realized that he's the real father of her child and not Caesar. Again, can't wait for next week.

I am waiting before watching any new episodes of Battlestar Galactica until I get all caught up on the story. I have the last two dvds of season 2.5 to finish and then I am rewatching season 3 and completely being caught up. It's been hard to not click on the TWoP recaplet this morning.

Otherwise, my life is Arabic homework and studying for the World Series of Pop Culture auditions.