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sarea
The happy:
* Went to Circuit City and purchased the new Linkin Park/Jay-Z CD/DVD for $8.99. Considering the non-sale price is $14.99+, I think this is v. exciting indeed. Also while I was there, I picked up the collector's widescreen edition of Jurassic Park (the only JP movie worth watching, IMHO) for $7.99. I love Circuit City. And Linkin Park.
* I've also ordered The Believer, which piqued my initial interest because Ryan Gosling's in it. Then I read the description/reviews, and it sounds amazing, which is why I had to get it. I probably should have just rented it, since I don't know that it's the kind of film I'd want to see multiple times (like the wonderful American History X), but oh well. From Amazon: Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and one of the most acclaimed independent films of recent years, The Believer is a daring and courageous portrayal of a young Jewish man living an impossible contradiction as a neo-Nazi. Danny Balint (Ryan Gosling) is an intense young man whose fierce intelligence and inexhaustible curiosity once made him a star pupil at his local Yeshiva. Now, at age twenty-two, he focuses this intensity on altogether more sinister aims; as a rising star in local neo-fascist circles, Danny spends his days attacking synagogues and fomenting hate among a devoted band of followers. Yet while working tirelessly to realize the destruction of his own people, Danny finds himself inexplicably drawn back to Judaism. This terrible inconsistency in the heart of Danny's soul - the yearning to study Torah and to attack Jews - and the avoidance of easy psychological explanations, make The Believer one of the year's most complex and provocative films.
* Yesterday I got Prince of Persia 2 in the mail. While so far I'm not really all that impressed (given how much the graphics and what not were touted), I will still no doubt spend many mindless hours playing it. So yay for mindless, fun activity.
* Have started posting Portkey Party to the archives. Coding for all the different places is such a pain in the ass, argh. But at least now there are only three parts left to do.
* Tomorrow I will be watching the UCLA-USC game with Julie. The Bruins are so gonna get creamed, which is why I have insisted that we watch it somewhere where we can do other fun things before/after. I don't like conceding to USC in any way, but the fact is they're ranked No. 1 and this year we, well, suck. My only hope is that we tend not to live up to expectations when we're the ones being championed, but as underdogs against ranked opponents we do surprisingly well. So I'll hope for that.
* Our extremely, extremely young basketball team has started the season 4-0. Okay, they haven't really played a real opponent yet, but considering there have been years where we had a top 25 ranked team and still managed to lose one of the early games, it's kind of nice to see. Am looking forward to watching Howland rebuild our basketball dynasty. All right, maybe I'm expecting a bit much, but definitely I like the direction the program's taking, and I can only hope that UCLA bball will be exciting to watch again some time in the near future. (I wish I could say the same for our football program, but I don't have nearly as much confidence in Dorrell. I hope he makes me eat my words.) I have only one piece of advice to give those boys: GET TO THE FREAKIN' BOARDS. That is all.
* Next Tuesday will finally see Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason with Danielle. I'm one of the people who liked the first book more than the second, so we'll see what the movie does for me. I haven't read it since it first came out, so I'm hoping that that will help me enjoy it even more than I normally would. Am considering going to see Finding Neverland some time this weekend.
* Dec. 11 I have a massage appointment with Lilya. OMG I can hardly wait. It was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but I wanted to watch the game so it had to be postponed.
* The following Tuesday (it's the new Friday!)![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
corianderstem will be feeding me chili, and there's only joy to be had there. Chili is only one of my favoritest foods evah!
* And perhaps most exciting of all, my old VCR, the one that my entire fragile TV ecosystem revolves around, has been fixed! Well, at least, I'm taking the repair shop people's word for it, since I haven't actually been able to test it out just yet. Here's the embarrassing and frustrating thing: I think I fixed it. As in, I fixed the little belt thingy that looked kind of screwy. Only, when I put the VCR back together, I did it wrong -- I did it backwards. The notes on the service details said, "Refitted by bad technician."
Yeah, that would be me. He didn't replace any parts or anything, leading me to believe that all he did was switch around the innards, and if I'd only done that part right, my VCR would be working and I wouldn't be out $54 (more than the cost of the new VCR I got at Target, which I will now be returning). If only I'd known enough to tell when something was backwards. Sigh.
The not so happy:
* I've been watching my BtVS S7 DVDs, and there are no words for how much of a let down that final season was. It's such a travesty, considering how BtVS was a show that should never have succeeded in the first place, then rose above their campy beginnings and turned into a smart and sexy TV show that was a cult hit amongst smart and savvy people. It should have gone out with a bang, not a whimper. The concept behind the season was sound, but the execution left so much to be desired. It's just so disappointing. BtVS should have ended with "The Gift" -- and if it was going to go longer than Joss's original 5-year plan, they should have reworked it so that "The Gift" didn't happen until S7, or whenever the end of its run was. (And personally I would have also made it so that she didn't die for Dawn, but for all of mankind.) Anyway, but for one or two episodes, S7 was completely forgettable.
* Still majorly hating on T-Mobile. Thanks for the commiseration. One day soon I may cool down enough to be able to tell the story without resorting to all caps or raising my blood pressure, and when that day happens I will be writing a letter, oh yes. The last time I wrote a letter, a waiter got fired (granted it wasn't the only impetus, but still).
* I dread getting feedback for The Slow Autumn these days. You know why? Because more often than not, it's abusive people trying to threaten me into finishing it. So not motivational. Why can't they see that? And I don't know what the renewed interest is all about, anyway. It's been ages since I last updated that story. Here's the skinny: I haven't given up on it. It's like, my most precious baby. But I can't focus on it when I've got a plate full of other things to write, and in order to write TSA, I need to have zero distractions. So the plan is to finish up all my outstanding fics, and then I shall be able to focus all my attention on TSA. One of the big things was to finish PP, which I've done, so now there's just: IYOK, my![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
dearsanta fic, a D/G Christmas story if I decide to do one, and this story Jade and I have discussed for awhile now, though it may not actually need to get written before I can focus on TSA.
* I don't know what to get my cousins for Christmas. One is a nearly 16-year-old boy who sold his Xbox so he could buy a guitar and sing at his church. He's my cousin and I love him, but it's like we're from totally different planets. The other is a 10-year-old girl who loves to read, but I don't know what's popular with 10-year-old girls these days. I was into The Babysitter's Club and the Ramona and Fudge books, but I am no doubt hopelessly outdated.
Hope everyone has a fun-filled and relaxing weekend. Isn't Harry pretty in this icon? It almost dispels that horrendous cast pic of him from my mind. Almost.
* Went to Circuit City and purchased the new Linkin Park/Jay-Z CD/DVD for $8.99. Considering the non-sale price is $14.99+, I think this is v. exciting indeed. Also while I was there, I picked up the collector's widescreen edition of Jurassic Park (the only JP movie worth watching, IMHO) for $7.99. I love Circuit City. And Linkin Park.
* I've also ordered The Believer, which piqued my initial interest because Ryan Gosling's in it. Then I read the description/reviews, and it sounds amazing, which is why I had to get it. I probably should have just rented it, since I don't know that it's the kind of film I'd want to see multiple times (like the wonderful American History X), but oh well. From Amazon: Winner of the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival, and one of the most acclaimed independent films of recent years, The Believer is a daring and courageous portrayal of a young Jewish man living an impossible contradiction as a neo-Nazi. Danny Balint (Ryan Gosling) is an intense young man whose fierce intelligence and inexhaustible curiosity once made him a star pupil at his local Yeshiva. Now, at age twenty-two, he focuses this intensity on altogether more sinister aims; as a rising star in local neo-fascist circles, Danny spends his days attacking synagogues and fomenting hate among a devoted band of followers. Yet while working tirelessly to realize the destruction of his own people, Danny finds himself inexplicably drawn back to Judaism. This terrible inconsistency in the heart of Danny's soul - the yearning to study Torah and to attack Jews - and the avoidance of easy psychological explanations, make The Believer one of the year's most complex and provocative films.
* Yesterday I got Prince of Persia 2 in the mail. While so far I'm not really all that impressed (given how much the graphics and what not were touted), I will still no doubt spend many mindless hours playing it. So yay for mindless, fun activity.
* Have started posting Portkey Party to the archives. Coding for all the different places is such a pain in the ass, argh. But at least now there are only three parts left to do.
* Tomorrow I will be watching the UCLA-USC game with Julie. The Bruins are so gonna get creamed, which is why I have insisted that we watch it somewhere where we can do other fun things before/after. I don't like conceding to USC in any way, but the fact is they're ranked No. 1 and this year we, well, suck. My only hope is that we tend not to live up to expectations when we're the ones being championed, but as underdogs against ranked opponents we do surprisingly well. So I'll hope for that.
* Our extremely, extremely young basketball team has started the season 4-0. Okay, they haven't really played a real opponent yet, but considering there have been years where we had a top 25 ranked team and still managed to lose one of the early games, it's kind of nice to see. Am looking forward to watching Howland rebuild our basketball dynasty. All right, maybe I'm expecting a bit much, but definitely I like the direction the program's taking, and I can only hope that UCLA bball will be exciting to watch again some time in the near future. (I wish I could say the same for our football program, but I don't have nearly as much confidence in Dorrell. I hope he makes me eat my words.) I have only one piece of advice to give those boys: GET TO THE FREAKIN' BOARDS. That is all.
* Next Tuesday will finally see Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason with Danielle. I'm one of the people who liked the first book more than the second, so we'll see what the movie does for me. I haven't read it since it first came out, so I'm hoping that that will help me enjoy it even more than I normally would. Am considering going to see Finding Neverland some time this weekend.
* Dec. 11 I have a massage appointment with Lilya. OMG I can hardly wait. It was originally scheduled for tomorrow, but I wanted to watch the game so it had to be postponed.
* The following Tuesday (it's the new Friday!)
corianderstem will be feeding me chili, and there's only joy to be had there. Chili is only one of my favoritest foods evah!* And perhaps most exciting of all, my old VCR, the one that my entire fragile TV ecosystem revolves around, has been fixed! Well, at least, I'm taking the repair shop people's word for it, since I haven't actually been able to test it out just yet. Here's the embarrassing and frustrating thing: I think I fixed it. As in, I fixed the little belt thingy that looked kind of screwy. Only, when I put the VCR back together, I did it wrong -- I did it backwards. The notes on the service details said, "Refitted by bad technician."
Yeah, that would be me. He didn't replace any parts or anything, leading me to believe that all he did was switch around the innards, and if I'd only done that part right, my VCR would be working and I wouldn't be out $54 (more than the cost of the new VCR I got at Target, which I will now be returning). If only I'd known enough to tell when something was backwards. Sigh.The not so happy:
* I've been watching my BtVS S7 DVDs, and there are no words for how much of a let down that final season was. It's such a travesty, considering how BtVS was a show that should never have succeeded in the first place, then rose above their campy beginnings and turned into a smart and sexy TV show that was a cult hit amongst smart and savvy people. It should have gone out with a bang, not a whimper. The concept behind the season was sound, but the execution left so much to be desired. It's just so disappointing. BtVS should have ended with "The Gift" -- and if it was going to go longer than Joss's original 5-year plan, they should have reworked it so that "The Gift" didn't happen until S7, or whenever the end of its run was. (And personally I would have also made it so that she didn't die for Dawn, but for all of mankind.) Anyway, but for one or two episodes, S7 was completely forgettable.
* Still majorly hating on T-Mobile. Thanks for the commiseration. One day soon I may cool down enough to be able to tell the story without resorting to all caps or raising my blood pressure, and when that day happens I will be writing a letter, oh yes. The last time I wrote a letter, a waiter got fired (granted it wasn't the only impetus, but still).
* I dread getting feedback for The Slow Autumn these days. You know why? Because more often than not, it's abusive people trying to threaten me into finishing it. So not motivational. Why can't they see that? And I don't know what the renewed interest is all about, anyway. It's been ages since I last updated that story. Here's the skinny: I haven't given up on it. It's like, my most precious baby. But I can't focus on it when I've got a plate full of other things to write, and in order to write TSA, I need to have zero distractions. So the plan is to finish up all my outstanding fics, and then I shall be able to focus all my attention on TSA. One of the big things was to finish PP, which I've done, so now there's just: IYOK, my
dearsanta fic, a D/G Christmas story if I decide to do one, and this story Jade and I have discussed for awhile now, though it may not actually need to get written before I can focus on TSA.* I don't know what to get my cousins for Christmas. One is a nearly 16-year-old boy who sold his Xbox so he could buy a guitar and sing at his church. He's my cousin and I love him, but it's like we're from totally different planets. The other is a 10-year-old girl who loves to read, but I don't know what's popular with 10-year-old girls these days. I was into The Babysitter's Club and the Ramona and Fudge books, but I am no doubt hopelessly outdated.
Hope everyone has a fun-filled and relaxing weekend. Isn't Harry pretty in this icon? It almost dispels that horrendous cast pic of him from my mind. Almost.
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no subject
Date: 2004-12-04 12:46 pm (UTC)For the 10 year old cousin, look up "Blood and Chocolate" by Annette Curtis Klause. I read it when I was in 6th grade, and it was pretty good. Or "Hidden Talents" by David Lubar. Funny, FUNNY book with substance.
"The Believer" is a really good movie; I rented it this summer. Ryan Gosling is so good he's creepy. I didn't find the end satisfying, but it's worth watching, definitely. It's a clever film anyway.
Sorry to hear about the comments you've been getting on "Slow Autumn." I'm one of the readers (oh yeah, that's how I found your LJ, I've been reading everything you and Jade have written) who's waiting on an update, but real life intervenes. I got a review last week that went like this: "This is a good fic but you need to update more. A lot of people are getting annoyed because you haven't been updating." Sorry, college apps are more important than providing entertainment for you. Pfft.
Yeah that's it :)
no subject
Date: 2004-12-05 04:18 am (UTC)