I am a commitmentphobic blogger. How sad for my poor little blog, it's not its fault I'm bringing emotional baggage into the relationship!

I last wrote anything on February 5th. What has been happening since then?

- Work, work, workity work. 
- The continuing glory of The Complete Jane Austen on Masterpiece Theater
- Actually receiving a paycheck and having to restrain myself from immediately buying everything in the world
- Continued indecision about what I want to be when I grow up
- The writers' strike ended!
- Barack continues to duke it out with Hillary. My money is still with him (literally, now that I'm a paid employee)
- I saw Juno, 27 Dresses, Vantage Point, Penelope, and The Other Boleyn Girl. To sum up:

Juno: Badass. Ellen Page was adorable and insanely funny; Jennifer Garner and Allison Janney and the guy who played grouchy editor J. Jonah Jameson from Spiderman had small parts and totally made them magic; Jason Bateman was there; and so was my future husband, Michael Cera. There were orange Tic Tacs and some realistic thoughts on high school, a bit part by one of the kids from that Canadian opus, Degrassi, and a pretty damned intelligent look at the choices women have to make with unwanted pregnancies. I felt that all the options were touched on in a respectful, nonjudgmental way - which is pretty much a miracle of science. Juno considers the abortion, but decides against it. And no one learned a valuable lesson, it just wasn't for her. And as for keeping the kid v. putting it up for adoption, she sums it up a little sadly but smartly: "I'm in high school. I'm just...ill-equipped".  Plus a Dwight cameo, shorty shorts and a delightful, odd little soundtrack. 

27 Dresses: Adorable. I would be embarrassed at how much I liked this movie if I cared about any of your opinions.  ;-) Just kidding! I care, but I really enjoyed it. Katherine Heigl! James Marsden! The chick who played Kitty in Arrested Development! Heigl and Marsden (whose character names escape me at the moment, but I'm pretty sure she was Jane) were mighty cute together (especially when doing hammered performances of Benny and the Jets in a sleazy bar), and it had a lot of really funny lines for a romantic comedy. It had a lot of funny for a movie altogether, really. Plus, Katherine Heigl and James Marsden. I love them madly even when they're playing annoying characters (Izzy on Grey's Anatomy and Cyclops, the whiniest of any superhero in the history of time). Plus it played a Regina Spektor song, so cool points!

Vantage Point: Assy. I mean, seriously folks. It has a really cool premise, and it looked like it might be fun in that let's blow up some cars kind of way. Plus lots of good people are in it. But there is only so much that even good actors (including Matthew Fox, of LOST fame, and Party of Five if you were nerdy like me and dug those plucky orphans) can do with a script that was obviously written by monkeys. And not even the smart monkeys, no no. The losers of the monkey school of writing, where everyone just knew they didn't have that certain something. Blech. 

Penelope: Surprising! I hadn't heard very much about this, just that it was a sort of modern day fairy tale and that James McAvoy would be there. That was enough for me. But it was actually totally hilarious and lots of fun. Christina Ricci was walking around with a pig nose during the whole movie, and looked cute cute cute. There was a vengeful midget PI with an eyepatch, which I think we can all agree is a good time. The AWESOME Catherine O'Hara, from all those Christopher Guest movies, was there as Penelope's (Christina Ricci) mother, and she was great. A half crazed socialite determined to marry her kid off to a rich blueblood because she thinks it'll break the curse on the poor girl's nose (and ears, though they never really showed those).  Reese Witherspoon was apparently the Executive Producer but gave herself only a tiny part in the film, which I think is pretty cool. Like M. Night Shamalama used to do. She couldn't have been in the movie more than 10 minutes, but she rocked it. And may I just say, the James McAvoy did not disappoint. The eyes, they are so blue. So blue. And he played the piano in it! Lord. Extra cool points for being absolutely littered with awesome British cameos. 

The Other Bolyen Girl: Also surprising, but only in that I was surprised I didn't claw my eyes out by the end. Let me just say, I dug the book, and I also like Natalie Portman and Scarlett Johannson (I've only seen Eric Bana in Hulk, and I dont think it's very fair to judge him on that). But this just looked. SO. SO! bad. And it wasn't bad, really. The costumes were awesome, Bana was suitably pampered and ambitious and a little too horny for anyone's good, and Natalie Portman actually was pretty cool as poor ole Anne Boleyn, with her ambitions and her games being begged of her by her family, and then dooming her in the end. But it was just such a LAZY ass script. When you're making a movie about an historical event (even a movie about a fictionalized novel about an historical event), you have to be a bit more on the ball than this. And that's not to say that anything was very egregiously wrong (not like the horrifying Johnny Tremain that Dad and I watched once, with ended with everyone in the camp [including Cilla who somehow snuck into a WARZONE to make out with Johnny, and Rab who somehow managed to not be dead] SINGING about a Liberty Tree, or some shit.  Sorry for the tangent, but that movie is basically my guidepost for how bad an adaptation can get). It wasn't that the information was wrong, it's that it was spoonfed to us. Like we, the viewer, have never even HEARD of England before, let alone know jack about English History. It actually ended with subtitles (also badly written us) telling us, in an excrutiatingly coy and drawn out manner, that Anne's daughter Elizabeth would succeed her father and turn into that Badass Virgin Queen herself, Elizabeth I. Like no one could puzzle that one out? What a fucking head scratcher. Lord. 


Okay children, that's all I've got for now. End of foul mouthed story hour!!

p.s. My parents are on Spring Break in Florida right now. I am sick with envy, plus I need to go grocery shopping.

Well, you finally got me you tiny little fiend. I hope you're happy. :)

Don't forget/neglect to vote. Or I will puke on your head.

1 - Mom is playing LOUD Christmas music from the living room and Dad is playing LOUD Irish music from the attic. Neither of them are home at the moment. SIGH.

2 - Those snickerdoodles were AMAZING

3 - I was totally duped via text message last night, and what is worst is that I totally knew it. I'm more gullible than the Webster's definition of gullible. 

4 - ABC.com is showing My So-Called Life as a "special online exclusive", not related to the lack of material due to the writer's strike, oh my no! I don't care. I loved Angela Chase and the rest in a BIG way back in 94. It may have been what first stirred in me the desire to have awesome bottle red hair. 

5 - Before the birthday dinner for my 1L friend's boyfriend tonight (who is totally awesome, b to the w), I must help Dad get a tree, find The Adventures of Pete and Pete on DVD,  and make myself look presentable. If you think that's not a lot to worry about, then you don't know my Dad. Or what my hair looks like right now.

I quote from the awesome Avenue Q:

What do you do with a BA in English
What is my life going ot be?
Four years of college
And plenty of knowledge 
Have earned me this useless degree!
Can't pay the bills yet
Cuz I have no skills yet
The world is a big scary place
But somehow I can't shake
The feeling I might make
A difference to the human race!

Except for the last two lines, perhaps. That's a big overly optimistic. :-) Seriously, those filthy puppets know what they're talking about. But seriously folks, someone should just employ me already. 

I had an interview today for a job that I reeeeally want. Big time. The interview itself was nearly two hours long, which was pretty intense. Both of my parents, upon being told this, quipped - that's a long interview for a job that doesn't pay anything! Supportive, n'est-ce pas?

I just do not see the point of making 30, 40Gs on a job that I could give a flying fuck about. That happens to almost everyone eventually, and I'm cool with that. Because people make that decision when they get married and want babies and mortages and that crap. So it's a fair trade off, because at that stage of life your job is less important anyway. It's just supporting the nice parts of life, like babies and backyards and sweet grills to make burgers on. Totally understandable, and I am sure I will do it.

However! I am hardly there yet! So why should I settle for something that I don't want because it pays more, when my expenses are totally minimal and I don't have to pay for my damn weiner kids' braces or whatever. It is with that attitude that I have proceeded in my job search, which has largely taken place on this website: http://www.idealist.org. Which is a great website for anyone even looking into a little volunteer work, but also is teeming with non profit jobs. Now, if I could just snag one of them!

Moving on....

The toothless man from Suffolk asked my 1L friend about me the other day. He apparently remembered my name, which was surprising all by itself, and then gave what must be the most unique compliment I have ever received. Here is it word for word:

"Man, that girl is intriguing. She's as intriguing as... early morning paint!"

Whamo!
Needless to see, my 1L friend nearly peed herself when she relayed this to me. Jealous! :-)

On Thursday I have another job interview. Le sigh.
On Friday I have jury duty AGAIN. Le double sigh.
And on Saturday, I am probably going to the movies in a big group. a BIG group, with lots of people. Interesting people. Ohhhh, boy. 

Lastly, Christmas is coming. Which is awesome. But brings back the always difficult question of what the hell to buy for Dad. Mmmmm.

Sorry, void. It was totally cruel of me to be gone so long! You'd think I had something important to do with my time! Ah, well. Unemployed people really do have full schedules!

.....

The thing about still being unemployed is that there reeeeeally isn't that much to talk about. It is an issue. 

Two live interviews down already. Several phone interviews. And two more live interviews next week. Boy, howdy.

Seriously though, if I don't get a job soon, I am going to go bananas. It's going to be lame, and you all are going to get socks for Christmas. My old socks. Unfortunate. 

I am really going to miss TV if this strike goes on much longer. I will fill the hours however, with glorious repeats of some of the best TV episodes from all the series I have on DVD. For example!

The Arrested Development episode where they first start doing the Charlie Brown walk in times of distress
The British Office episode with Tim's Birthday and the Quiz. "He threw a kettle over a pub! What did you ever do?"
The Veronica Mars episode where she makes snickerdoodles for Wallace and rescues a parrot and a goat
The Gilmore Girls episode with all the Poe impersonators and all the Yale paraphenalia. 


Like I said, I really need to get a job.

Today is Guy Fawkes Day, aka the day that England rather hilariously celebrates a failed plot to blow up Parliament with Bonfire Night, wherein practically everyone in the whole country lights off fireworks. 

Two years ago I was lucky enough to be in England on Bonfire Night, and it was definitely a once in a lifetime type event. We had just gotten back to the house after a weekend trip to Wales, and we were all freezing and muddy because our leader Jonathan had UTTERLY misrepresented the nature walk we were going to go on that day as  "a piece of piss" (aka quite easy) as a fucking five mile hike up and down big ass Welsh hills and over gates and through cow pastures. We jumped fences and landed in the mud, and generally come home covered in crap. It was a beautiful walk in the countryside, but very tiring and by the time we'd gotten home, no one in our house wanted to go along to trivia night at the University anymore. Instead, we made insane amounts of tea, washed out our sneakers, put on the warmest clothes we owned, and sat out on the scaffolding to watch the fireworks. My house had really elaborate scaffolding on the garden side for almost the entire semester, and the front side for about a month. The front side was too thin to really sit on (though I did a few times since the lowest level was right at my bedroom window) but the garden side was pretty easy to get up and down and had room enough for a bunch of us. If you climbed all the way to the top level, you could see the most amazing view of Bath and off towards further parts of Somerset. This was probably totally unsafe and illegal (especially the occasion when one of the guys locked me out there with no shoes on for fun and I had to break in through Philippa's window on the top level) but so completely, completely fun.  And Bonfire Night on the scaffolding was amazing. All our neighbors on Northampton were lighting off fireworks, really advanced ones too. Way better than any amateur show I've ever seen here at home (better, even, than Jimmy Lazar's July 3rd festivities) and there were kids outside laughing and tons of people had friends over, and there was music playing, and it was a really cold and clear night so the sky looked totally fantastic, and it's probably my best memory of studying abroad.

And to think it's a pretty anti-catholic holiday! :-)

I don't have time to fully expound upon this right now, but for my lovely sister and BROIL (brother in law, haaa) I shall take the time to tell you all -

There was a subplot last night during The Office involving SECOND LIFE! Direct quote from Dwight: "My second life is exactly the same as my real life. Except I can fly."

Last night I tried to watch Ugly Betty and the Sox at the same time, and then The Office and the Sox at the same time. It was confusing. I had to blow off It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia entirely, very sad. Beckett was fierce though, man o man. Obviously I am not going to comment on baseball with the same knowledge and detail of my brothers, but I will say that it was a satisfying game to watch, except for Coco Crispies and Julio. And also, I find Papelbon's concentrating face creepy, but his warmup rendition of YMCA delightful.

Mom does this really awesome thing when she's watching a game and getting worked up where she claps her hands together with her arms held so tightly in the clapping position (like, her elbows are at a perfect 90 degree angle that you could do geometry with) that she looks like one of those clapping monkey dolls, with the little cymbals and hats. On an unrelated note, how freaking weird is it that one of those creepy monkeys is like, a MAJOR plot point in Phantom of the Opera?

I thought last night's Office was the best of the season so far. I've actually really liked all the episodes, although some friends have been complaining that the hour long episodes have been dragging in places. I guess I can see that, but without it we might not have had time to see Dwight reading Harry Potter as a bedtime story to Jim and Pam, or Michael being the cool one in the telemarketing conference room scheme. I LOVE by the way that the only solution Michael can ultimately see to his growing financial problem is to become a train hobo. He didn't even put all his belongings in a kerchief and tie them to a stick before he went! My favorite line might be from Daryl though - "You need to access your non-crazy side".

This morning as I attempted once again to clean my bedroom I watched last night's 30 Rock. Very funny, particularly Steve Buscemi (how on earth do you spell that? is that right?) and Jack's hidden cookie jar obsession. I have to say though, that I really haven't liked this Jenna is fat now storyline. It just grates my ass. The fat suit itself is silly looking, and I'm not sure what we're even supposed to be taking from it. And having tiny little Tina Fey act as the moral authority over this whole thing is lame as well.  Especially since she's swung from being horrified that Jenna put on weight, to wanting her to keep it to make a "statement" that it's okay for her to look that way, to helping write down insults to keep her unhappy so that she keeps eating and stays fat (once she has gained popularity with fans for being plus-size). And I knoooooow that I am thinking about it too deeply, and it's a comedy, and everything. But it's just so laaame. Especially with Tracy's wife Angie walking around being nonstop hilarious and no one says a word about her.  I honestly just think that this show is smarter than this plotline. And if they're trying to make some kind of point, I haven't seen it yet.
(In the interest of being unbiased I will also note that Ugly Betty also had a hot girl gets "fat" storyline recently that also involved a terrible body suit and overall lameness. But at least that only lasted one episode. Le sigh.)

Here's the thing about blogs - my group went through this phase already, in high school and early college. We had pastel backgrounds and dancing emoticons and conducted what seemed at the time to be deeply important surveys on the subject of each other's favorite books and exactly how many cigarettes we had ever smoked. Then of course, everyone got bored. A very quick search of my old LJ friends (most of whom are still my real life friends, one of whom I'm hanging out with tonight) reveals that all these blogs have now either been deleted or not updated since around May of 2005. 

So now, over two years later, to return at the behest of one's sister, seems a little odd. Is it that too short a time has past in between these two blogages (I've decided that's how I will refer to them, it's a mix of [clearly] blog and ages, but also voyage to make things spicy), and thus returning is more sad than interesting? Or, as seems far more likely, perhaps it's just that the reason I stopped to begin with is that I had nothing interesting to say? Mmmm.