cinema on holidays

So, on Thanksgiving, we saw hours and hours of good movies.
First, we went to the East and saw Slumdog Millionaire.

In case you don't know, it's about these orphan kids growing up in India and one of them gets on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.
It was awesome.
There's a surprise Bollywood dance number.
It kind of shares the aesthetic of 28 Days Later but with cute Indian kids escaping bad guys instead of civilians escaping zombies.

After that we went to the Bourse and saw the Changeling.

It's a true story(!), and gave me that anxious and defeated feeling that you get when you're watching movies like Brokedown Palace or Girl Interrupted or something.
So, it's about this kidnapping in the twenties in LA. The police are super corrupt and try to give mom back the wrong kid.
Good things: Ang is awesome in it, and so is John Malcovich. Story is good, lots of twists and turns.
Dumb things: Clint really tries hard to set the scene. Oh - it's the twenties? haircuts lipstick products furniture Frosted Flakes trolleys prices everything. Places the movie could have ended? Seven or eight.

Anyway, I'd recommend either of these movies - it was the best day of movies in a while. Even if I did have to pay for one.

thanks

We had Thanksgiving.

Later I'll post some things people were thankful for*.

Kimmy slept on some people,

and we even saw Dane?


*except for the dirty ones, which I might hint at, but probably won't list in entirety.

owto/iwtn

Out with the old (clothes, kicks)

and in with the new (dragon humidifier).


Tonight's Thanksgiving.
Tomorrow is the movies.
Friday is more of the same.
Saturday is Dad.

Last night I noticed a few hours later that my ankle looked like this.

That's what all the red stuff on the floor was...
I'm clumsy.

a change of plans

Thanksgiving at my house is tonight. That's right, a holiday pregame.
If you're around, come! It's potluck so bring some food to share, your own plate, some wine to drink. Everyone's invited, it starts around 7 and we end at Click or something.
Gobble.
OH! And there will be THANKSGIVING QUIZZO! So come by, K?

weekends with glasses

I finally put some pictures on my flickr.

Not a lot, but enough I guess. There were a lot of props at this one thing we went to.

score

Last night we drove up to North Philly to the Odwalla factory. When we got there, dreadlocks and headlamp climbed out of the dumpster with crates full of juice, and told us we could have the rest.

Punk rock kids are so benevolent. We came away with more juice than we'll drink in ages. Come over and have some Superfood or Pumpkin juice.

tiny virtual Beulah

Believe it or not, sometimes I visit websites other than Apartment Therapy
and Crafster. When I've exhausted all my usual haunts, sometimes I go to Icovia and spend some time trying to figure out things like, "is there anyway to set up the living room to be able to watch both tv and the projector?"

(No. The answer is no, and I was able to figure that out without getting some boys to come over and help move furniture. Jk. Marilyn and I move it ourselves. At least we did, before she got broke.*)
As a final touch, I added the cats, who look like they're dead.


*broke for real, not "broke" like poor.

feeling fairly grownup + surrogate Applebees

Today I feel a little bit grown up.
Several times this past week I went to bed at a reasonable hour (with the exception of Saturday night, which probably threw off all those other good nights).
I got my scoot up and running (and with lights! spare tire!).
I called the Penn Dental School about scheduling another appointment for my teeth even though they were supposed to call me weeks ago and let me know which student I've been assigned to and everything*.
I made a doctor's appointment, with a real, live general practitioner that I found on Yelp.
I made that appointment so he can refer me to an otologist or whatever so I can find out why my left ear is is in such bad shape.
I'm figuring out where/when to take my last trip (thanks for all the good times, Marilyn).
I invited people to eat turkey at my house.
And, I haven't been to the movies in a week and a half. I think most people (except Amanda's parents) quit the movies when they become adults, right?

To counteract all this, we had "appetizer sampler" dinner at our house last night:
pirogies, taquitos, chimichangas, little ravioli, spin/artichoke dip, popcorn chicken...we're pretty healthy, don't worry.


*this doesn't make me feel particularly confident about how things are going to go there.

emails from very far away

an exert:

i was putting on my sweat pants and totally tripped a million and lnaded on my face.
m y kneez are all bloody and it made me think of oyou. thats all. ok bhye love you.

It warms the heart to know that when people fall on their face, they think of me.

on secretly liking music

I know it's too late, but I like the Dirty Projectors.

I mean, I always knew I liked them from when parts of them lived at Hazel house with Andy, but now I know I like their music too. Surprise!

holidays and cold hands

It's so cold out.
Had to take scoot to the shop today for new headlamp and new spare tire. Hit a couple thrift shops on the way, and found nothing. I needed some xmas albums for a new craft, and I found the records that Melissa and I donated a couple months ago. They all are $2.95 now (boy was that a mistake). So, I'm still in the market for some Christmas records if you know where I can find them cheap.

Some other crafty news involves finishing up my end of Calendar Swap 2k9.

Silk screening, cutting, sewing, phew. I'm medium happy with the results, more than medium about the colors.

We've turned our heat on. Matt leBlanc is pretty taken with it.

My room is still cold, 'cause I have the fan in the window still, but to be honest, I like sleeping in the cold. Hard to get out of bed in the morning, but so easy to sleep bundled up.

Finally, in "party at my house" news, we're hosting Thanksgiving. If you're orphaned, have early plans, or looking for a way to get out of family obligations, come over to Beulah. We'll do the turkey guy, you bring a dish to share (RSVPs about this would be great), a bottle of wine, and your own plate. Silverware? We've got you covered (hopefully). Let's get thankful for each other: Thursday, November 27, 7pm.

my next Big Idea

Sometimes I see these rugs that people made out of old t-shirts.

(thanks TalkingSquid, for your picture)
Anyway, I'm pretty new to the t-shirt scene, and fleece seems like it'd be way cozier anyway. So, I have plans to make a really big, really cozy rug. From scratch. Sometime soon, maybe over Thanksgiving weekend.

In other crafty news...we're working on this collab calendar, and we're 1/6 of the way there. 2k9 is right around the corner, and motivation is a hard thing to impose on people.

big plans tonight

Unless Friend gets too scaredy-cat.

I added this to my "unrealized good ideas" addendum that I'm working on, and then thought to myself, enough is enough. Enough keeping waiting on action. Let's be the team that does things - Melissa and I have been talking about it forevs. There's probably a lot of things we should actually be doing from lists - like visiting the Odwalla dumpster and getting Conrad on the next season of Beauty and the Geek.

problems with outer space

This week I watched Wall-E again, and it was good again. Three times is enough times, but it was good.

Here's some things about it

1. If humans got so fat and lazy since leaving Earth, how did they come up with the technology to invent Eve? She seems more than a couple steps removed from her contaminated counterpart. Maybe other robots invented her? Is that possible?

2. Gravity. When Auto(pilot) tries to take over the ship and is wrestling with with the Captain, the ship turns back and forth (in outer space) causing people to fall out of their chairs, slide all over. I don't know...it seemed a little easy.

3. I like M-O a lot. That little guy who is programmed to clean things, and seems to feel a deep rooted compulsion to do so? He reminds me a little of Marilyn and Shayna.

Also, they make these vintage/future posters of some of the robots, which are nice. Nicer than regular movie posters anyway.

Tasker-Morris on the BSL

I just got an email that I've been added to the Philly Blog Map.

I asked to be added in August. I guess I finally just passed the test.

remember the World Series?

Last night somebody showed me this:

keeping listing

here's some things you could tell my parents to get me for Christmas:

unlimited texting
a rear rack for my scooter
this calendar
a Crosby record player (hopefully that mini red one)
leather mittens
Netflix
puppy
someone to take care of puppy
Bridge lessons
teeth
DDR
a real haircut
Bare Feet gift certificates (do those exist?)
Wii Fit
the Clapper
Eames house of cards
trips
someone to teach me how to burn dvds
a new motorcycle helmet

(that's just a start)

realized bad ideas we've had

riding my bike home on April 27, 2008
no shave November
small, religious liberal arts college*
getting a 31 year old stranger from Craigslist to live in the basement as a "domestic intern"
many haircuts
some haircolors
indoor sparklers and silly string on election day
spending a lot of money an any electronic
getting locked out of the Pintos
trying to play bridge at 1601
forgetting that Matt leBlanc was in the back yard that one time...
subscribing to Marie Claire, even though it was probably only $5
Dane (just kidding, kind of)
changing "Low Bar" to "the Dive"
rollerskating in Winter 1994
letting the girls have a glass of juice near my tiniest computer
that one trip to NYC
jumping fences to play tennis
spin the bottle in 2004 (mostly funny)
playing mafia at 5 hour brunch
living at the Honolulu airport
pushing back Harry Potter & the Half-blood Prince to 2k9
Melissa putting her contacts in a glass of water next to the sink that one night
Ryan drinking water that one night
Ikea on a Saturday AM
midnight screening Bangkok Dangerous



*to be clear, I really like everybody I know from Houghton, and don't exactly regret it, unless I'm thinking about how much I pay each month in student loans, and how dumb a few of my classes were.

realized good ideas we've had

visiting Shayna and Megan in Amsterdam
organizing first bake collab
talking Jerry into hardwood floor
50 states print swap
real estate licensing (jk, not the best idea)
voting Obama
cameras
learning to play bridge
Taco Tuesdays
cardigans
birthdays in Puerto Rico
Christmas in July 2k7
kittens
laser studfinders
loft-sitting
health insurance
no meat September
always keeping a spare tire for scoot
free shipping
making books while working in the PMA's operating booth
cat haircuts
blogging, which isn't as weird as I always thought
the Jesus wall at 607
cutting the legs off that white table
Philadelphia
tights
pizza parties
speed Scrabble
using the sporting good check-out at urban WalMart
riding in cars with boys (but not the movie)
getting into the Riverview for free, always

unrealized good ideas we've had

opening a laundro-mat/bar, coming up with a good name for it
custom painted World of Warcraft figures
paint yr own portrait party
videotaping every day of my life in 2007
only keeping clothes I wear
moving to Canada to work in Canadian film industry
chandeliers
quitting text messaging or getting a land line
learning Spanish
using my dining room table as a built in scoreboard
covering dining room table with maple veneer
always having three complete sets of keys, just in case
getting 50 States print swap digital for Ritz pre-movie exposure
having long hair
visiting Africa or South America
getting onto that big boat near Ikea
being on MTV's Made
being good enough at something to be a coach on MTV's Made
ordering custom matchbooks*that say something about getting awesome on Beulah
throwing a "LOST" themed New Year's Eve party
paying of my credit cards, student loans and owed drinks
throwing a party at the gypsum factory
making soap in the shape of light bulbs
using the robot to clean the floors all the time
high heels lifestyle
white jeans lifestyle



*also: keychain bottle openers, flash drives, cocktail napkins, playing cards

kittenwar

Last week, after some margaritas, we put Kittenwar up on the projector, and spent a lot of time deciding which (giant) kittens were cuter.

So then the next day I uploaded some pictures of MLB and Babycat to see how they'd do. I recently checked, to find out how cute they are.
Matt? Not so good. He's only at 25% wins. And little guy I couldn't find, because I couldn't remember what name I put him under - Ducks Fly Together, Robert Downsy Jr, Shamalamadingdong, Trig...
But today I finally found him, and (you'll be relieved to know) - he's at 100% wins.

(Also, today I realized that sometimes I vote for the less cute kitten because I feel sad for it. The morality questions brought up by sites like this are HUGE.)

Bond

Sarah was right action/plot ratio in the new Bond. It was kind of whatever*.

Here's a rough plot synopsis (I'm really good at this from when I used to write coverage at WB):
car chase scene (CRASHES!), on foot chase scene (DARING!), (enter hot girl who ends up looking like she stole all of Kate Austin's clothes off the island)

boat chase scene (EXPLOSIONS!), weird scene explaining a "Bond drink", airplane chase scene (more DARING! and JUMPING!), discovery (PLOT!), other hot girl (dead), chase, chase, conclusion. Maybe watch the other one before you see this? Maybe that would help? Anyway, I don't care about ever seeing this movie again. Also, an interesting note, the midnight crowd for this was way less enthusiastic and dedicated than Batman or Harry Potter premiers - and rightly so.

(Oh, and Melissa said** that Arrested Development is going to be a movie for real?)

*I can't believe I saw this and didn't see My Life to Live while it was up. I'm bad at some things.
**posted an article on Facebook speculating that

crash, but not the bad movie

As a preface: my roommate and I spent much of Wednesday night talking about how accident prone we are, and sharing stories about breaking wrists/fingers/ribs, etc.

We went to the Barbary Wednesday night for a little fake Club Lyfestile thing. Girl dj's can be pretty hit or miss, and the whole beginning felt like a spinning class. Anyway, it was eventually fun - we saw summer friends like Ricky and Party Steve, and danced a little, and Marilyn took a lot of photographs which I'm sure you'll see on Facebook or something later.

On the way home though, we're crusing down Columbus (Delaware Ave for those old school among us) and get a flat tire. We start swerving like crazy and then...tip over. One quick phone call and Ben Gallman is there in moments (thanks Ben!).

I got a little banged up, but Marilyn really got the worst of it. She stayed right there on the sidewalk while we* changed my tire, and took a lot of pictures. Then we went home. Didn't realize how rough of shape Marilyn was in 'til the next day when I got a text message from her from the ER: "Haha - I fractured my coxis!"
She's taking it like a champ**, and has a little donut cushion and everything. Anyway. Yikes. Sorry Marilyn.

*Ben
**on Vicodin

puppy pool party

Dear everyone,
Remember during that awesome acceptance speech, when Obama told his daughters, “And you have earned the new puppy that’s coming with us to the new White House.”
Well, I'm now accepting guesses on what kind of puppy the girls will get, and what they'll name it. There might even be a prize! Any guesses?
Xo

(I'm guessing a lab, like the Clintons, named something like "Diggles").

><

It's been a while.

Facebook > Myspace (finally ready to admit it)
boys who use cheat sheets in poker and hide it under their beer > American Apparel employees
regular pets < Pawly, who has 24 toes, and is the handsomest cat
Taco Tuesday > working weekends
margaroos & documentaries > beer & sports
planning ahead for Halloween 2k9 > going out
re-release of Godard > Disney sequels
Lexulous > Boatzee
lawyers < everyone
pants < tights

etc.

psych

Oh, the internet? It's nearly impossible as it turns out. Yesterday guy's drill started on fire. He called in reinforcement, and now I have a(nother) phone box thing in my room, but still no World Wide. His partner did however confirm that Little Guy

(most recently "Ramalamadingdong") is a girl-cat.

Also, I got up to my elbows in textile ink last night, nearly won a game of bridge, and solved a couple crimes with Marilyn and Adrian.

world-wide

Today we got the internet for real. Probably. This is the third time this week that we "got" the internet. Anyway, I'll be able to game and blog and chat with you til all hours now! Awesome!

Except I have so many good crafts lined up. So, maybe not.

hsm3

This weekend I saw High School Musical 3: Senior Year. I can't decide if it's better or worse than the second one. This one actually had a song called "High School Musical".

It always makes me crazy that the Disney Machine can get together all these kids who can sing and dance super well, and make a million dollars. I'm okay with it though, without the Disney child star phenomenon, we wouldn't have "Womanizer" or "Sexyback", right?

Anyway, I have a lot of nights to see movies this week*, so let me know. There's Bond, Charlie Kaufman, some Clint Eastwood joints...

*the floors at Society Hill Dance Academy are getting refinished.

k, thanx

Is anyone around for Thanksgiving? Marilyn and I were thinking about hosting an evening T-gives potluck.

Anybody interested?

HP

Next week was supposed to be Harry Potter week, and I was going to go see it about a million times. But then there was Dark Knight, which was fine, but it pushed back HP&tHBP to next summer. I kind of geek out about it, so it's kind of a downer to have to wait that long. It also means Deathly Hallows II won't be out until 2011, when I am almost 30 years old.

Here's a new trailer for Half Blood Prince.

yes, we did

Last night we had some people over to watch America get awesome.

We ate Obama cake (Marilyn!) and homemade mac'n'cheese (Nikki!)

and drank "Ale to the Chief" and "Barock Dunkel" (Jesse!).

We wished we were in Chicago and at the end, tried out Broad Street, but it was no Phillie's victory. A lot of honking and yelling though, no police and no fires and no overturned vehicles.

Mostly M banging on pots and pans.

addition

This guy lives at our house now. He's Marilyn's. Matt's still getting used to him, and we're still working on names.

Some ideas are: Trig, Emilio, Corky (remember Life Goes On?), Robert Downsy Jr, or Ducks Fly Together.
Chloe thinks we should name it Elevator.
Come meet new babycat tonight.

can haz democracy?

Yes. It's kind of pot-luck, so bring food or drink. Tuesday, maybe around 8.
Let's get elected.

"Doesn't Obama hate America though?"
No, Melissa's mom, no he doesn't.

mashup

Halloweekend was a big mix of awesome and bummers.
The parade was fun. Marilyn and I decided we needed to split Halloween into two days, because it was so long.


We watched the parade from my office, and had a few drinks up here. By one we were done and walked home to go to sleep to get ready for Halloween part two.
All that was good. We went to take a ride to Jomar and my scooter started spraying gasoline all over. (Tedford? Are you still there? Are you still in my life? I wish you still lived on Beulah).

Lyfestile party was pretty fun, and we stayed up oh-so late. Good job on costumes, Everyone (except Devon).

(Lauren and I were mummies. Separately!)

Saturday was kind of whatever, I watched a lot of Desperate Housewives, painted my room, got asked out to lunch by that weird fat drug dealer guy who sits on the corner, saw some people at night.
I had my second "fall back" hour on Saturday night (does that make me even older?) in as many weeks (one in Hamsterdam, one here).

So then Sunday was supposed to be a big deal, the day they broke open the world's largest pinata.
Here's a phone pic from last week when they were building it:

We rolled up around 2:40, a few minutes before they're going to wrecking ball the mammoth donkey, and everyone is waiting with bated breath. Then we hear boo's. Everyone starts leaving - they've canceled the whole event, I guess because of crowd control issues.

There was a bunch of sad little kids, and 8,000 pounds of sad candy.
"They better take that guy home tonight!" said one guy who probably helped flip over a car or tear down a bus stop earlier this week.
So that was kind of a downer, but then Rander brought the tiniest kitten over to my house and that was great.

I did not go the movies. Maybe tonight.