Princess Sparklefists

And today, in the spirit of randomness, my answers to a set of questions from isiscaughey

Comment to this post, and I will list seven things I want you to talk about. They might make sense or they might be totally random. Then post that list, with your commentary, to your journal. Other people can get lists from you, and the meme merrily perpetuates itself.

( Her questions and my answers under the cut )

Whew, it's been a busy weekend.

There was an archives happy hour after work on Friday. It's been awhile since I've gone, and I'd forgotten how much fun they are. I visited with some old and new friends and tried some new beers... all in all a good time.

Saturday we had about five inches of snow. Not so odd for January, except for the fact that it was nearly 70 degrees at the beginning of the week. I split and took the train to Virginia, where my aunt and I went to the mall for our now standard weekend entertainment of dinner and a movie. We saw It's Complicated, which I thought was really funny. John Krasinki's character is especially hilarious. He actually reminded me a little bit of my sister's boyfriend. Anyway.

I'm still not really back into the swing of this school thing. I did some reading over the weekend, but perhaps not as much as a should have. Today's avoidance technique of choice was cleaning. The kitchen is a wreck because of a complicated situation involving a wet floor and walls getting knocked in, so I spent a bunch of time cleaning it. Then I cooked dinner and had to clean it all over again.

Good news though... me and the roomies are getting along okay right now. I brought home a recliner with me today, which certainly doesn't hurt. (Also we've been united by the kitchen!fail.) This evening everyone was actually hanging out in the kitchen/living room cooking/eating/watching the Grammys. That doesn't usually happen, so that's kind cool.

Sleeeep now. I've got an early meeting tomorrow and for the first time ever I have an item on the agenda. And my boss won't be there, so it's all on me. Wish me luck!

Instead of stocking up on milk last night, like the rest of this city did, I ventured out to meet my aunt to see An Education at the E Street Cinema. If it's showing somewhere near you, I highly recommend it. Carey Mulligan stars (Sally Sparrow to Doctor Who fans) as Jenny, a 1960s school girl who falls for a charming older man. She's fantastic in the role, and completely deserves all the awards and nominations. The supporting cast, including Olivia Williams, Emma Thompson, Alfred Molina, and Dominic Cooper, were very strong as well. I'd really like to read the memoir the film was based on, but unfortunately it hasn't been published in the US.

I'm glad I went out last night because today the snow predictions actually came true. Over the last 24 hours we've had almost two feet of snow. That's almost unheard of in this region, and it was enough to shut down most of the city, including almost the entire public transit system. I had intended to some have friends over for a holiday party tonight, but that fell through, so I've had the apartment to myself all day. (One of my roommates is in India for a month, the other left for Rockville as soon as she got up this morning, before the roads became nearly impassable. She asked me for snow driving tips, and I sent her out with a dustpan and broom since she had no ice scraper.) It's been a bit lonely, but I've kept myself pretty busy. I'm all stocked up on baking supplies (I braved the long lines at Giant last night for eggs and cream of tartar... wouldn't want to be caught without if the store was closed today) so I mixed two cookie batters. I baked one variety (and hardly burnt any of them) but the other has to refrigerate overnight first.

Tomorrow I'm doing more baking... hopefully with an assistant. An old friend (from elementary school) is up from Williamsburg and wants to help, but she couldn't get out of the city today. Metro had better be running again tomorrow, cause it'd be fun to see her again.

Today I've got a round up of thoughts on three great series, followed by two young adult dystopian novels.

( Anne of Green Gables )

( Half Blood Prince )

( The Last Olympian )

( The Hunger Games )

( Little Brother )

I can't remember if I mentioned it here before or not, but I really like Bollywood movies. It all started back in high school when I was working at the public libraries. I used to check out random videos from the foreign section, and one day I picked out Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham, which is over three hours of singing, dancing, humor, and heaps of melodrama. I was completely sold!

My latest Netflix selection Chak De! India, like Kabhi Kushi Kabhie Gham and my college roommate's favorite Kuch Kuch Hota Hai, stars mega-star Shahrukh Khan. Imagine The Mighty Ducks with Indian women, and you're well on your way to understanding Chak De! India. Khan is the Emilio of this film, a disgraced former player accused of throwing the World Cup match against Pakistan, who returns to coach the national women's team. The women on the team are selected from the best players, but women's athletics aren't taken seriously, so they're not expected to amount to much. There are some requisite sports movie cliches--like the obligatory training montages or the crushing loss to a powerhouse team that makes the eventual victory that much sweeter--but they didn't take away from my enjoyment. Where The Mighty Ducks movies rely on a lot of cheesy jokes and slapstick, Chak De! India was more dramatic, and actually touched on some of the tensions facing the team from gender, class, racial, religious, and regional differences.

In a nutshell: a fun and energetic, if somewhat predictable, film about a hockey team worth cheering for.

I woke up this morning and glanced out the window and it was white! It's the first real snow we've had all winter. Finally, a payoff for the cold temps. :)

Mid-morning I got an e-mail (actually four e-mails) informing me that the University was closing early today. It made me really glad that Tuesday is my new day off, cause I would have been irritated if I had trekked all the way to campus just to be sent home for a couple measly inches of snow. There's freezing rain right now which is supposed to continue overnight, so I won't be surprised if it's closed again tomorrow.

And because I am twelve years old and was super excited about my snow day. I even went outside and took pictures:

( winter wonderland )

I spent plenty of time lounging around the house--you know, typical snow day--but I was also slightly productive. I picked out a book to review for the class I had yesterday (I am so on top of things), e-mailed some potential practicum sites for another class, and ordered one of my textbooks. I was strangely gleeful about the potential confusion I was inflicting on Amazon's recommendation system by buying a textbook, a calendar, The Little Mermaid on DVD, and a Margot & the Nuclear So and So's CD on the same order.

I read The Uncommon Reader this afternoon, which was short but pretty amusing. I saw the movie version of The History Boys a couple weeks ago, then picked this up at the library purely by coincidence--I didn't realize they had the same author. His work strikes me as, well, very British. And he's quite the literary name dropper. Good stuff, though.

I'm keeping track of all the books I'm reading this year again, and I'm trying something new. In addition to my list, I just joined Goodreads and I'm going to record everything there too. So if you're a member, go check out my profile. It's not as cool as LibraryThing, but I'm using them for different things, so that's okay.

Just cause I miss him, here's a picture of my dog that I found when I uploaded stuff today:

( santa puppy )

I promise I had nothing to do with his ridiculous outfit.

Borrowed from isiscaughey.

* Pick 15 movies you love.
* Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie.
* Post them on your blog for everyone to guess. Fill in the film title once it’s been guessed.

( Quote under the cut. )

I have smart friends who figured most of these out immediately, but there are still two mystery quotes!

My response to “The Unicorn and the Wasp.” It’s spectacularly late, but hey, I’ve been busy—or something—but I’ve now had time to rewatch. :D Also, trailer squee, speculation, and some rambling about board games and books. Spoilers through 4X07 and the mid-series trailer.

( Solving a murder mystery with Agatha Christie. Brilliant! )


( In which I attempt to discuss srs bsns, but mostly ramble on a lot. )

It feels like this has been an extrememly long week for some reason. Maybe because I haven't been sleeping enough, but you'll have that. The weekend is finally (almost) here, though (not quite, cause I'm at work for another hour), and I've got plenty of reasons to be excited (other than being easily excitable).

Tonight is the season finale of Moonlight, and there's a new episode of Battlestar Galactica for my Kara and Laura fix. Afterwards, I'm going to see Prince Caspian with friends. The Narnia books are some of my all time favorites, and the movie looks awesome.

Tomorrow is the Turkey Creek Festival. d4ni and I have no idea what it is, but it's at the park a couple blocks from our apartment. We know there is a parade involved. Basically, it promises to be amusing (either amusingly lame or legitimately fun, though probably the former). And Saturday night there's new Doctor Who!

Today is the end of finals week, so there have hardly been any people in the libary all morning. It's eerily quiet. I did some shelving (which was actually okay, cause it was the lit section, so the books aren't ten pounds each and actually look interesting), then spent a quality hour cleaning all the keyboards. YUCK! I now never want to use public computers ever again and have thouroughly rid my hands of all forms of bacteria. Sweet. At least I got paid today, so it (kind of) makes up for it.

In this morning's news, the International Association of Athletics Federations has ruled that double amputee sprinter Oscar Pistorius is eligible to run in the Olympic Games. I'm impressed by anyone who can run that fast, let alone a man with two prosthetic legs, so I'm glad they're letting him compete. (Also, I think discrimination against the disabled justified by science is still discrimination.) I honestly don't think runners are going to start amputating limbs to get prosthetic ones, and I think critics who cite that as a potential problem are vastly underestimating the stigma attached to disability that would prevent people from doing so.

Elsewhere in the world of sports, Speedo is involved in a monopoly suit. Supposedly their new full body suit could monopolize the competitive swimwear market. Now, I don't care if full body swim suits can shave off a few seconds of time, I'm still against them. Why? Swimmers have some of the fittest bodies ever and it's significantly less fun to watch men's swimming if they're completely covered up.