wFeb 3, 2007


...and the Ugly

Yesterday was a really weird mix of good and bad. I'll start with the bad first, with the preface that I usually don't like talking about work/internships (aside from ShopKo, :P) in my blog for obvious reasons. I don't think it's very professional, and it's a really stupid thing to do, especially if you get mad for some reason.

The Bad
With that said, I think it's okay to make this statement without treading anywhere I shouldn't: I didn't get the internship I've been trying to get for the last 2 months. The office simply doesn't have enough space right now. The person I was in contact with gave me other prospective ideas that they would help me with, which is good.
Still, I was understandably upset and angsted about it for a while last night.

The Good
Gretchen and I watched "Julius Caesar" yesterday afternoon after class, and ate delicious curry from the SukoThai cart. Marlon Brando was superb as Marc Antony. Watching him was pretty much my favorite part. Watching Shakespeare movies with Gretchen is good because we can fast-forward the boring parts and giggle about it.
Antoine had me over for dinner, and watched some Battlestar Galactica. He went out with some friends to see a band, and I went back home.
Chad, Paul, and I played some Civilization IV on Chad's computer - something we used to do a lot last year when we would go on a trek away from the dorms for Chad's apartment. That game is SO ADDICTING. Wow.

Anyway. So, for now I'm just going to focus on the good for a few days, and I think I'll decide tomorrow what to try and do next in terms of internships/jobs. It'll be okay. I hadn't realized how much I was counting on it, I guess, until the opportunity was denied me.

At least I have things to look forward to. I am very much looking forward to Anime Club this evening - I'll be with friends if I choose to be, but I can also just sit for a few hours and become absorbed in other things. I'm so spacey lately. I'm sorry these entires aren't more coherent.

Current Music: Waltz piano version - Honey & Clover OST

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scribbled mystickeeper at 3:56 PM
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wDec 14, 2006


:D

I feel pretty relaxed tonight, which is sort of bittersweet because I know that starting tomorrow, that feeling will be gone until after my last final, on the 22nd. For I will be studying valiantly!

Tonight I watched the film version of "Twelfth Night," which I enjoyed very much. I liked Helena Bonham Carter and Ben Kingsley very much. I think that this was probably my favorite Shakespeare comedy, at least that we read this semester. Often, the happy Shakespearean romances leave me feeling a little squicky, or a little WTF. Like, I liked Much Ado About Nothing because I liked Beatrick and Benedick, but Hero and ____? *Shudder* In "Twelfth Night," I sympathized with both Viola and Olivia, so that was good. Also, normally, reading songs inserted into literature bores me a lot. Maybe I just learned to glaze over them from reading too many Redwall novels, I don't know. But listening to Ben Kingsley play his guitar thing and sing? Love. I need to find the soundtrack somehow!

Yesterday I got to see Gretchen for the first time since midsummer, which was nice (she'd been studying in Ireland this semester). We went out for dinner with Kristen and Louise, and then for ice cream. I like friends, :) Gretchen and I also discovered that we unwittingly signed up for the same Shakespeare class next semester! So not only do I get another semester with the delightful professor I have....nor not only am I going to be studying TEH ANGST of Hamlet/Macbeth/Lear/Caesar/etc.....but I'll be doing it sitting next to Gretchen! YES.

After that, Antoine came over here for a while. He liked the first two episodes of Revolutionary Girl Utena!! (Although I should be fair and include that the word 'weird' was used to describe it....but what else do you expect from a postmodern fairy tale anime?!) He also wants to watch more of it. I WIN, :D

I'm so glad that tomorrow is the last Thursday of classes - I've spent the last two semesters dreading Tuesdays/Thursdays because of having 3 power lectures in a row. No more!

Current Music: Wish - Olivia

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scribbled mystickeeper at 12:29 AM
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wNov 30, 2006


:)

I bring you a post that was written last night, but was not posted until now because I fell asleep!

Productivity and Shakespeare Movies
I have been incredibly productive the last couple of days. I've been reading voraciously for school, and have also watched two Kenneth Branagh Shakespeare films - Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing. I love Much Ado About Nothing so much! Mostly I like watching Emma Thompson and Kenneth Branagh being Benedick and Beatrice. Both of them are so pretty, and so good at delivering their lines! I don't really care about anybody else in the play anyway, ;) The ending of the movie makes me want to call up all of my friends so that we could join hands and dance in a circle whilst being showered with white flower petals. BECAUSE THAT'S WHAT HAPPENS.

I think that Hero is a most excellent name for a female. Even though I like the character Beatrice better (like, wtf, who falls in love with someone because someone *else* woos you?! And after everything Claudio did, how could she still love him?), 'Hero' just sounds wonderful. If I ever have a daughter, then perhaps I will name her Hero.

Henry V was also pretty fun. Kenneth Branagh with eyeliner! Because how can you be a warrior king without eyeliner? I didn't know he could be badass, but he definitely can. He pwned the Earl of Cambridge and the other rebels. It was sad watching him betray his own old friends, though. :/ Oh Shakespeare and your multi-faceted characters.

I need advice
I am seriously considering getting a Netflix account. I went to Four-Star today to rent Henry V and Much Ado About Nothing and forked over $9.00. Blockbuster and Family Video and etc. always have really limited selections, too. It's ridiculous. Netflix is only $9.99 per month for unlimited rentals of 1-DVD-at-a-time, and they do have lots of anime, too, so I definitely know that I would use it. I would never have to worry about returning the DVDs by a certain time, and it seems like they have lots of old stuff, too, so I can continue to watch adaptations of Shakespeare plays while taking my Shakespeare classes for the rest of this semester, and then in the spring (yes, I read the plays first). Can anybody give recommendations/warnings about it?

Other Developments
Today, I declared my 2 certificates (aka: minors) at my university. They are (dundunDUNNNNN): Global Cultures and European Studies. Apparently, a lot of random classes I've been taking fulfill the Global Cultures certificate. Also, go figure: many of my English class count towards the European Studies certificate. The best news is that my Spanish credits count towards both certificates, so they counted towards something! Yays. I was really excited.

Also, this afternoon I was able to sign up for "Literature in Translation: Fantasy and Science Fiction." It counts towards my Global Cultures certificate, bwahaha! I need to keep scouring the timetable so that my whole schedule ends up badass. So far it seems like my classes will be nice, though. AND HERE'S WHY:
Fantasy and Science Fiction Tentative Reading List, According to the Website:
Lucian of Samosata: True History
Thomas More: Utopia
Jonathan Swift: Gulliver's Travels
Mary Shelley: Frankenstein
Hope Mirrlees: Lud-in-the-Mist
J.R.R. Tolkien: The Lord of the Rings
H.P. Lovecraft: At the Mountains of Madness
C.S. Lewis: The Space Trilogy
Ray Bradbury: Selected Short Stories
Harlan Ellison: Deathbird Stories
Jorge Luis Borges: Fictions
Alan Moore: Watchmen

HELLS, YES. Tolkien, H.P Lovecraft, C.S. Lewis, Ray Bradbury, and Alan Moore. If that's not a list of Badass, then I don't know what is.

Shakespeare class
Will be exactly like the Shakespeare class I'm taking now (same format, time, and professor) except that it's plays from 1600 on. So, we'll read things like Hamlet and King Lear and Macbeth and other wonderful angsty tragedies. Bwahahaha!

19th century English novel class
In which we read Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Alice in Wonderland, and other stuff. I keep getting warned about ridiculous amounts of busy-work, though, so I'm signed up for a back-up course, which is:

Select Major Modern Poets
In which we read poetry by badass people like T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, e.e. cummings, and other people. I love T.S. Eliot, but I actually hate poetry, for the most part. Which is why this class is a back-up, :D

I Still Need...
Classes for my European Studies certificate. I'm signed up for 2 ILS classes right now, but they don't seem badass enough. I'll have to scour.

Random
There was a nice article about Clamp in the New York Times yesterday.

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scribbled mystickeeper at 8:52 AM
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wOct 18, 2006


Can you say brainwashing?

This post was mostly written last night. Of course, I fell asleep next to my laptop in my bed, so it didn't get posted until now.

Fangirl Ramblings
I really enjoyed watching those movie versions of Richard III a few weeks ago, so I want to start watching good versions of all of the Shakespeare plays I'm reading. Tonight, I watched A Midsummer Night's Dream. I was really excited that they used the orchestral score by Felix Mendelssohn. In fact, the opera music was badass throughout.
Actors: Christian Bale! OMF the guy who played Theoden in Lord of the Rings!
Calista Flockhart (who surprisingly was an excellent desperate Helena) was okay.
Kevin Kline was a great Nick Bottom, and really added a lot of depth that I hadn't felt with the character when I read it myself, and his counterpart was played by Roger Rees (Lord John Marbury from The West Wing!), who made an excellent Quince - so cute and eccentric and convincing.
They took the play and set it in late 19th century Italy. Frilly Victorian lace and suits with bow-ties, but spouting Shakespeare. Not as badass as Richard III in 1930s dictatorial England, but comedies aren't meant to be badass. The scenes with faeries were very imaginative and just as faeries should be.

Material Possessions, yay!
Here are pictures of the stuff I bought in Mitsuwa!


Here, we have my Miso Soup, Hello Kitty Pocky, and some Botan Rice Candy.


Here, we have the 10th and final volume of Honey & Clover in Japanese. It's okay, because the anime is exactly like the manga, so I know what's going on. Steph did talk me into only purchasing one volume, though, since I'll definitely purchase the entire series if it's ever licensed/released in English. Also, I bought the Honey & Clover soundtrack, imported from Japan! (Don't worry, I paid a lot less than the price listed on that website, :D) I love Honey & Clover! It's one of my favorite series of all time.

So those are my pictures of the things I bought. I also purchased some chopsticks and "Men's Pocky" (aka: Dark Chocolate. Because, obviously, women can't like dark chocolate!) as gifts for Antoine.
...OMF, I just realized that I totally forgot to take a picture of this "pet seal" I got with some Japanese candy. He comes with his own book to read, and a transparent cube to live in. He is so cute! I love him. I'll take a picture of him later today.

OMF
Carolyn is coming with me tomorrow to see Lois Lowry at Memorial Union Theater! If you want to join us, we're meeting outside of the Central Reservations Office at 7:00. I'm just happy that the King sisters (Kristy and Sarah) were able to get my copy of The Giver to me. Now I just need to try and get it signed!

No
All of my jeans look and feel huge on me lately. I guess that's good, but it's kind of annoying.

LOLZ for the day
And lastly....OMG American Revolution fanart! I love all of the comments left by people fangirling Alexander Hamilton. Oh, Internets. I love you.

Current Music: Violent Pornography - System of a Down

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scribbled mystickeeper at 11:12 AM
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