First off in the awesome news, I'm watching an episode of "Murder, She Wrote" featuring a very young Neil Patrick Harris. Je s'adore.


Second, today was pretty awesome because I spent it at Epcot in celebration of Cinqo de Mayo. We lunched at Mexico and drank at nearly every other country. Lovely.


Third, both my birthday and my half-birthday are holidays. Like, real ones...not "Sweethearts' Day" or "May Day." Who else can say that? Neither are American holidays, though...damn.

[For the curious, the aforementioned holidays are Guy Fawkes' Day and Cinqo de Mayo. Rock.]


Fourth, I like the idea of being able to watch tv episodes online, but it's been my experience that most of the network websites are crap. Except ABC. ABC.com's full episode videos are the most reliable and easy to use of any major site. Well done, ABC.


That is all.

A truly fantastic night of buffalo chicken pizza, 101 Dalmatians (which was SO much better than I remembered...I mean, I remembered it being good, but it's REALLY good), Lady and the Tramp, and a round+ of Disney Scene It with Colleen.

Oh yeah. We're hard-core.


BTW - I'm ridiculously good at Disney trivia. Like...too good to be human. The first game of Scene It we played, I had gotten to the end and won the game, while Colleen was still only 6 spaces away from start. Granted, she kept rolling low numbers and getting All Plays, and I consistently rolled 4s and 6s and got an even number of All Plays and other challenges (My Plays, trivia card questions).

But still. It's almost embarrassing to be this good. She's good, too. I'm just freakish.

After that, we just did the Party Play so we could both participate.


Also, we have tentative plans to have a "Disney Day" and watch all sorts of obscure Disney flicks (like A Goofy Movie) as well as some more popular mainstream ones (I'm thinking an early-90s mini-marathon of The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and The Lion King...and for those perfectionists out there, technically The Little Mermaid is "late 80s").

Oh, lofty goals. ;-)


PS - I think if I get a boy cat, I might name him "Sergeant Tibbs." It's a pretty kick-ass name for a cat.

I take back what I said about Ted Levine not being entirely recognizable as Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs while portraying Capt. Leland Stottlemeyer in "Monk."

It turns out that in the earlier years of the show, when his hair was darker and shorter, and his mustache significantly smaller...he is very much Buffalo Bill.

Eww.

I will still watch the episode, of course, but I never really liked the early seasons anyway. And Natalie is ten times better than Sharona (she was so annoying and kind of mean).

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In other news: I just took my Geography exam, so I'm done with that class FOREVER. Sweet.

And grades will be posted later TONIGHT. Double sweet.

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It's my Mom's birthday today. She turned 60. Whoa.

Additionally, I was the first of her children to call and wish her a "happy birthday" so I think I get a gold star for that.

Also, this weekend, she's coming out to Orlando (most likely with my aunt Judy) so we can go to a Norman Rockwell exhibit at the Orlando Museum of Art. I'd say "I'm taking her to the museum for her birthday" but that would imply that I'll be paying, and I seriously doubt she'll let me pay for myself, let alone for her.

But it should be a good time. We might even be heading to Downtown Disney afterward for some shopping.

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I am TOTALLY craving some Pizza Hut. That greasy, yet crispy pan pizza crust is sounding soooo good.

Methinks I'll be ordering some delivery for dinner.

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Tomorrow, I'm going shopping after class. I am in desperate need of new bras. Good thing I got a $100 Victoria's Secret gift card for Christmas.

I might also look for something new to wear to my cousin's wedding. I'm thinking of sporting the sweater and pants look...it's going to be cold and I really don't like dresses unless they are princess-y and I can't wear a princess-y dress to a wedding that isn't mine. Can't show up the bride and all that. I'll probably wear heels and hose, though, so that's something.

Florida Mall, here I come!

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I think that's all I've got.

My long week is finally over.

On Tuesday, I turned in my completed draft of my thesis.

Today, I turned in my term paper, and then took my Geography test. I think both went very well.


So tonight? I am having a one-woman party with a bottle of cheap champagne (you know it's quality when it has a twist-off top) and watching a Law & Order: CI episode with Neil Patrick Harris playing a sociopathic killer (not my favorite role for him, but I'll take what I can get). Thank you, TiVo Wish List for picking up on that one.


When this is over, I'll probably put on a Netflix and get to bed by 11:30 or so.


This weekend, I might see a couple movies (I still haven't seen Stop-Loss, and tomorrow, Leatherheads opens). Then, Saturday and Sunday will probably be spent at Disney. My brother, his wife, and their daughter are coming down, so I believe my parents and possibly some of the other Florida family will be heading out this way as well. Yay.

I have had some BIZARRE dreams lately, though none of them the epic narratives I usually write about.

This week, I started out with a Juno-esque film in which a pregnant Ellen Page (straight out of Juno) is trying to outrun nuns in the 1950s. See, the nuns disapprove of her unplanned and premarital pregnancy and are trying to abort her baby (because apparently the nuns don't have a problem with abortion? I never said it made sense). Anyway, I'm trying to help her escape while secretly hiding my own unplanned and premarital pregnancy so the nuns don't come after me as well.

Then, after a day at the Animal Kingdom where we saw some killer spiders (literally...poisonous spiders and insects), I had a dream that the spiders and ants were all around me and blocking my way out. Specifically, I was in the Bucket O' Soldiers and a spider or ant occupied every hole. Stupid poisonous bugs.

Finally, (and this one takes the cake, in my opinion) last night I had a dream that Nikki and I were in a gymnasium-type place that was being used for a pretty awesome dance party. I'm pretty sure it was on the University of Wisconsin campus, but that's not totally relevant. Anyway, we notice that "everyone" had left so we're walking around and asking if anyone had seen Amanda or Charlie (apparently we were all kicking it up in Madison), when who should walk in but Amanda, Charlie, Tim Burton, and Helena Bonham Carter. They had all gone to the liquor store and had brought back beer, other drinks, and Charlie had a box of alcoholic popsicles (think: juice bars with vodka...I think I'm onto something brilliant here. Can I copyright?). So we all sat down at a folding table and drank.

That's right...in my dream, I was chilling with Tim Burton and Helena Bonham Carter...at a gym on the University of Wisconsin campus. Wholly bizarre, but totally awesome!

What kinds of things go through my head? Oh, if only you knew!

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Also, because I didn't post this earlier and for some of you, I may be your primary source for movie news, the currently-being-planned Toy Story 3 is set to be released in Disney (Real) 3D, the same way The Nightmare Before Christmas was rereleased, and as the Hannah Montana concert thing is being presented currently. Interesting. If you haven't seen something in Real 3D, it's pretty cool. Definitely more subtle than things popping out at you, they work more with layers of depth, so there may be four levels of background receding into the picture.

As a final note, Sweeney Todd is playing at the cheap theater so I may have to take a break from working on my thesis later to see it for a third time for $2.50.

Thank god this week is done.

I noted on my Facebook comment that I haven't been able to sleep past 9am in the last 11 days, and that on 8 of those days, I was awake by 7:30am.

Eww.

But it is officially the weekend, so I should get two days to "sleep in." While I'm seriously doubting getting to stay in bed until after 10:30am (my goal), it will be nice to not have to wake up before 7:30am.

The week was long, but good. Disney was fun, though after 4 days of intensive walking, my legs are a bit sore. I got all of my work done, though, and my Geography exam yesterday wasn't as terrible as I imagined and I should definitely get at least a B.

This weekend, I'll be working on my Thesis and getting an outline worked out...which means sifting through my 6 books, 18 journal articles, 17 newspaper articles (and other various internet gatherings), and watching the 4 films I'm using as research and figuring out what I can actually use. Lots of work, but that's all I plan to do (aside from watch the Superbowl).

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In other news...

I'm kinda excited that Zac Efron will be starring in Me & Orson Welles, directed by Richard Linklater and set to be released in 2009. It seems a good jumping off point to get away from the High School Musical realm and into some serious work. I hope it's at least somewhat good. Claire Danes is also supposed to be joining the cast, so yay. And I read a synopsis of the book it's based off and it seems pretty interesting. And it's possible the Zac Efron character hooks up ("falls in love") with three different women. Rock. [Though in my mind, I thought it would have been awesome if it were Oscar Wilde instead of Orson Welles, and it was some sort of young, gay love story.]

And Helena Bonham Carter and Tim Burton had their newest baby in mid-December and according to reports, the baby girl's name is Indiana Rose. Apparently, they have been quiet on the baby's name, because they were expecting a boy and hadn't thought of girl's names.

Life is crazy, but it's going.

Obviously, as posted previously, my Saturday festivities in Tampa were awesome (there are a ton of nearly identical pictures of me and Colleen on Facebook).

Sunday, I met up with the sister and brother-in-law at Magic Kingdom for the weirdest Disney day ever. It was beginning to seem like everything that could go wrong, did and it was by far the worst day at Disney any of us has ever had. The upside is that it provided for a lot of laughs, because if we hadn't just laughed it all off, we would have been crying and miserable.

Monday, I woke up early for class, and after two very long and eventful days...it was tough. But I trudged through (which is an accomplishment because History of Prints with Dr. Martin at 8:30am is HARD to sit though). And I hit up the UCF art gallery right after class so that I could go back to my apartment and write a review on the exhibit for my Theory and Criticism in Art History class.

I was super fast and by 11:15, I had the review done and printed and I got myself out of the apartment to go back to Disney (three days in a row of intensive walking for hours on end...). We were at the Disney Hollywood Studios this time, and things were far calmer and it was pretty fun. We got through the park pretty quickly, so we hopped over to EPCOT and had a nice sit-down dinner at the San Angel Restaurant (inside the Mexico pavilion). The food wasn't exceptional, but the margaritas were good and the atmosphere was fabulous. Unfortunately, I couldn't drink too much, because I had to a) drive back to my apartment and b) wake up early AGAIN for a FULL day of classes.

Oy.

The upside? I got my American Cinema paper done and turned in, and my art review done and turned in. Plus, I got an extension on my thesis outline so I can do it this weekend and go to Disney for tomorrow after class and actually spend the night (aka - get drunk)!! Thursday's classes don't begin until 1:30pm, so I'll be able to get back by then.

The downside is that I do have a Geography exam on Thursday afternoon...so I need to study for that. Like...right now. So alas, I'll be occupying myself with that this evening.

Apparently, I'm not allowed to leave town.

Since Sunday morning, I've received 37 email messages and 35 spam mail. And while I was checking all of those, 3 more new emails came in (and 2 spam messages). Crazy.


Disney was super fun though. The niece is adorable and family time was good.

But after four long days, I'm exhausted and getting to bed.

First off, I had an entirely fabulous night last night.

Well, it started during the day, actually. Around 2pm, I was done with my chemistry final and feeling awesome. Anna, who also attends UCF, was finished too so we thought it would be cool to do something. There weren't any films out that she and I would both want to see (story of my life, kids) and shopping seemed so boring and passé. So, we collectively came up with the brilliant idea to go to Downtown Disney (the shopping, eating, entertainment area, for those of you not in the know). The best part? It's totally free.

Anna's somewhat of an amateur photographer (some of her work is really stunning, I keep meaning to ask if I can buy a piece off her), so she brought her manual, black and white film camera with and we walked around and enjoyed the Disney-esque atmosphere and hopefully she got some cool candid shots of kids or buildings, or whatever. It was pretty awesome.

After that, we headed back home and Jane, Colleen and the girls from next door, Michelle and Jessica, decided they wanted to play beer pong later. Sweet. I missed out on a game a couple nights ago because I started to feel ill and went to sleep early. But first, Colleen really wanted to rent the movie Waitress. We here in Collegeville are cheap-asses, though and no one wanted to pay $5 at Blockbuster (oh man...I hate Blockbuster so much, it's insane). So, she mentioned that Wal-Mart is supposed to have those DVD rental kiosks where you rent a movie for a $1. Totally awesome. So I went with her to Wal-Mart, where we also bought a bottle of white zinfandel and two bottles of Andre Extra Dry (oh, I'm spreading that shit like wildfire...and everybody loves it).

It turns out that Wal-Marts don't have the kiosks, but Wal-Mart Neighborhood Markets (their grocery chain) do. Well, there are three said Markets in a 5 mile radius from our apartment, so we headed over there. I'm not going to lie...I'm in love with the idea. These redbox kiosks are pretty awesome. They are subject to being sold out of movies (like any rental place), and the selection isn't great yet, but it definitely seems like they are just adding the new titles every week, so the longer they are in place, the better the selection. Sadly for us, Waitress was sold out. However, we did rent Hairspray for a dollar!!!! I know, I know...I own the DVD, I could have waited until tomorrow, when I meet my mother and hopefully she brings it back to me...but screw off, it's $1. I was so excited, I jumped up and down a bit in the parking lot. I'm pretty sure Colleen thought I was off my rocker.

So this redbox thing...I looked it up online after we got back and it's pretty spiffy (FYI - there are none within 20 miles of Spring Hill, FL, but they are at Jewel locations through the Deerfield area and the Wal-Mart on Lake-Cook). And apparently people around Deerfield don't know about them or feel that paying $1 for a movie is too cheap and beneath them, because you can check the titles available online (and reserve one to pick up at a kiosk, a feature I find awesome) and the Jewel in Highland Park by the Toys R Us and the one on Lake-Cook has all the good new releases, including Pirates and Superbad, which were regrettably out of stock at all the ones in the my area...I mean, I own them both, but it was like a litmus test. So cool, you can check availability and reserve it online.

Additionally, and this is just because I'm an uber dork, if you put in a zip code and no redboxes are found, it comes up with a message that says: "Attenzione, achtung and yo! There seems to be something amiss." First off, they use languages not often represented, yet humorous (isn't it a running gag that anything said in German sounds hilarious?). Plus, the word "amiss" is just awesome and we should all use it more.

ANYWAY, so Colleen and I get home to an empty apartment (the girls had gone on a beer run) so we pour some $4 "champagne" and start the movie (because it's still too early for beer pong anyway). It was fabulous and I had to really control myself not to sing ridiculously loud along with everything. The other four girls got home and we all watched and I think they all liked it, or were at least amused. By the end, Anna was swooning every time Zac Efron was on the screen (I don't know what it is about that movie, or that boy, but the combination is LETHAL).

After the movie, because the night wasn't awesome enough, I got into a really great discussion of 20th Century art with Michelle and Jessica (who had taken a 20th C Humanities course). I have an issue occasionally with my roommates because I never feel like I have anything to contribute to their conversations. I'm not going to be a bitch and say that they are shallow or anything, because they definitely aren't, but they aren't the type of people that you can launch into a discussion of Andy Warhol or even stellar cinema. After art, we veered into a discussion of Keira Knightley (I swear to GOD I didn't bring her up, though I was quick to extoll her virtues), we talked about Natalie Portman, had a really good discussion about The Professional and I lent them Closer to watch. We discussed books into movies and how they suck, though I was certain to defend and recommend Pride and Prejudice (as though my life were at stake). It was so ridiculously awesome.


After that, the evening was just sort of all about chatting and drinking. We never did get around to playing beer pong, but I did learn that you can't by 40 oz. beers in Florida. No 40 Hands. The closest you get is 32 oz., but "32 Hands" clearly doesn't sound as cool. Random.

To sum up:
- Downtown Disney
- Wine and $4 Andre Extra Dry
- redbox
- Hairspray
- Discussion of 20th century art and cinema (dear god, that's my senior independent research topic)
- Awesome neighbors

YAY!


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PS - For the record, I used the word "awesome" 9 times in this entry, which evens out to about once a paragraph. I believe that from this analysis, you can conclude that my day yesterday was, in fact, awesome.

Dudes.

Either Fandango is fucked up, or the Regal near me switched out all their film projectors with digital overnight.

Crazy.

[EDIT: Fandango was fucked up. All is normal.]

I'm not sure how I feel about converting all films to digital. In fact, I'm not sure how I feel about the increasingly digital age. I understand that high-def products give a bright, crisp clarity not available through film...but what if you don't want bright, crisp clarity? Digital works, to me, often seem to distance the audience and lack the engaging qualities film has offered for the last 100+ years.

It's the same with the loss of hand animation. There's a quality in classic Disney animated features that can't be reconstructed with digital means. Take Winnie the Pooh for example. I much prefer the hand-drawn cartoons to the new, computer-constructed images. I used to want to reach out and hug that cuddly, overstuffed bear...now, it's just feels a little fake and creepy.

I understand that digital is offering a great amount of opportunities and generally cheaper means, I just hope that we don't end up with everything in a cold, detached digital world.

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Also, (and similarly,) I watched 12 Monkeys last night, which is absolutely fabulous. Many similarities to Brazil which I felt took away from the creativity, but it was so interesting and well done. It makes me lament the loss of Man of La Mancha even more. I mean...Terry Gilliam + Johnny Depp? That would have been SO good. (PS - if you don't understand what I'm talking about, rent the documentary Lost in La Mancha. It's excellent.)

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And speaking of documentaries, I'm currently watching Air Guitar Nation, which is quite reminiscent of The King of Kong. While it's not quite as engaging, it is quite solid and quite awesome. Essentially, it's about people competing in the US Air Guitar Championship for a spot in the World Championships of Air Guitar in Finland. There's this great dichotomy between how seriously the contestants take air guitar and how they know that it's a complete joke. Excellent subject matter.

My weekend was quite excellent.

Food and Wine Festival on Saturday was full of wonderful wines, beers, mixed drinks, and other forms of alcohol. (Oh, and there was food too. Kielbasa!)

After, we post-gamed around the hotel and spent several hours getting progressively drunker and wandering places we shouldn't have (such as dark, scary areas beyond the paths). Of course, we documented the entire journey through digital pictures.

Sunday was spent recovering...sort of. After a hot game of mini-golf (at the Fantasia Gardens Fairways course) and lunch at the off-property Olive Garden...a nap was necessary to fully recover before the Not-So-Scary Halloween Party.

The Halloween Party was sweet. A ton of candy was acquired, the parade was excellent (as predicted), and the fireworks exceeded expectations. The entire Magic Kingdom was decorated for fall and Halloween, so it was very festive, and there wasn't anything scary, which was perfect.

This morning, we did a little shopping at Downtown Disney and got lunch before I had to leave to get to class. What a buzz kill, let me tell you. But everyone else left too, so I didn't actually miss anything. Class was boring and all day today I've been rebelling against work. All I really have to do is write a one-page response for my film class, and I can easily do that between classes tomorrow...so if I don't get it done tonight, it's not a huge deal. I may be going out soon with Colleen and a couple of people from next door for Anthony's 21st birthday. Fun times.


Alright...I'm going to try to get a smidgen of work done before we leave.

By the way, there's a super cute billboards near my apartment that features a bottle of white wine and a big fish, with a heart between them, and it reads: "We met at EPCOT - Food and Wine Festival."

Then! I just caught a commercial. There are faux dating videos featuring beers, wines, and foods talking about finding their "perfect pairing."

It makes me happy and SUPER excited for the Food and Wine Fest! I'll be there October 27th!!!!

Then, on the 28th, we'll be hitting up Mickey's Not-So-Scary Halloween Party. Whee!!

BTW...


For those who haven't seen the live-action "101 Dalmatians" (1996, featuring Glenn Close...personally, I prefer "102 Dalmatians" solely for Ioan Gruffudd), Horace and Jasper are House and Mr. Weasley (aka Hugh Laurie and Mark Williams).

Frickin' sweet. And slightly unbelievable.

Perhaps you noticed my recent disappearance.

Well, I was having a mini Disney vacation! Yay!

Saturday afternoon, my brother, Dave, his wife, Katie, and their adorable daughter, my 7-month old niece Samantha, arrived at Disney for a 5-day Disney trip, so the whole damn family rushed over to have a long weekend of fun and lots of walking and pictures.

( To recap in a hurry... )

So it was a long, but fun weekend. Disney is always wonderful, and it will be better in December when Dave, Katie and Samantha come back, and Samantha will be 14 months and able to do more stuff.

And this is not a very good picture of me, but it's the only one I have of me with the pretty baby...



Now, I'm relaxing, catching up on TiVo'ed shows, and trying to plan my trip home. I'm thinking...I'll leave Florida on Sunday, May 13th, drive part of the way, get a hotel and stay the night somewhere around Tennessee or Kentucky. I'll arrive in Deerfield on May 14th. I'll stay through the week and head back to Florida on Monday, May 21st(?). I'll probably get a hotel again and return to Spring Hill on May 22nd.

That's all tentative, I'll be researching hotels later today.

That's all for now.

First off, I adore Pixar. Look how pretty!

Second, Disney.com has a 9 minute, sneak-peak of Ratatouille, and I'm uber excited about it.

Third, Remy's the cutest rat I've ever seen.

I am now either the coolest or the geekiest person you know.


Yesterday, I went to Disney (Magic Kingdom, specifically) with my sisters, Emily and Fayanne (Fayanne's on Spring Break this week). It was much fun and I hadn't been there since November, so it was excellent to get back. We went on Pirates (of course), and all the other good rides...Haunted Mansion, Liberty Square Riverboat, It's a Small World, Mickey's PhilharMagic, Snow White's Scary Adventure, Buzz Lightyear's Space Ranger Spin, Tomorrowland Transit Authority, and the new Monsters, Inc. Laugh Floor. (Lines were too long at Peter Pan's Flight, The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, and Space Mountain.)

There was also some shopping done, and this is the geeky part...

I got Captain Jack's ring (which is actually Johnny Depp's, he bought it at an antique store in 1989, and can be seen on Jack's pointer finger throughout the film: see this picture). I've been shopping around for a ring for my left hand, and this was perfect! Then, I decided that I needed this cursed Aztec gold necklace...I know it looks crappy in the packaging, but it's actually pretty heavy (= quality) and it's about as long as Elizabeth's is in the movie (see the screencap for reference). I've been coveting this necklace for about a year, so I'm excited about it. (And I've been giggling all weekend about having cursed pirate gold!)


Today, I joined Fayanne, Chris, and my Mom at Downtown Disney after class for some more shopping (I got a really cute Eeyore keychain) before heading to The Florida Mall. It's big, and has lots of the normal store. I got a new pair of black Reefs (mine were past their prime) and I also picked up a pair of gold Mary Jane Crocs. I know, I know...I'm not a huge Croc fan either, but the Mary Janes are really cute and the gold is nice.


Now, I'm watching Dancing With the Stars, which I don't really like (it was my mom's suggestion to watch it), but I do love Joey Fatone and Ian Ziering is pretty cool (though I keep wishing it were Brian Austin Green). I probably won't watch again, but it's good for background noise. And Heather Mills is incredible, with her artificial leg. She actually went to her doctor to get a new leg that was more "bouncy" so she could do the jive this week. That's commitment and determination.


And because it was brought up earlier today, they do mention Cortez in Pirates of the Caribbean:
"This is Aztec gold. One of 882 identical pieces they delivered in a stone chest to Cortez himself. Blood money paid to stem the slaughter he wreaked upon them with his armies, but the greed of Cortez was insatiable. So the heathen gods placed upon the gold... a terrible curse. Any mortal that removes but a single piece from that stone chest shall be punished for eternity." - Barbossa

PIRATES!