For the first time since probably sophomore year of high school (so...7 years?) I left my place of residence without ANY makeup.

No foundation, no powder, and (most shocking of all), no eyeliner.

Whoa.

(To put it in perspective, I don't even take out the trash or walk across the parking lot to get the mail without putting on foundation and eyeliner.)

I'm so Tilda Swinton. ;-)


Additionally, I went out in public without a hoodie over the tank top I'm wearing. Bare arms outside...so not me.


Granted, I was just going to the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market to return a couple Redbox DVDs and get some dinner via drive-thru.

Which brings me to my next talking point...I love the Redbox. I had a promo code for a free rental, so yesterday I went and rented The Golden Compass (about which I expressed my disappointment earlier) and Cloverfield (which I felt was ridiculously good in many ways...mostly in filmmaker-y creativity).

Both movies cost me a total of $1.07.

Perfect.


And as a final note: I'm having my weekly "why the fuck is everything on at 9pm on a Thursday night?" dilemma. My TiVo is currently recording "CSI" and "Grey's Anatomy."

And I know I should be grateful that it can record two shows at once. Except that I'm missing out on "The Office"/"30 Rock" AND "Don't Forget the Lyrics" featuring Bret Michaels.

Boo.

Apparently, my TiVo needs to be able to record 4 shows at once. Damn you Thursday night TV!!!

So my thesis is...unfinished. And in need of a lot of work. But my advisor was positive and confident that I will be fine (despite the fact she hasn't read it yet). I'll get my draft back with plenty o' notes so I can work on it even more over Spring Break. Additionally, she flattered me profusely which helped my ego and gave me the boost to want to continue working on my thesis (because, dear god, after 8 weeks, I'm getting a little tired of it all).

Additionally, she said she'd be happy to be a reference for any job or program I might apply to...and she's going to be on the lookout for paid internships/other opportunities that might be good for me.

Rock.

Additionally, for the first time in a long while, I have been laughing aloud at "The Daily Show" and "The Colbert Report." Methinks its because my stress levels are WAY down after I turned in my American Film paper and partial thesis. Granted, I still have my History of Prints extra credit paper (8 pages due Friday), but I'm taking tonight off to watch some TV, Into the Wild (which I rented from Redbox for FREE), and just chill out.

First, I don't think I gave enough credit to No Reservations the first time I saw it. I still think that it's imperfect. There's something missing and the climax is...well, anticlimactic (the director fails to build any suspense, though he seems quick to emphasize the melodrama--the opposite would have been preferable). But still, I enjoyed it more the second time around and if I ever see it for under $7 in a bargain bin at Best Buy, it's mine.

Additionally, it was enjoyable because I rented it at a redbox with a promo code so it was FREE. Yay free movie night!


Second, I predicted a while back that Beowulf was going to be a huge flop. Now that it's coming out on DVD, I would like to take this opportunity to say "I was right."*


Third, how bad was Transformers that it's already selling for $10 at Best Buy? I mean, I didn't particularly like it, but I thought there were a lot of people who did.



*While I think it's funnier without an explanation and just me proclaiming to be right without an evidentiary basis, I'm constituting a flop because out of it's $150 million dollar budget, it only made $82 million, domestic. I didn't see it so I can't say it sucked, but I can also say that I have no interest in seeing computer-animated versions of real people. Lame.

First off, my roommate Anna just woke up, so she came into my room and asked if I was done for the day, to which I replied, yes, I had already been awake for three hours and had gone to class, to the post office to drop off a few Netflixes, and to the Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market to return the redbox DVD (Sydney White) we watched last night.

I finished off by saying, "Thus is life" to which she replied, "Thus is crazy."

I thought it was quite funny.


Second, a question on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?" was something alone the line of "this is often described as being cold and hard?" The answer was "cash" but one of the options was "Ann Coulter." I laughed outloud.


Third, I love "Cash Cab." I want so badly to be on it. I love Ben Bailey. And the people on the streets of New York are ridiculously smart. Also, it's possible I watch too many TV trivia game shows (clearly).


Fourth, I've been in a movie mood lately.

I mean, that's not necessarily anything new, I always enjoy watching movies and going to the cinema (I saw three new films this weekend: There Will Be Blood, Persepolis, Fool's Gold...two were at AMC's A.M.Cinema so they were $5, and I had a gift card, so they were free). But seeing movies can sometimes feel like a chore. And it's not always enjoyable when you're just trying see everything "good" or critically acclaimed, especially around Oscar time because those are more often than not depressing-as-hell dramas (notably: There Will Be Blood, No Country For Old Men, Michael Clayton, Atonement). I enjoyed all of those, the second and fourth especially, but it's hard when that's the norm. So it was refreshing yesterday to see Fool's Gold, and watch Sydney White and half of The Notebook (I went to bed early and missed the end because I had to wake up at 7am...and I was randomly really drunk and falling asleep anyway).

And I'll be the first to say that there's nothing wrong with watching or liking non-critically acclaimed movies. It all comes down to personal taste and while I am a snob when it comes to the ridiculously bad (those along the lines of a The Hottie and the Nottie or Meet the Spartans), I adore Amanda Bynes movies, I still think Armageddon was awesome, and I really don't like the films of David Lynch, so I can't judge too harshly those who think that The Notebook is the best film ever created and that Atonement sucks (though I definitely do judge them...just not too harshly).

Anyway, so I'm in a movie mood and today during class, I was trying to decide what movie to watch. I imagined myself coming home, curling up in bed, and watching something awesome. I was thinking either Casablanca or Hitchcock's Notorious (clearly, I'm in an Ingrid Bergman mood. Or, perhaps, a Claude Rains mood. I guess it all depends on how you want to see it).

Then again, I have so many good movies in my DVD collection, I could watch almost anything. (Though it should be noted that I haven't purchased any DVDs, new or old, since December 12th. Two months? That's insane. I didn't even get any for Christmas.) I've kinda been in a "blockbuster" mood lately (Jurassic Park, Air Force One, and The Italian Job have all been on TV this week)...so anything with Nick Cage would be a possibility. Perhaps The Rock.


Fifth, I want the National Geographic Channel, but it requires digital cable. Boo.

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.