My thesis, when all put together, with a title page, images, full footnotes, and a bibliography (all double-spaced), is 50 pages.

Heh. That's one hell of a .pdf file.

The content is only a little over 32 pages.


I'm really nervous to send it. Because after I do...I can't make any changes to it. I definitely don't want to go through and edit it again...but sending is so final.

[Edit: So I sent it. It was terrifying. (Which is silly, because I already have my grade for it, and I doubt my advisor is even going to read it.) So now it's out of my hands. Done.]


Also, does anyone else hate that Microsoft Word won't allow the first sentence of a paragraph to be the last line on a page? (I looked it up, it's called the "widow and orphan option.")

I understand why it's like that...but it just seems to be a waste of space. And looks like you're purposely trying to make a paper look longer. I don't approve.

Yesterday was a spectacularly brilliant, yet fairly uneventful day.


When I left for class at 8:30am, it was 56 degrees outside. Brrr! And it was lovely (and about the same temperature as back home in Chicago). It made me cheerful.

I handed in my final paper for American Cinema and because we have no final exam...it was our last class meeting ever. So I'm done with that class entirely. Hopefully I'll clinch an A for the semester. Additionally, class let out 20 minutes early, so I had plenty of time to run to the post office and drop off a Netflix, go to Best Buy to pick up Juno (which Colleen and I watched later that night), and even go to Panera during the lunch rush to get a sandwich to go. I knew I was in a cheery mood because the ridiculous lines and even more ridiculous people at the Panera did not make me annoyed, but rather amused.

I ate my lunch with due leisure at home before heading back to campus for Theory and Criticism in Art History. It was a note-intensive day, trying to cram in the last of the material needed for the final exam, while clarifying some of the material that got lost along the way. It was interesting, though, and there were many ideas that struck a cord.

After, I met with my professor to discuss my thesis. I was supposed to turn in a revised copy this week, but she said the draft I gave her two weeks ago was close enough to being finished that I don't need to give her anything else (it was completed, just not fully polished). She's giving me an A for the semester. Sweet. I still plan to revise it, and incorporate her comments, just for my own obsessive perfectionism.

Later, I went to my last lecture of Geography. We have an exam tomorrow (on the last day), and if I'm satisfied with my final grade at that point, I don't have to take the final exam next week. (I don't plan on taking the final exam regardless of my grade...I will be leaving at 2am that morning to drive up to Iron Mountain, Michigan for my cousin's wedding. So a 3pm final doesn't really work for me.)


What's really cool about all that? After tomorrow's Geography exam, I will have completed 3 of my 5 courses this semester...before finals week even starts. Sweet.

So I'll have the weekend to study for my two art history exams, which are Tuesday and Wednesday. And then I'm done. Forever. Whoa. A week from today and my college career is finished. Crazy.


Today, my only plans are to finish polishing my thesis and then study for Geography. I need an 83% on the exam to get an A for the semester. To this point, my scores have been 88, 87, and 94, so if I study hard enough, I might be able to clinch that. But if I end up with a B, I'll deal.

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In other news, I adore Michelle Obama. Not gonna lie. Love her. I think she'd be a kick-ass First Lady. Hillary-Clinton-circa-1993 style.

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 would just like it to be know, YET AGAIN, that I am a golden god.


Seriously.


My thesis? The one I last night predicted would be 38 pages (double spaced with footnotes)?


It's 38 pages. Double spaced, and with footnotes.


It's scary how amazing I am.


[PS - while the thesis is "finished" it is most certainly not finalized. And I haven't really done a good editing job of the entire thing yet. I've gone through different sections at different times to clean it up, but it's possible that the whole thing is a big tranny mess (to quote this year's winner of Project Runway). So I'll most certainly be finishing my own editing of it before I get it back with my thesis advisor's comments/revisions.]


But alas, it is nearly class time, so as soon as this bugger finishing printing, I'll be out.

Just a friendly reminder, for those of you so inclined, Sweeney Todd is out on DVD today.

And fear not, this is not an April Fool's prank...it really is available to own. Right now, even!


I shall be picking up my copy later, after I turn in my thesis draft*. Until then, I will be attempting to edit said thesis before, between (and probably during) class.

Huzzah.



Additionally, if you haven't yet seen Sweeney Todd, I recommend you rent it. Though I doubt you'll be able to grasp the full effect of the blood squirting when it's not being projected onto a 100 ft. screen.

Also, if you haven't yet seen Sweeney Todd, I recommend you keep that fact to yourself. I don't take kindly to those who do not love the same movies that I love.


*The thing is a beast...I printed it out in 1.5 spacing without footnotes, just to edit, and it's 24 massive pages. The trees of the Amazon are screaming...I can hear them.

Silly (or possibly not-so-silly) hypothetical question:

How do you write a conclusion for a 30-page thesis?



No, seriously. How do I sum that all up into a conclusion? What if I feel I haven't actually learned anything? What if the entire thing is total bollocks?




But yeah, you read that right. 30 pages. By the time I bang out a conclusion, I'm guessing it will be 32 pages (double-spaced, of course). Add in the footnotes (also double-spaced, because my professor has instructed me to do so), and we're looking at 38 prime pages.

Here's praying that my computers don't malfunction and my printer doesn't crap out...

I mentioned before how I watch TV only during meal breaks from writing my thesis and term paper, and just now I had It Could Happen to You on one channel, while A League of Their Own covered for commercials on another.

It kills me to have to turn them off...who doesn't love mid-90s chick flicks?


But I have been SUPER productive last night, and already this morning. My term paper is nearly finished, and it's to a point now where I can put it aside until after I finish working on my thesis.

You see, the term paper is due on Thursday, whereas the thesis is due Tuesday so you may think that I should have been giving the thesis priority. However, the term paper actually lays some of the important groundwork for the central argument of my thesis, so it was beneficial to work out all the logistic in one before plugging it in to the other. If that makes sense.

And so I have been adding to my thesis a great deal, taking largely from what I've already written for my term paper. I've also been editing my thesis to incorporate the comments my professor suggested.

I still have a lot to do, and only two days in which to do it. I'm more than a little nervous. There's a possibility I won't get it all done, but I hope not. I will be staying up late tonight (I'm sure of it), and then tomorrow I'm done with class by 9:30, so I'll have the entire day in which to write more.


And so I have used as my subject line for the post the immortal words of Will Ferrell to cover my bases and call upon all metaphysical beings to help me in completing this most difficult task. I really don't want to have to go into my thesis advisor and say "I know I had a month, and all of Spring Break...but it's not done." Yeah, I was irresponsible...but I was so done with this thing I wanted to shove a spork in my eye.

Well, I should probably get to work, because I don't have a lot of faith in Tom Cruise to help me get this shit done.

I've been procrastinating terribly because I decided to finally check out someecards.com.

I've noticed that they make hilarious Facebook bumper stickers, so I decided to go to the actual website. Their slogan is "when you care enough to hit send" and the cards are just hilarious.

I just sent out four.


You must check out these two...they are couple of my favorites:
- So topical
- Who doesn't love Passover cards?


Ugh...back to work.

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.

I am taking a short break in my hectic schedule for lunch and a little "Daily Show" (from last Thursday).

---------

While, I'm fairly confident about the half of my Thesis that I have done, it's becoming clear that I will not finish it entirely by tomorrow.

On the upside, I'm done with my Geography homework, and I reedited my Film paper, so that's better. Which means the only thing I have left for tomorrow is my Thesis.


Moreover, last night after I was getting a little overworked on the thesis (and it was 1:15am and I was down to getting 6 hours of sleep anyway), I started to sift through the research I've collected for my History of Prints paper (comparing Rembrandt's "The Three Trees" etching to Whistler's "[something] Landscape"). So I kinda got a head start on that (reminder: the 8-page paper is due Friday).

And in the end, I managed about 4 and a half hours of sleep. I'm actually very awake today (so far). I probably won't feel the effects of all that until tomorrow (which is going to *suck*).


Alas, I've finished my lunch and this episode of "The Daily Show," so it's back to work I go.

I figure that I have a good 12 hours to get more work done today, plus still get 6 hours of sleep.

Ready, go.

---------

PS - Brian Williams is not only one of my favorite reporters (possibly pulling ahead of Anderson Cooper because while he lacks those beautiful blue eyes, he's not as much of a pawn and still really attractive), but one of my favorite guest on "The Daily Show." He and Jon have such a good rapport.

My watch says the date is the 31st.

Clearly it doesn't know that February only has 29 days (or, rather, it expected me to actually change the date at the appropriate time. Silly).


I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed right now because I have too much work and not enough time to do it in. But I figured that if I made a list, I might be able to more successfully compartmentalize and it will seem less impossible:
- Thesis (I'm aiming for 16-20 pages for Tuesday, but really I'm not worried about the length, just about getting everything I want to say in there and support all of my conclusions satisfactorily)
- Geography webwork assignment (due before class on Tuesday, so I'll have to do it by Monday night...I think it's a long one, though, so it will take about 2 hours)
- Theory and Criticism term paper outline (definitely waiting until after my thesis appointment with my advisor. I should be able to take a lot of it out of my thesis if I go about it right. It's due Thursday)
- History of Prints extra credit paper (it's extra credit, but I need the 10 points, so I'll have to write a kick-ass, 8-page comparison of Rembrandt's "The Three Trees" and Whistler's "[something] Landscape" etchings. Time consuming...and time I don't really have. I guess that's what I'll be doing all-day Wednesday and Thursday morning and evening)

All I can say is thank god I wrote my Film paper (also due Tuesday) last week.


But I guess if I compartmentalize it, I only have my thesis and Geography webwork to do before 9am on Tuesday. The outline and Prints paper can wait until Wednesday. Assuming, of course, I can write an 8-page paper in a day and a half.

I foresee no sleep in my future.

The good news? Spring Break begins immediately after that extra-credit paper is due on Friday.


Oh, and at some point I should let you all in on the drama of the apartment. Everything is currently imploding, but I'm ignoring it all until I have time to worry about it.

Because I must...



That's my beautiful new niece, Cora.




And my sister Fayanne with her lovely little bundle.



I can't even tell you what I would give to be up in Mattoon, Illinois right now.

But alas. I have my thesis to work on all weekend. I think I'll head out to Spring Hill to do it, though. Emily and Tom are both working all weekend, so I'll have their house to myself for the most part (it will be much quieter and hopefully less tense than my apartment). And I'm running out of food anyway, so I may as well mooch for a while.

I think I use that subject line too much...but check this out.

These were my predictions for my family's Oscar pool (we only do selective categories, and three tie-breakers):
Best Picture: "No Country For Old Men"
Best Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis ("There Will Be Blood")
Best Actress: Marion Cotillard ("La Vie en Rose")
Best Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem ("No Country For Old Men")
Best Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton ("Michael Clayton")

Tie-breakers:
Film With Most Wins: No Country For Old Men
Number of Wins: 4
Time: 3 hours, 21 minutes


And if you watched, you may notice that those were EXACTLY RIGHT. Including the tie-breakers. Including the LENGTH OF THE SHOW.

8 out of 8.

BAM BABY! I am a golden god!


Overall, I was happy with the show. I thought Jon Stewart did a great job (he was very funny in an appropriate-to-the-Oscars way...for the most part). I thought the speeches were interesting and the winners were excited and sincere (not boring or reserved like some of those pretentious fuckers are). There were some wins I was really happy about, including "Falling Slowly" from Once for Best Song, Dario Marianelli for Best Score from Atonement, and Sweeney Todd's win for Art Direction (perhaps they were only small tokens, but at least it was something for three films I found particularly fantastic this year). Additionally, after seeing Juno again this morning, I really found that most of the greatest things about the film were contained in the script so kudos to Diablo Cody for that. I think it was well-deserved (and like many of the winners, she was excited and gracious).

I was, however, disappointed that Atonement didn't take anything else (I was really hoping for screenplay). And while I appreciate that No Country For Old Men cleaned up (as I stated earlier, I truly think it's a better film than equally hyped There Will Be Blood), I think my biggest disappointment was that The Diving Bell and the Butterfly didn't take anything. I was certain it would grab Cinematography, if not Editing, and I was really hoping for Direction...I mean. Julian Schnabel is great and for an American director to choose to do a film in France, in French, and with such unique technical aspects and challenges...it was brilliant. And I really don't see how any other film even came near it. It was ridiculously distinctive and redefined the boundaries of how the camera is used. It really makes me wonder about whether the Academy members voting saw the film, or saw it all the way through. I know when I went to the theater, it wasn't more than 20 minutes in when I found myself wondering if I could sit through the entire thing. It was so uncomfortable and constricting and I honestly considered walking out just because I wasn't a strong enough person to deal with the intensity of the themes and subject matter, both of which are conveyed through amazingly direct cinematography. But I stayed and it was incredible. I just wonder how many people, especially if they were watching screeners in the privacy of their own homes, turned the film off when it got uncomfortable and didn't bother to finish it. It's a lot easier to turn off a DVD than walk out of a theater. Personally, I don't turn off movies a lot, but I never did finish La Vie en Rose. Perhaps the most incredibly parts of the film were in the last half, but I'll never know because I didn't enjoy the story or characters. Edith Piaf is just so unforgiving and so unforgivable. Marion Cotillard is fabulous, especially as she is able to portray such an unequivocal bitch when she is really so sweet and adorable.

So yes. Part of me wonders if the Academy just didn't see The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, or whether they just didn't see in it what I did. I don't understand how anyone who saw the entire thing could have thought it wasn't the most brilliant Directing, Cinematography, and Editing of the year.

I was also surprised that The Bourne Ultimatum took three awards...it made it the second winningest film tonight. So odd.


I think that's it, really. I need to get to bed. Tomorrow starts off early with 8:30am class, then I'll be finishing up the work on my thesis outline so that I can start actually pounding out the rough draft this week. I also have to write a paper on "urban anxiety as a theme in an American film" (I will be using Modern Times--it's perfect); it's due next Tuesday.

First off, the Enzian (the local indie theater by me), has been dragging its feet lately to put up the upcoming schedule. They had Persepolis playing for a week. Then it was extended to two weeks. And now it's in it's third week (which I'm kind of glad of because I think I'm going to go see it again...I might cite it in my thesis because it is my thesis...or half of it, at least).

But after that, they only had a few limited engagement things (The Big Lebowski, Pink Floyd's The Wall).

But they have just put up two future events and I'm tres excited about both. Miss Petigrew Lives For a Day (which I think is a lousy title, but looks like a fabulous little movie) and The Band's Visit, which just looks cute and uplifting.

So yay.

In other news, I'm off to see Juno this morning. It's showing before noon, so it's $5, and I happen to have a $5 gift card for AMC, so it's FREE to me. I figured, in honor of it's big wins yesterday (Film Independent's Spirit Award for Best Picture and for Best Actress), and as a precursor to the Oscars this evening...

And I kinda don't want to work on my thesis for 12 hours again. So this will cut that down to about 6 hours today (because there's no way in hell I'm working through the Oscars).


This is kinda late in the game, but just for some fun...predictions!
Best Picture - No Country for Old Men (this one makes me nervous...I though it was much better than There Will Be Blood, but there's been so much hype for Blood lately)
Best Actor - Daniel Day Lewis
Best Actress - Marion Cotillard (but I'm putting Ellen Page as a back-up incase the Academy decides it hates biopics...which it never has, so...)
Best Supporting Actor - Javiar Bardem
Best Supporting Actress - Tilda Swinton (I'm going out on a limb for this one. I'm 85% sure it's going to Cate Blanchett, but I think it would be fabulous for Tilda to take it)
Best Director - Julien Schnabel (or at least he should win, if Best Picture goes to There Will Be Blood, they might give it to the Coens as a consolation)
Best Screenplay, Original - Diablo Cody (with Tamara Jenkins as a close second pick, adults loved The Savages)
Best Screenplay, Adapted - Christopher Hampton (I'm really unsure about this one, but I figure the Academy has to throw Atonement a bone for something, otherwise it'll probably go to the Coens)


As a final note, I went on weather.com to (duh) check the weather, and there was an American Airlines add to receive 60,000 bonus frequent flier miles if I book a ticket round-trip to London. Clearly, it's mocking me, because the first thing I did this morning was gaze longingly at my Europe pictures (I have 8 framed 5x7s hanging on my wall). While I was really admiring Barcelona today (it's different everyday), Barcelona is just a train ride away from London...


And if I don't leave now, I'll be late for Juno. Zut!

I think Faye Dunaway might be one of my favorite (if not my absolute favorite) actress of all time.

She's brilliant and does amazingly unique films. I mean...come on. Chinatown? Network? Bonnie and Clyde?

She's fantastic.

I have the original Thomas Crown Affair on my Netflix queue and I'm ridiculously excited for it. Mmm...Steve McQueen in a non-prisoner-of-war role (shocking!)


Also on the list would have to be Ingrid Bergman, Kate Winslet, and (of course) my lovely Keira. I'm unsure who else...it's a work in progress.


PS - The Thomas Crown Affair (1999) and French Kiss are both currently airing on TV (the CW and WE, respectively).

It's excellent. Plus, it made for good TV while eating dinner (I alternated at commercial breaks). I wish I could continue, but alas...I must return to my thesis. My outline is currently fleshed out to 8 and a half pages (single spaced). After I finish my internet sources, it should be over ten. So theoretically, when I put it into sentence form and double space the whole thing...I could be close to my goal of 23 pages. Technically the due date is next Saturday, but I'm assuming that's a mistake and I'll probably have until a week from Tuesday. Rock.

I am cheerful because my wretched Geography class was cancelled. And I used the time I would have been there to go grocery shopping. So well done, all around.

I have also realized why a) I am so disenchanted with the UCF film program, b) I hate gen-ed class, and c) art history has become my most fascinating area of study. And all are related.

It's theory. I love theory. I love discussing and analyzing and theorizing. It can be applied to any humanity, really. Maybe even sciences. But so far, the only classes I've been exposed to this kind of learning since high school has been art history. Gen-eds never delve that far into curriculum (actually, my Chemistry class bordered on it...which is why I obsessed over getting an A in that class....I studied 18 hours for the final exam because I wanted to make sure I did well...who does that? For Chemistry?).

Anyway, the film program here is SERIOUSLY lacking in theory. I even took Theory and Criticism in Film and we didn't get beyond the most basic formalist theory. We literally spent half the semester on Seigei Eisenstein's concept of montage (aka - what has become standard for film editing). It was revolutionary...in 1915. We barely scratched the surface of André Bazin, who had some interesting, critical ideas. We never once discussed anything like feminism, black theory, Marxism, queer theory. We never even looked at social or political context of films or discussed how the biography of a filmmaker can affect the work. (All of those are things we've covered in the first 6 weeks of my Theory and Criticism of Art History course). To it's credit, the American Cinema class I'm in currently is all about biography and social context. But it lacks severely in anything else. We don't discuss thinkers in film classes. And we should.

I was in the library today, picking up a book for a film paper I have due in two weeks (I'm highly doubtful that anyone else in my class will use an academic source. Maybe an online newspaper or journal article...but I'm guessing Joe Schmo's Film Review website is going to be their top source. But whatever. In the books I picked up (and when I'm in the film books section, I pick up many that are not related to my research...just to see), there were plenty of references to Baudelaire or Walter Benjamin (whose work Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction is paramount to Marxist theory and any duplication-based art, like printmaking or photography or film). Yet has Walter Benjamin been mentioned in ANY of my film classes? No. Not once. Maybe back at Indiana, but definitely not at UCF.

Perhaps I'm expecting too much from a school whose art history department is slowly imploding while they build a new Biological Sciences building, but it's my education and shouldn't I be getting more than this?

I guess the bottom line is that if I want to learn it, I'll have to teach myself. Or go to grad school (I'm making the broad assumption that grad school actually teaches based on theory and discourse.

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In other news, Nilla wafers and vanilla frosting is the best snack ever. Plus, the frosting entirely defeats the purpose of eating Reduced-Fat Nillas (yes, I'm using that as a "plus").

My thesis is not progressing greatly, but I am having a great time reading through some of the books and articles I've found.

And now I'm taking a break to watch American Gangster, which I picked up from a redbox today (it was just released on DVD). Mmm...$1 movie night. Life is grand.

(As a sidenote, I think it's really sad that there are really only two prominent, black dramatic actors (Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington). I mean, I think you can make an argument for Jamie Foxx or Will Smith as a Denzel-follower, and possibly someone like James Earl Jones for Freeman (had his career been fuller in more recent years), but really...)