Hurry Up And Wait...

So, since I've last posted: picked a house, signed contract, negotiated with seller, did home inspection, locked in loan...and am now waiting. Closing isn't scheduled until April 25 (4 weeks from next friday), and with the bulk of the pre-closing tasks done it's time to wait.

I ended up picking a 3 bedroom, 2.5 bath, three story townhouse. This means that I'll go from tripping over stuff in my overly crowded room to feeling as if I have absolutely no furniture. I have enough stuff though to make moving it a lot of work though.

Look a post!

So I realize it's been a little over 5 months since I last posted...

Here's what happened: 1. I went on vacation for two weeks (Hawaii and Oregon) which entailed the blog going on vacation. 2. I came back from vacation. 3. I didn't come back from my blog vacation.

Simple really. Anyhow, here's where things stand: I've reached 308 in the 1001 MYMSBYD count, which feels like alot, and only my ability to do math keeps reminding me that it isn't even a third--still I'm a glass is 30.77% full kinda person. The goal for this year is 400.

Another source of optimism for me is that since the economy in general and the housing market in particular are not doing great I am in a good position to begin the quest for my first house, or rather, townhouse. This will hopefully provide some good blog fodder as process kicks into gear and I'll be motivated to update the blog more frequently hence forth.

Lastly, I did almost manage to finish reading 50 books last year, coming in 75 pages shy of finishing the last one, which I could have totally done if I hadn't watched When Harry Met Sally on New Year's Eve--but that's tradition and you don't mess with tradition. I haven't set any lofting reading goals for this year luckily, because I'd already be way behind.

Turn! Turn! Turn!

Fall has arrived, inside my mailbox at least. Catalogues filled with fall clothing have started to pour in, just in time for August's humid ninety degree days. I understand of course, it's back-to-school shopping season. After 20 years of conditioning, I'm hard-wired to expect summer to end the third week in August, or Labor day at the very latest. Two years off isn't enough time to be reconditioned. I figure I'll be over it by the time my hypothetical future children are ready for school, thus ensuring that I won't fully recover until I'm well into my AARP years. I am ready for fall though- I want to wear sweaters again dammit! Also, I miss college football and scripted prime time television. But that is still weeks away, which means that the 'Fall Story' JCrew catalogue that came last week only made my summer ennui worse last weekend. This of course is a mood that makes me want to watch Pride and Prejudice (the 5 hour BBC miniseries no less!) and knit. Both of which I did; it helped enormously. Topping things off, the JCrew catalogue was insidiously full of sweaters that had been photographed in an historic Boston library. Nothing sells sweaters like books. Seriously. That's just mean. I love sweaters almost as much as I like books and libraries. So, inevitably, I had to order a sweater because by the time it is sweater weather they will be selling swimming suits and shorts again. To everything there is a season.


If you like looking at other people's libraries as much as I do:
The Your Home Library Project
Celebrities' bookshelves
Flickr Bookshelf Pool pictures

I just want to move ahead, I just want to free myself - but it's a struggle

Recently, like others around this part of the internet (Built On A Dare & Mommy Tracks) I started running again on a semi-frequent basis. I was a long-distance runner in highschool and continued to run on and off throughout college. The last two years...nada. This, however, is the first time I've consistently run since I've owned an ipod. I have 3 requirements for a song to make the running playlist:

1: tempo, the most important thing, nothing slow or erratic.
2: no long intros.
3: it's gotta have lyrics.

Here's the playlist I've been using thus far:

Unwritten, Natasha Bedingfield
Tears Of Pearls, Savage Garden
Suzie, Boy Kill Boy
One girl revolution, Superchic[k]
Sunshine Superman, Donovan
Sunshine Lollipops & Rainbows, Lesley Gore
Summer Of '69, Bryan Adams
Struggle, Ringside
Sinner Man, Nina Simone
Seventh Son, Johnny Rivers
Secret Agent Man, Johnny Rivers
Runnin' Down a Dream, Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers
Red Staggerwing, Mark Knopfler/Emmylou Harris
Rebel Rebel, David Bowie
Out of Control, She Wants Revenge
Need You Tonight, INXS
Naturally, Middle Distance Runner
Mrs. Potter's Lullaby, Counting Crows
Midnight Special, Johnny Rivers
Memphis, Johnny Rivers
Mellow Yellow, Donovan
Le Disko, Shiny Toy Guns
Just Like Heaven, The Cure
Jet Airliner, Steve Miller Band
Jerk It Out, Caesars
I Want You, Savage Garden
I Can't Get Next to You, The Temptations
Holiday, Green Day
Perfect Day, Hoku
Here It Goes Again, OK Go
Happy Jack, The Who
Hammer To Fall, Queen
Go Tell The World, Joy Zipper
Friday I'm in Love, The Cure
Fortunate Son, Creedence Clearwater Revival
Cobrastyle (featuring Mad Cobra), Teddybears
Clocks, Coldplay
Charlotte, Air Traffic
The Boy from New York City, The Ad Libs
Born to Be Wild, Steppenwolf
Blankest Year, Nada Surf
Black Horse and the Cherry Tree, KT Tunstall
Beautiful Life, Ace of Base
Bang a Gong (Get It On), T. Rex
A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You, The Monkees

I don't, apparently, require motivational lyrics as some of these choices make evident.

Oh, simple thing, where have you gone?

To explain my blog silence, I suppose I should tell you what I've been doing. It's summertime and my brain just doesn't seem to want to be serious or focus, a symptom of having spent more years in school than out I suppose. But, I did go on vacation for a week, co-host a baby shower for my brother and his wife, and read the latest and last installment of the Harry Potter series. I finished Sunday evening. I kept meaning to post something, but things kept coming up and the summertime lazies infected me. I'm back though, and better than ever. I'll try to get the movie trivia started again tomorrow, and update my book progress, and format those pesky travel photos...sometime this week*. I promise.

*this week may be interpreted as any time in the next seven days...

Day #185

The year is slightly more than halfway over now, so it seems like a good time to do a progress report. In the 50 books project I am currently reading number 23, Jeeves In The Offing. My 1001 movies number stands at 226, which means I've seen 59 since I started blogging about it back in March. I feel pretty confident that I'll be able to finish my 50 books for the year, and I'm sure I'll pass 250 movies, if not closer to 300. Happy 4th of July!

Change the title. It sounds too much like a beer.

The above, written by a Warner Brothers publicist in a studio memo just before the 1942 world premiere of Casablanca.

CBS is airing the new American Film Institute 100 years...100 films results tomorrow from 8 to 11. Of the old list I've seen 71. Of the 400 films on the ballot, I've seen 178. The criteria, in addition to the requirements of being a narrative over 60 minutes in length and having significant creative or production elements from the United States, that the jurors are asked to judge the films on are: Critical Recognition, Major Award Winner (Awards), Popularity Over Time, Historical Significance, and Cultural Impact.

Comparing the old list to this criteria, it's easy to see why some of the more controversial choices end up in the 100 films list. The Birth Of A Nation isn't going to do well under in the popularity over time category--but, it is a significant film in the other categories, it introduced new techniques for camera shots, action sequences, and film editing. Are its technical merits enough to overcome the actual content of the story being told? I'm not sure, I haven't seen this film yet, though I will since it's part of the 1001 MYMSBYD. It should probably stay on the list only because it was the first feature length American film, and only for that reason. We'll find out tomorrow.

generation whY?

It has come to my attention recently that I may be classified as a member of Gen Y. I might also be a member of Gen X. Apparently being born in 1980 puts me with one foot in X and one foot in Y. While I remember the Challenger explosion (I was 5, and shuttle launches were sufficiently exciting to be watched on television at school), a defining moment according to wikipedia (if it's on wikipedia it must be right!), I probably don't have much in common with those born in the 1960's. Luckily I miss being a Millenial by 2 years by graduating from highschool in 1998. Luckily, because the word Millenial is annoying and kind of sticky. Luckily, because even though I went to school with people that graduated from highschool after 1999 there's a sense of difference that a change in the century made. Maybe it was their denial about when the new century actually started...who knows, hey they got the nice round number and the lack of leap year. Whatever it is, I'm glad I'm not one. But, I also don't feel like a founding member of Gen Y. I suppose my identity issues stem from my two brothers, who are rightful members of Gen X. This is who I am, the younger sister of Gen X. And I'm okay with that.

Movies I'll probably see in the theater this summer.

I couldn't think of a witty title, and I figured it was better to be direct than not funny. The summer movie season is just around the corner (Memorial Day to Labor Day), and I usually see more movies in the theater in the summer since TV is on a break. Here's what I'll probably see in the theater this summer:

1.Ocean's 13
-It opens just in time for Father's Day, and while the second was a far cry from the first, it was as good as alot of the other dreck that comes out.
Opening: June 1

2.Nancy Drew
-I loved the books when I was young, so I'll stop in and see how the modern Hollywood version turns out. I'm not sure the modernization will go well though, part of the charm was in the time period of the 1960's versions I read (although these were modernized from the original 1930's setting).
Opening: June 15

3.Ratatouille
-Pixar film about a gourmet rat living in a French restaurant- 'nuff said.
Opening: June 29

4.Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix
-This will be hard to avoid, and good to see on a big screen.
Opening: July 13

5.No Reservations
-Rom-drom (com?) about a chef who becomes the guardian of her niece, and falls for another chef. Adapted from a German film, so its probably better than the cliche it sounds like; plus it stars Catherine Zeta-Jones and Abigail Breslin.
Opening: July 27

6.The Bourne Ultimatum
-This is the film I'm most looking forward to seeing this summer.
Opening: August 3

7.Becoming Jane
-Supposed true story about Jane Austen's great love affair that inspired her novels. Stars Anne Hathaway.
Opening: August 3

Of course I'll still be working on my 1001 movies quest and see some others by chance. Is there anything I missed that I should see?

Exposing redundant exposition

I'm a big fan of the forensic procedural drama- I watch CSI (original recipe), Without A Trace, Numb3rs, and Bones. Normally the writers on these shows have enough technical jargon added to make the characters seem knowledgable to the home audience and normally-since I'm not trained in forensic science-I don't realize to what degree the filler jargon is just that-filler. However, the episode before last on Bones one of the characters was examining a body using UV light and a camera with a UV filter. The expositionary line went something like this: 'I'm looking at the body with a camera filtered to see only UV light below 400 nm.' But since I know that all UV light is below 400 nm, this just made me laugh and say to the TV- "that's dumb all UV is below 400 nm" Sometimes a little education is a curse. Note to forensic show writers: Dialogue where one character says 'the victims hyoid bone has been broken' followed by the other saying 'they were strangled?' is also getting old...

This is a work in progress

I don't have a defining concept for what I will post about here, suffice to say that it will cover things that I like and enjoy. These generally include food and the preparation thereof, photography, music, movies, and travel. I won't be talking about my job or where I work since it is of a somewhat proprietary nature and also boring and difficult to explain unless you do it too (in case you thought proprietary implied exciting). Anyhow, that's it for now.