Me too! Me too!

Cuteness

2007-05-15T11:02:00.000-07:00

Hey kiddies. I haven't made the blog rounds in a while...but luckily, I'm not the only one! This is definitely the busiest time of year. Finals, graduation (congratulations Courtney, and anyone else who is graduating unbeknownst to me).

This is also the big end-of-the-school-year orchestra concert season. I've gone to a lot of junior high concerts and heard music from Pirates of the Caribbean and/or Harry Potter at every single one. It has been exhausting. But it has also reminded me that little kids are quite cute.

Today, I gave a sectional at a school, and as I was walking through the halls, I saw this very little 6th grade boy with angelic blond hair and blue eyes, standing at his locker, singing in a very cheery voice, "We're not gonna take it/No, we're not gonna take it/We're not gonna take it anymooooooooooooore!" He made Twisted Sister sound like Little Orphan Annie. It was the most adorable thing ever.

Then, a little cello kid turned to me and said, "Hey, sometimes, my C string sounds like the noise the machines make in War of the Worlds." He proceeded to play his very scratchy, buzzy string and say "Ahhh! We're being attacked by aliens!" I didn't have the heart to point out to him that it sounded like that because his bow was horrendously crooked.

Speaking of things that are super cute, look at the AMAZING iPod cover I got for 50% off at Borders!

That is the one good thing about having a first generation iPod nano - no one else in the world has one, so the accessories are always on clearance. Woo hoo!

Jiffy Lube...is it bad that the word "lube" always makes me giggle?

2007-04-02T12:54:00.000-07:00

Today, I went to Jiffy Lube to get my oil changed. This is always one of my least favorite activities because the waiting room a) smells like cars, b) always has the TV tuned to some sort of sporting event, and c) has no fun magazines. This time, I came prepared with a library book. Major improvement. Then, I even enjoyed myself when a mechanic called me over to suggest all kinds of services I don't understand, mostly because he was young, scruffy, had charmingly crooked teeth, and had a couple tattoos snaking out from underneath his sleeves. Just the right amount of punk rock. Also, his eyes were brown, but not dark brown like mine. They were the kind of light, translucent brown that I always find fascinating for some reason.

But then, my shiny happy Jiffy Lube experience suddenly turned dark and stormy when, as I walked away, Mr. Super Cute Car Mechanic called me "sweetie." This is maybe my biggest pet peeve ever. It's bad enough coming from grandmotherly women and guys old enough to be my dad, but I have absolutely NO patience for it coming from a guy my own age. It is too sleazy to be endearing and too condescending to be flirtatious. Plus, I just really don't like it when people don't take me seriously, which happens a lot because I look 17 and try to be nice to everyone. I guess it didn't help that I was kind of bopping to my iPod when he called me over, and I was wearing an Easter-egg-pink hoodie with a little yellow and orange sun on it, and I was wearing my emo-tastic glasses, and my car keys have a little Nemo keychain on them...not to mention the fact that I drove straight home and wrote a whiny little blog about it all. Despite all these things, I still expect to be treated like a respectable adult!

By the way, Happy Easter!

Am I here?

2007-03-29T20:01:00.000-07:00

Do you ever fear that you may have turned invisible overnight? Or that you are like Bruce Willis in The Sixth Sense? I say this only because I have sent a number of emails/messages this week that have been totally ignored, or at least they have been unreturned. No, this is not a passive aggressive nudge to anyone who reads this blog, because none of you are in the club of people who have decided to deny my existence this week.

Maybe the cosmos has told everyone to leave me alone because I should really be practicing for my audition tomorrow, not putzing around...darn Cosmos, such a task master.

This is probably just a symptom if irrational pre-audition paranoia. I mean, at any other time, a day or two would seem like a perfectly reasonable amount of time in which to respond to a message. But my current state of mind - the one that has crazy fears that I will just completely forget how to play the cello, or that I somehow got the date of the audition totally wrong - keeps insisting that this is an unacceptably long turnaround time.

Okay, I have sufficiently distracted myself for 10 minutes. Back to practicing! Or, back to not actually existing....

"Apple Blossom" by The White Stripes is a fantastic song

2007-03-12T22:09:00.000-07:00

1. I think I have mentioned before that I really don't like it when other people have my name? How I like to think that I am the only Holly? Psychoanalyze this however you will. Now, obviously, I know there are other Hollys. For the most part, they represent the name well...Holly Go Lightly (both the character from Breakfast at Tiffany's AND the indie musician), Holly Hunter, Buddy Holly. But why...WHY must there be a Playboy playmate named Holly who is now, at age 27, marrying Hugh Hefner? She is besmirching what I like to think of as a dignified name. I would expect this from a Brandi, a Chastity, even a Tiffani, but a Holly? A Holly who spells her name properly, not with an "i"?!? (PS, no offense to anyone named Brandi, Chastity or Tiffani. Chastity Bono is obviously an exception to the rule that Chastity is a stripper name)

2. I discovered two days ago that Barbra Streisand is an amazing singer. I had never really watched any of her movies or listened to any of her music because of her diva image, but I watched "Funny Girl" and I was blown away. She is like Judy Garland, only better, probably because she was never horribly addicted to drugs. This significantly strengthens the theory that I am a gay man on the inside.

3. Did anyone else watch Eddie Izzard's new show Riches on FX? It was so good. When did Eddie Izzard get so hot? He has always been attractive, but never like this!

4. "What is the What" by Dave Eggers is a fantastic book.

5. Happy St. Patrick's Day! Celebrate safely.

Misanthrope McGee

2007-03-04T21:08:00.000-08:00

If I can finish this post by midnight, I will be sticking to my new year's resolution (the one about updating my blog more than once a month). I can't help it if the month of February was uneventful! The highlight was definitely my trip to Milwaukee, and most of the people who read this were there.

Uneventful does not exactly equal boring, though. Deferring grad school for a year was the most educationally beneficial decision I ever made. Instead of going to school this year, I've been doing nothing but practicing, taking lessons, teaching, listening to music and reading library books. Horrible February weather only enhanced my singularity of purpose. In the past few weeks, I have become more and more certain that I am learning more independently than I did in all four years of college. This has been extremely rewarding and enjoyable, but it is not exactly good for my disposition. By the end of high school, I was already cynical about most of society's institutions, but now I'm pretty much convinced that they are pointless and evil. But they are a necessary evil. When it comes down to it, I have to get a master's degree, but after this year of musical utopia, going back to school is going to be unpleasant if not unbearable. Maybe I could try to overload credits and get it over with in one year, like ripping off a band-aid....

What do you all think after graduating from college? Is it all it's cracked up to be? Is it worth the money? (obviously it is in the sense that you make more money with a college degree than without one, but is the cost of a private college vs. a state school worth it?)

I have no segueway for this, but what is with people who still talk to teachers from high school? I think anybody from Wheeling would agree that I was one of the world's biggest teacher's pets, but you don't see me emailing and going out for coffee with them 5 years later. How do high school teachers even remember students for more than a year? I suspect that I am maybe not a good person in this respect. I really only worked hard in high school to get A's. I could not have cared less about 90% of the material. And I acted nice to all the teachers, but in retrospect, I really did not like or respect more than one or two. Does this make me hollow? Phony? Machiavellian? One of my students told me she gets into arguments with teachers all the time, and my advice to her was, "Well, you just have to act fakely nice, but then get your mom to complain to the school." Was that bad? Whatever, I'm not going to tell her that she has to respect her teachers, especially not now that people I went to high school with who are kind of stupid are now teaching in high schools. (Obviously, Katie is NOT one of these people. Any kid who gets Katie as a teacher should thank Jesus at least 50 times a day.)

Have a lovely day!!

Man Love

2007-02-05T03:02:00.000-08:00

First off, know that the content of this post does not live up to the potentially salacious nature of its title.

Having just read "Of Mice and Men," I felt compelled to write about something that, like Animal Planet's Puppy Bowl III, "Jupiter" from Holst's "The Planets," and tri-cornered hats, delights me to no end: man love. Of the platonic variety. Isn't is just the cutest, nicest thing ever? When two guys are BFF, and they totally love each other, and they don't care who knows it?

"Of Mice and Men" presents a pretty serious and tragic version of such a relationship, as does "Midnight Cowboy." On the opposite end of the spectrum would be J.D. and Turk on "Scrubs," who sometimes refer to themselves as a couple and call each other "Brown Bear" and "Vanilla Bear." Somewhere in the middle would probably be Red and Andy from "The Shawshank Redemption." I also believe that, lately, Jim and Dwight on "The Office" are begrudgingly coming to terms with their man love for each other. I'm sensing more brotherly joshing than bitter rivalry between them lately, and I'm loving it.

So the question is: what is it about platonic man love that is so lovable? Methinks it tickles the fancy because such a relationship shows guys being sensitive without the possible motivation of sex. So you KNOW the love is pure.

Why?

2007-01-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

How come tri-cornered hats are so hot? I know they are NOW, what with Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom swashbuckling away, but I have always thought they were oddly appealing, even when I knew them only from Revolutionary War illustrations and "Amadeus," neither of which feature any hotties. So why do I keep hoping someone on Project Runway will bring back the knee-length knickers/tri-cornered hat look? *Sigh* I can only dream.

Movie Review Blitz

2007-01-07T13:48:00.000-08:00

Did you know that I was the movie critic for my high school's newspaper? While I no longer have that flimsy excuse for the immense amount of time I spend watching movies, I do have a blog in which I can relive my days as a wannabe movie buff. Anyone who reads my brother's blog (see link to the right) can see that this runs in my family, and his end-of-year lists have given me the bug for lists of my own.

Being the unabashed nerd that I am, I recently created a typed list of movies I want to see (it is currently 2 pages long, 2 columns per page, with a mixture of old classic movies and newer ones that I just never got around to seeing) that I am working through at a steady pace, thanks to the fabulous DVD collection at my local library.

The good movies I have watched are: Midnight Cowboy (very sad), The Deer Hunter (very very sad), M*A*S*H (funny), Driving Miss Daisy (funny and poignant), To Kill A Mockingbird (could not live up to the book, but very good), and Broadcast News (funny and still very relevant).

The not-very-good movies I have watched are Being There (monotonous and ridiculous, but not ridiculous enough) and, just last night, Jarhead (which, despite its huge potential for political relevance AND the presence of an often shirtless Jake Gyllenhaal, failed to make an impact of the thoughtful or lustful variety).

2006 was not so great of a year for movies...of course, all the good movies come out right at the end of the year, OR they only play in a few theaters, so I have not seen The Fountain, Pan's Labyrinth, or Children of Men, all of which look very much like my cup of tea. Without having seen those (or the majority of the award-whore type movies), my favorite movies of last year (in no particular order) were probably Little Miss Sunshine, Dreamgirls, The Departed, Marie Antoinette, and A Prairie Home Companion. And, if I'm being perfectly honest, I should also include Borat, Pirates of the Caribbean 2, and Talladega Nights on that list...I said they were my favorite movies, not the best.

Any thoughts? Lists? Suggestions of old movies to watch?

Edit: I saw Children of Men, and it is stupendously fantastic.

Happy New Year!

2007-01-02T09:54:00.000-08:00

Woooooo for 2007! And another opportunity to write a list as my blog entry. Those are always my favorite. Resolutions:
1. Update my blog more often than once a month.
2. Apply obsessive tendencies only to cello...not to fruitless endeavors that shall remain nameless.
3. I would like to get through the Sevcik Op. 2 no. 4 book...that might take more than a year, but I'll say that I'd like to do at least 2 bowings a week out of that book.
4. Practice my double stop scales, in high and low positions, every day...see what a good job I'm doing with #2 already?
5. Continue to be a devoted daughter, sister, friend, etc.

Wow, most boring resolutions ever. I guess I'm less than enthusiastic about resolutions, because they often are the worst kind of wish. Did you know there are different kinds of wishes? I think there are three kinds (yes, another list):

1. Harmless wishes that are really just for personal amusement. Examples include wishing Falkor was real, wishing it would rain Cherry Kool-Aid, wishing for a magical machine that would make any kind of food you want instantly.
2. Abstract wishes that don't really have any bearing on the immediate present. Such as wishing for world peace, wishing to one day have children, wishing to win the lottery.
3. The worst kind - wishing that things in your current life, that are in your immediate control, were different. Like wishing that you lived somewhere else, wishing you had a girlfriend or boyfriend when you don't, wishing you had a better job.

The third kind are horrible. If you wish for something, you basically are saying that it could only come true through some divine intervention, and that you could never do it on your own. If you do that, then it absolutely will NOT come true, because we all know that if you want something, you have to go get it for yourself. Not that it is that simple, but if you always just wish for something, you are ignoring the actual logistics of your life that are in the way. Or, you are ignoring some part of yourself that is causing the perceived problem, which means you're focusing on the symptom rather than the true cause.

I sometimes catch myself thinking that I would like to have gone away to school, or that I wish I weren't living with my parents. Then I remind myself of what my life would really be like for those things to be true. I would have massive student loan debt and other bills, meaning I would have to have a full-time job, meaning that I would have no time to practice, meaning that I would probably quit music. Whoa! Suddenly my current life is fantastic, in comparison to that scenario. And now I'm happy! Instead of wistfully wishing things were different.

So instead of making flowerly resolutions that I think will completely change my life, I'll stick with a list of mundane goals, just to keep me focused.

Things I am loving at the moment:

2006-12-05T21:53:00.000-08:00

1. Ed Helms on The Office. Ainbow-ray Onnection-cay = GOLD.
2. Crunchy Chinese Chicken salad from the Jewel deli.
3. Stephen Colbert....well that is a long-term love affair.
4. Classico, The Government Totally Sucks, and Papagenu (He's My Sassafras) by Tenacious D.
5. The boxer I saw hanging his head out of a car window on the way to the airport yesterday. I dubbed him "Mugsy," and he was the cutest dog of all time.
6. Doing holiday shopping online...except that I mostly find stuff I want, and then I get really sad that I have no money to buy those things because of having to buy stupid presents for my stupid family.
7. The little girl at the grocery store who dropped something from the cart seat and proceeded to chirp, "Help me! Help me!"
8. Harry Potter dreams. I dreamt that I was Harry, and I was in the Room of Requirement with Dobby, and Death Eaters were after us. They found the room and were yanking on the doorknob, and I just said, "I need locks!" and all these locks sprouted up on the door. It was awesome. Despite the paranoia of my previous post, if technology ever makes it possible to program your dreams, I'm snapping up the entire Harry Potter line of them, cause currently I only have them once every few months. The rest of the time it's just weird nonsense!
9. Chicken Salad with Cranberries....again from the Jewel deli. As much as I loathe Patricia Heaton, she's right: the Jewel deli really is swell.
10. Cello! Because I wouldn't want it to get jealous.

This post was pretty pointless, but my last one was so dark, so I wanted to put up something cheerful.

We'll Lead as Two Kings...

2006-11-26T18:49:00.000-08:00

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving!

Did you know that, despite my generally sunny and silly disposition, I am a big fan of post-apocalyptic, dystopian literature? 1984, Brave New World, Fahrenheit 451, I LOVE all that stuff! It's so scary, and depressing, and likely to come true! This came to mind when I was watching an old episode of Late Night on my Tivo. Conan was interviewing some scientist who was predicting that within the next 20 years or so, humans will begin melding technology with their own bodies, saying that we as a race will need to accelerate our own evolution with technology in order to solve the problems facing society. He was even advocating implanting a chip in the brain that would allow you to access the internet just by thinking about it, saying that you would then have all the information in the world constantly and readily available to you.

Is this guy out of his fucking mind? Am I the only one who thinks this is an absolutely horrible idea? Has he never seen the Matrix? I know, Einstein is always quoted as saying that he would never memorize anything that he could look up. But Einstein looked stuff up in books. Books, which you own and control, so you know the information is not being changed, and which are distributed by publishing companies which can be held accountable for their content. The internet, by contrast, is about 99% crap which (stupid) people often take as fact, which is why anybody who primarily gets their political views from blogs should probably be barred from voting. Can you imagine if people were relying on the internet for ALL of their knowledge, and if it was IN THEIR BRAINS so they would never actually remember anything? The government would literally be able to rewrite history (even more than they already do), and nobody would have genuine memories to contradict them. Not to mention the whole Terminator scenario of technology taking over and what not. Eeeeeeek!

I'm not terribly worried, though. This scientist cited global warming as an example of problem we would need this sort of technological augmentation to solve, but last time I checked, we already know exactly how to solve that problem. It's just a matter of getting the government to tell oil companies to go suck eggs, and get going with the alternative energy already! Yup, it's that simple, problem solved, Holly for President! Aren't lots of our problems caused by technology run amok anyways? It seems like we should be trying to rein it in, not putting it in our frickin brains!!

Send questions, comments, and non-perishable food items to: Crazy Lady, Shack in the Woods, Saskatchewan, Canada.

Katieland

2006-11-20T14:22:00.000-08:00

Visiting Katie in Wisconsin Rapids was super fun. I patronized my first Copps grocery store, where I heard the thickest, most authentic Wisconsin accent ever from the cashier ("Do you need a 'bague' with that?"). While there, I also saw several people dressed in head-to-toe green and yellow, as well as what I, as an Illinoisan, can only call an astonishing selection of sausages and cheeses. I sampled cheesy tots, a local delicacy, and developed an obsessive love for sweet potato fries. I also had the opportunity to wonder if a hunter carting three deer corpses would qualify for the car pool lane. Seeing Michael Anthony roller skate for the first time ever in his life, seeing Pez slither around in a sleeping bag like the Grinch, and helping Katie demonstrate a cooperative stretch that looks and sounds like a sex act - it was all gold.

In other news, I finally got the new Beck CD (I was third or fourth on the waiting list at the library). It's pretty much the same as Odelay or Guero, but that's not necessarily a bad thing. Did you know that Beck is a Scientologist? How does that make you feel? A couple weeks ago I went to see Kathy Griffin, and she did a whole bit about Scientology and how you automatically think less of a person when you find out they are a Scientologist. I must say that it is kind of true. She listed all the celebrities that are Scientologists, and when she included Jason Lee, about 50% of the audience gasped and then sighed with pure horror and disappointment. Not Earl! But alas it is true! While I must say that I am disturbed by the way that Scientology blends religion with profitable, New Age-y self-help mumbo jumbo (not to mention the stuff about, like, you know, aliens and volcanoes), I don't really have a problem with it. If it helps you, and you don't have a problem with paying your church thousands of dollars, then more power to you...although it would be nice if wealthy people would give that money to charities instead, but oh well. And I like Tom and Katie! There, I said it! If marrying Tom Cruise continues to keep Katie Holmes from acting, then I am in favor of it.

Little Updates

2006-11-15T18:53:00.000-08:00

• I rejoined Facebook, cause I don't know anyone's email address, so I had to keep reactivating, getting the address, and then deactivating again. Plus, I haven't been reading a lot lately, so I have all this extra procrastination time. Additionally, I am weak.

• I saw "Stranger than Fiction" (which is so hard to say without accidentally saying "Strangers with Candy"). It was pretty good, but the highlight was definitely Dustin Hoffman. Isn't he just the best part of any movie? MAN if he were 40 years younger, I'd be arrested for stalking him.

• In my family, we often take a regular statement and turn it into an insult, OR a compliment to ourselves. Like, if I say "That sweater is so ugly," Lisa will say "YOU'RE so ugly." And if Lisa says, "That dog is so cute!" I'll say "I'M so cute." So, yesterday, my brother was talking about the new Iron Maiden album, which he has deemed "The best record ever." Accordingly, I said, "I'M the best record ever." To which he replied, "Ah yes, Holly the Record. Including the tracks, 'Whaaa?!' and 'That's funnyyyyy.'" THEN Lisa said, "Yeah, and the hit single,'This one time, on the Office....'" THEN my MOM said, "Not to mention, 'OMG!'" EVEN BON BON turned on me. Oh well it was actually pretty funny....and accurate.

• CANNOT WAIT to go to Rapids and see Kazatie. Roller rink! I want to reenact scenes from Xanadu.

Oh happy day, or, Holly plays political pundit.

2006-11-08T21:29:00.000-08:00

On election night in 2004, I happily went to sleep to news that Kerry was projected to win, and then woke up to the horrifying announcement that, no, Bush had been re-elected. I relish recounting this grim tale, much like Large Marge telling Pee-Wee about "the worst accident....I ever seen." So I am wary of becoming too overjoyed at the Democrats' victory. But I have felt quite warm and fuzzy inside today. Like maybe the world isn't so scary after all. I've even felt so charitable that I momentarily thought, "Well, maybe G-Dub isn't PURE evil..." That's when I knew I was experiencing a wave of euphoria that was temporarily clouding my judgment.

My wish list for the new Congress: pass Bush's immigration legislation, campaign finance reform, live up to promises of more ethical and reasonable politics, UNcut the Bush tax cuts. I think these are reasonable - I'm not asking for a nationalized health care system, for the same reason I don't ask my parents to buy me a horse. But wait, what did I forget to mention? Oh yeah, maybe somebody in the government can actually grow a backbone now and acknowledge the fact that the reasons for going to war in Iraq were fabricated, that it's all about oil and profits for Bush and Co., and that Bush has been grossly expanding and abusing executive power, not to mention blatantly violating the Constitution and various international laws, not only ignoring actual national security issues but probably making them much much worse? Not only acknowledge it, but do something about it? Yes, that would be nice.

Most of all, I just don't want the Democrats to blow it. I'd rather see Bush finish out his presidency in relative comfort and be replaced by a Democrat than see Bush impeached, but then get all kinds of Republican backlash, cause then we'll just be in the same mess all over again. And I'm sorry, but I really really really don't want Hillary Clinton to run in 2008, because I think that Republicans just hate her too much. No Republican would vote for her, in fact I think they would turn out in droves just to vote against her. I want Howard Dean back! How is it that he got totally blackballed just for saying "Byahhhhh!"? Maybe that Dave Chappelle sketch about it can turn it back in his favor. How great would a Dean/Obama ticket be? Then VP Obama can be President after that.

Wow for the past few years I have been suppressing all of my political enthusiasm, because in the recent climate, it would mostly manifest as annoyance, despair, and blinding rage. Now it is all coming out in excessive amounts, and in the form of idealistic, overly eager fantasies. Surrrrre, Obama can run in 2016 with Elmo as his running mate. Then House Speaker Falkor can pull Santa's sleigh around the world dispensing giant lollies and the cure for AIDS, and performing the occasional gay wedding ceremony. Then Jake Gyllenhaal will propose to me, bearing a Stradivarius cello in lieu of an engagement ring. We'll live in a giant treehouse, and he will have no problem with naming our first son Huckleberry.

OMG the guy who does the voice of Elmo should totally become an ordained minister. How great would it be to be married by Elmo? The best would be a Jewish wedding - Elmo in a little yarmulke and tallit! That would have to be the most adorable thing ever.

Election Day

2006-11-07T07:17:00.000-08:00

It's Election Day! Don't forget to vote!

Don't worry, I would never presume to tell you HOW to vote (unless you ask, like my sister does. She pretty much just does my bidding! It's like I get 2 votes!). You're all adults, you can make up your own minds. I would suggest just taking about 10 minutes on the internet to just look up all the stuff that is going to be on your ballot. You know how you get in there and there are, like, all these offices you never heard of? It really only takes a minute to look that stuff up and make a reasonable choice, instead of just leaving that part of the ballot blank, or (heaven forbid) voting at random. Thank goodness for the internet.

Check out www.elections.il.gov if you're in Illinois, or www.elections.wi.gov if you're in Wisconsin.

While I'm here, I would also like to sing the praises of a decidedly less advanced source of information: the library. I have just recently started enjoying the perks of interlibrary loans. I know, these are usually used by students doing hardcore research who just HAVE to have a certain text. But can't I use it just to avoid paying $80 for a David Sedaris boxed set of books on tape? As it turns out, YES, I can. I always feel like I'm getting away with something when I walk out of the library with a backpack full of books/CDs/DVDs.

Re: those books on tape, they are swell. EXCEPT for the dopey MIDI music that appears at the beginning of some stories. Whose idea was this? The music itself is bad enough, but its lameness is compounded by the fact that it is clearly not played on real instruments. And the combination of faux-jazz with spoken word makes me feel like I should be wearing a beret and smoking a cigarette. Eh I guess someone thought it would be cute.

Quick addition

2006-10-31T19:14:00.000-08:00

• Got new curtains. Ta-tas are safely hidden from public view.

• I managed to watch one of those DVDs before I took them back. It was François Truffaut's "The 400 Blows," and it was, surprise surprise, a MALE COMING-OF-AGE story. Noooo not again! I'm so sick of adolescent boys! Well duh what should I have expected from a French New Wave movie. And I'm sorry, I know it's a legendary film and everything, but it was boring. Isn't that often the case? Movies like this broke new ground in their day, but that time is long past, and when you actually see the original stuff, it's just not impressive. Uh oh I probably sound like one of those people who don't understand how amazing the Beatles are because all pop music since then has emulated them and extrapolated from what they did. I always yell at those people, so now I guess some film snob can yell at me. But it's not exactly the same...I mean, I'm not saying ALL old movies are boring...just that one.

Asian Sensations frozen appetizers are good.

2006-10-29T18:17:00.000-08:00

I chose Fairytale Pink paint, and it looks fabulous! Yay! Just two small problems:

1) The new white curtains I bought are very, very sheer. So sheer that my sister remarked, "Holly, people outside could totally see your ta-tas through those curtains." So, yeah, those will have to be returned.

2) I cannot install an air register in my wall due to freakish pieces of metal behind the drywall. So, I must continue to live with a gaping hole where a vent should be. I find this very traumatizing, so much so that I probably complained about it about 50 times in the less-than-24 hours that Pez and Katie spent with me this weekend.

Last week, I felt very, very intellectual and cool because I checked out two foreign films and two opera DVDs from the library. Now they're due back tomorrow, and I haven't watched any of them because I was busy re-watching episodes of The Office and playing Game Boy. Woopsies! I'm also probably not going to read the majority of the books I got....Finding new books to read is difficult. I tried getting books similar to ones I've gotten in the past, but then you end up with just pale imitations. Why is it that all collections of humorous essays and anecdotes are by gay men who live in New York? And none of them are as funny as David Sedaris, or as interesting as Augusten Burroughs, so why bother? I'm also sick of male coming-of-age novels, which is what all the recommendations I've gotten lately have turned out to be. Hint hint, people! What should I read? I should check out the picture of Jenny's bookshelf! Score!

Ahhhh

2006-10-21T20:09:00.000-07:00

My audition is OVER, and went satisfactorily, so I am now feeling very happy and relieved. And most importantly, my room painting project can commence!

I picked up some color samples and some spackle. There were probably 1,001 holes in my wall, because I used to be obsessed with moving my furniture around, which meant that my posters were moved around a lot too. So now my room looks like it had bad acne and then applied a dab of Clearasil to each and every spot. I found spackling to be a therapeutic and oddly satisfying activity. And did you know that it smells like Nickelodeon® Gak? That took me back.

But in a few days, I will be surrounded by Pink Bauble, Coral Cream, or Fairytale Pink...which one would you pick?

In other news, within the past week I saw "The Departed" and "Marie Antoinette." The first is all ultra-violent machismo and the second is all frilly dresses and feminine subtlety, but I enjoyed both of them for the same reason: eye candy. The presence of both Matt Damon and Leonardo DiCaprio in the same movie was mind boggling. And seeing all the gorgeous costumes and gilded extravagance of Versailles made me kind of wish I could incorporate some floral tapestries and French Rococo furniture into my bedroom make-over...do they sell that stuff at Ikea? Doubtful.

"Marie" was pretty good, despite being overly long and slow, but I still think Kirsten Dunst is one of the worst actresses EVER. She only gets by in this movie because there is so little dialogue. She is probably 50% responsible for the Spider-man movies being horrid, with the other 50% belonging to how ridiculous the villains are.

WOW is it nice to spend a whole day thinking about pink vs. peach and movies after a month of obsessive practicing.

Snow? Are you kidding me?

2006-10-12T12:20:00.000-07:00

What is wrong with this picture? This is like three seasons converging. I disapprove. Luckily, the sun has come out and is melting this ridiculous development.

This had better be shortlived, because I have big plans for the weekend of the 21st that would benefit from open windows. That's right, after my audition is over on the 20th, I'm gonna relax and reward myself with....manual labor! AKA painting my room. My room has looked exactly the same since approximately 1998, when I painted the walls white with a VERY bold blue in the closet and on the trim. Now the white is rather battered and dirty, and the imperfections in the blue are wearing on me. I'm going to go for a creamy pink or peach on the walls with white in the closet and on the ceiling. I have two conundrums that perhaps you all can educate me about. 1) What do I have to do to be able to cover up the blue with white paint? 2) As the picture below illustrates, a patch of my drywall was damaged when my closet shelves fell down. How would one repair this? Maybe I can just paint over it and hang a picture there? Oy. These are the things I find to distract myself from my looming audition.

* Yes, I realize that by bitching about the weather and discussing home improvement, I have created an absolutely geriatric blog entry. My excuse? I'm on a fixed income!!!!! Wahhhhh!!!

Shostakovich, Adam Sandler, etc.

2006-10-06T10:02:00.000-07:00

Hello my friends. I have not updated in a while, mostly because of Richard Strauss. He's a douchebag. I just have a few little points.

1.) I went to see the CSO play Beethoven 6 and Shostakovich 5, and afterwards I decided that Shostakovich 5 is probably one of my favorite pieces ever. HOWEVER, Shostakovich is still not one of my favorite composers, because I really only like Shostakovich 5 because it sounds like Mahler, so it really doesn't qualify me as a Shostakovich fan. It is similar to how liking Adam Sandler in Punch Drunk Love, but not liking any of his other movies, makes you not exactly an Adam Sandler fan. And just to be thorough, let me say that I like Adam Sandler very much in a number of his movies, most notably Punch Drunk Love, The Wedding Singer, and Billy Madison. I do like some Shostakovich pieces in addition to the fifth symphony, but on the whole, I think he is overrated. As for Beethoven, he is, as always, one of my many BF'sF.

2.) Massive thunderstorms on Monday night broke our satellite, and it won't be fixed until next Wednesday. The resulting grief and depression has revealed how pathetically addicted to TV I am. Thankfully, Project Runway had its reunion show this week, so I did not miss anything crucial, and I was able to dig out some rabbit ears to watch Lost and the Office.

3.) I am too lazy to not write in run-on sentences today, although I think that technically, my liberal use of commas makes them grammatically acceptable.

4.) Coca-cola Zero is swell.

5.) And finally, at last, I think I have reached terminal nerd-osity, because I checked out "The Silmarillion" by J.R.R. Tolkien from the library, but I could not even get past page two. Finally, something TOO geeky for me!

Toodles!

New Pezland

2006-09-24T18:09:00.000-07:00

I had a splendiferous time during the whirlwind weekend tour of U of I. It was my first time on that campus since 2001, and I must say it is much more spiffy these days. Now I know why it is SO much more expensive than all the other state universities in Illinois! Since most of you who read this were there, I think it requires little elaboration...I'll just post a few pictures and be done with it. (Actually, I'm just too lazy and sluggish after days of little sleep and eating junk food).

From afar, the peacocks looked like turkeys. I bet they are equally delicious.

Sympathizing with the statue

Michael Anthony? Or Sasquatch getting up close and personal with my car window? You be the judge.

I like restaurants that get to the point.

The end!

Random thoughts

2006-09-16T16:01:00.000-07:00

• Did you know that I am a fan of Justin Timberlake? That's right, I said it. I am not impervious to the lure of cute boys who sing and dance. His new album is pretty swell, but I must say that I have to draw the line at the song where he assumes the character of "Bob," a guy who has a "problem with the little white rock" and "can't put down the pipe." Come on, JT. I would maybe buy you as a compulsive shopper, or a compuslive hand washer, or MAYBE as having an addiction to prescription pain killers. But crack? I think not. On a related note, is it weird that I think Dave Chappelle's crackhead character Tyrone Biggums is very endearing? I love that guy, with his itchy neck and his white lips. He might be my favorite part of that show.

• The Office (the American version) is the best show ever. Season two finally just came out on DVD, and season three starts this Thursday. I think everyone should see all the episodes on DVD and then watch the show for real. DO NOT watch it on Thursday if you've never seen it before, because there was a huge cliffhanger and if you see the result, it will spoil the entire first two seasons for you. Can you tell I have a lot invested in this? Man oh man, if things don't go the way I want on this show, I will be inconsolable. PS--NBC should pay me for promoting them. They could at least give me a free Dwight Schrute bobble head.

• A new episode of The Office is the only thing that will possibly fill the void of Project Runway, which is a rerun this Wednesday. Bastards!

• Last night I picked up food from Buffalo Wild Wings, and the kid at the counter gave me a Diet Coke for free. As if BWW needed to do anything else to cement its status as my BFF. Mmmm honey BBQ.....

• After my chicken wrap and free pop, I went to see "Accepted," which was surprisingly hilarious. I mean, it wasn't the best movie I've ever seen or anything, but it was highly enjoyable. Lewis Black is the best. He's got crazy, angry, pointy fingers.

• Annnnd I'm out of random thoughts for the moment. See ya!