The World is Quiet Here

Closing ceremonies

2008-08-25T03:08:12Z

Beautiful! Amazing! Moving!

Just great, a wonderful end to a fantastic two weeks :)

And once again I am a wreck from the final montage. It gets me everytime :(

The weekend has been insane so I will catch up on things tomorrow!

Finally Friday

2008-08-22T17:52:53Z

Yay! Last day of work! I get to leave early at 3:30 yay!

>>>>>>>>>>Olympics>>>>>>>>>>

>> Rogers, Dalhausser win beach volleyball gold

>> Merritt leads US sweep in men's 400m

>> Did Chinese gymnasts cheat? IOC says no

>> Ukranian heptathlete stripped of silver medal for doping

>> US men's basketball drops Argentina, advance to final

And the best news of the day!

NBC to televise 2009 swimming world championships

:D Ahhh! I am so excited about this! Usually the world championships are aired on ESPN2 or a random channel and you have to catch things like the FINA short course championships online. They're even going to air the nationals for 2009, 2010, and 2011 too!

This is just awesome, finally there will be decent coverage and more people will be able to keep up with the sport! I know it's easy to become a fan of an athlete/sport during the Olympics and then forget about them for four years because you barely hear about them again but if they keep the sport in front of people than it doesn't have to be that way.

Since Athens I've checked Aaron Peirsol's website every few weeks to find out when the next competitions would be and everything but it's not always easy to be a fan when there's so little coverage- I haven't even been able to find a video of the 4x100 medley relay from Athens on youtube. I know NBC wants to cash in on the interest from Phelps' success but whatever, take my money and bombard me with advertisements, just give me some swimming besides once every four years!

>>>>> Olympic Trivia of the Day: At the 1992 Summer Games in Barcelona, on the 20th anniversary of the Munich massacre and the 500th anniversary of the Alhambra Decree, Yael Arad became the first Israeli to win an Olympic medal, winning a silver medal in judo. The next day, Oren Smadja became Israel's first male medalist, winning a bronze in the same sport.

Sportitude

2008-08-21T14:00:55Z

>>>>>>>>>>Olympics>>>>>>>>>>

These Olympics have been great!

So much kick ass stuff went down over the past week. Nastia Liukin took gold in the all around, Shawn Johnson got one on balance beam, Lezak, Peirsol, Phelps and Hansen won the medley relay (my favorite event!) which meant Phelps got his eight golds, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh took gold in beach volleyball last night, etc. etc.

And of course there's been crazy stuff as usual- shady scoring in gymnastics (Okay I understand about the starting values and everything but sorry, if you friggin fall on your legs during a vault then you should not be medaling over someone who landed on her feet), track disqualifications in the men's 200m sprint, China's great hope Liu Xiang having to pull out of the hurdles, Tyson Gay not even qualifying for the finals, the IOC stripping that sore loser Swedish wrestler of the bronze medal he discarded, etc. etc.

Lol I am exhausted from the spectating, how lame is that? There's so much coverage of everything though and the big events go pretty late and I like to catch as much as I can. Heh, right now I'm watching the women's gold medal soccer game at work (this Silverlight video viewing stuff NBC has going on is pretty sweet). I haven't been able to see a lot of the team sport match ups besides beach volleyball but I'd like to catch all the big finals for basketball and such if I can.

>> In Softball stunner, Japan upsets US for gold

>> Oldest world record in swimming finally goes down

>> Four team jumping horses suspended for doping Good gravy, the animals too?

>> IOC chides Bolt for lack of respect to rivals Bolt is amazing, it's insane how he makes a record breaking spring look like a jog in the park but I didn't really care for his celebration before the 100m race was even over. During a quick interview he did last night he seemed to curb some of that cockiness and from his joking around with Wallace Spearmon he seems just like a fun guy but still, whether or not he means to be unsportsmanlike that's how it's coming across.

>> Afghanistan wins first ever Olympic medal

>> Amputee inspires in Olympic debut

>> Boxer disqualified for biting Olympic opponent

>> After Beijing, Phelps' marketability will be tested

Someone better score in this soccer game soon, I want to see some goals!

>>>>> Olympic Trivia of the Day: Not many know the story of Lawrence Lemieux, a Canadian rower competing in the Finn (dinghy) class in the 1988 games in Seoul. On that fateful day Lemieux performed an incredible act of bravery. The winds had picked up, and the water became exceedingly choppy. Lemieux was in second place during his race when he saw two sailors from the Singaporean team in another race fall into the water. Lemieux rowed over and rescued the sailors, hauling them into his small boat. Though he was out of contention, he finished his race after an official boat picked up the sailors. But the Olympics committee awarded him an honorary second-place finish. IOC president Juan Antonio Samaranch said, "By your sportsmanship, self-sacrifice and courage, you embody all that is right with the Olympic ideal." Lemieux was not a big name, but his act of bravery brought honor to the Games.

Tuck, tumble, and roll

2008-08-15T00:08:43Z

>>>>>>>>>>Olympics>>>>>>>>>>

There are some great events tonight! Men's 200m IM, 200m backstroke, and the women's all around are up. Hopefully the girls can make up for the men's all around last night being such a train wreck. When that one guy fell off the rings, eeshk, it sucks when stuff like that happens. I'm looking forward to the women's all around just because it's probably going to be really close. I'm not really cheering for anyone in particular as opposed to being all for Carly Patterson in Athens because I'd been following her for a while but I'm interested to see what Nastia Liukin does. I remember years ago watching this thing about her and her dad and how she'd be one to keep an eye on in the Olympics down the road and lo and behold she's right in it.

>> Swedish wrestler protests bronze-medal finish By dropping his medal on the mat and walking away, sore loser

>> Age of Chinese gymnast under scrutiny

>> Dutch swimmer Van den Hoogenband retires after 100m freestyle

>> Phelps' remaining obstacles are his teammates

>> Rain soaks, delays, postpones Olympics

>> Rice earns "female Phelps" label with swimming success I find that "label" to be totally condescending. Can't they just say if Michael Phelps is the best male swimmer than she is the best female swimmer? If she were bigger than him they wouldn't call him the "male Stephanie Rice". I understand it's intended as a compliment but, blergh, that just bugs me

>>>>>Olympic Trivia of the Day: Countries bidding to host the Summer Olympic Games or the Winter Olympic Games compete aggressively to have their bid accepted by the IOC. The IOC members, representing most of the member countries, vote to decide where the Games will take place. Members from countries which have cities bidding to host the games are excluded from the voting process, up until the point where their city drops out of the contest. Sochi, Russia, was elected as the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympics on July 4, 2007 during the 119th International Olympic Committee (IOC) Session in Guatemala City, Guatemala. The next host city for the 2016 Summer Games will be announced at the 121st Session (which will also be the XIIIth Olympic Congress) held in Copenhagen, Denmark, on October 2, 2009.

Day 6

2008-08-13T20:33:08Z

>>>>>>>>>>Olympics>>>>>>>>>>

How hard was it watching Alicia Sacramone last night? I don't even mean when she messed up on vault but after when she was trying so hard to hold it together and then she fell again on floor. And I bet she appreciated NBC sticking the camera in her face when she was trying not to cry, sheesh. I'm not sure that the US would have been able to take gold over China even if they'd been dead on in their final events but still, it sucks when it feels like you lost rather than the other team just happened to win. Silver is amazing but it just stinks that it all kind of fell on her shoulders :/

>> Phelps becomes the winningest Olympian in history with 11 gold medals

>> Spitz miffed over Beijing snub

>> The loneliest sport in America

>> Memmel reveals broken ankle

>> Lochte set to face Phelps, Peirsol; Beard fails to make finals

I think gymnastics starts at 11 tonight which I'm happy about because then hopefully they'll show the 200m backstroke semifinals with Lochte and Peirsol. That is going to be a sweet final tomorrow night. I hope they go 1-2 but who knows which way!

>>>>>Olympic Trivia of the Day: The "Blood In The Water" match was a water polo match between Hungary and the USSR at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics and is arguably the most famous match in water polo history. The match, which happened on December 6, 1956, was played out against the background of the 1956 Hungarian Revolution and saw Hungary defeat the USSR 4–0. The name was coined by the media after Hungarian player Ervin Zádor emerged from the pool during the last two minutes in the game with blood pouring from under his eye after being punched by a Soviet player.

Tuesday the 12th

2008-08-12T16:33:08Z

>>>>>>>>>>Olympics>>>>>>>>>>

So many good events last night!

Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin and Aaron Peirsol all got gold in their races and the American men's gymnasts took bronze in the team final! It was actually very cool to see them get that because once the Hamm twins pulled out no one thought they would be have much of a shot but they did great! As thrilled as I'm sure people must be to receive any Olympic medal, no matter the color, you don't always get that sort of reaction for placing in 3rd or even second but because they were underdogs they got to go crazy. Very cool for them :)

And now I'm exhausted because I stayed up much too late again trying to catch Peirsol's medal ceremony after the late night news but they must've aired it at like 4am or something. I'll have to track that down online somewhere...

Tonight! More swimming, synchronized diving, beach volleyball and the women's gymnastics team final. Is it horrible that I am slightly rooting for China to take gold here? Idk it was just so exciting for the Chinese men's team to win it last night and I always love when the home town team gets to win on their own turf. Plus those girls are insane. I only got to watch some of their qualifying thing the other day but they just made it look so effortless, even more so than it usually seems. Either way it's going to be a great competition to watch!

>> Phelps, Peirsol, Coughlin clean up If Phelps wins tonight he'll hold the record for the Olympian with the most gold medals

>> Boxer doesn't know score and loses

>> Olympic opening uses girl's voice, not face

>> Women on the verge of four consecutive gold medals Could Bush look like more of a goober?

>> Officials say Games may never be clean

NBC has a ton of pics up but I can't save them so these are just from all over. Idk who a bunch of them are of tbh :)

Saved the best for last :)

>>>>>Olympic Trivia of the Day: The 2008 Olympic Mascots are the five Fuwa (simplified Chinese: 福娃, literally "good luck dolls" initially known as Friendlies in English). The Fuwa consist of five members that incorporate fish, giant panda, fire, Tibetan antelope, and swallow designs. The Fuwa each have as their primary colour, one of the colours of the five Olympic Rings that stand for the five continents. The five Fuwa are named Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying, and Nini. When the first syllable of each of the five names are said together, the result is the phrase 北京迎你 (Běijīng huānyíng nĭ) which means "Beijing welcomes you".

By the way I'm pulling all this olympic trivia from wikipedia so, you know, if it's completely wrong then that'd be why :)

Monday monday

2008-08-11T21:09:44Z

The weekend was pretty good, it felt really long for some reason which was nice. On Saturday I kept thinking it was Sunday and then would get excited when I'd remember I could sleep in the next day. Yesterday was my friend's birthday so I went with her and a few others to an 18+ casino nearby. We had a good time, didn't spend too much money, and grabbed dinner before so it was a fun night :)

>>>>>>>>>>Olympic News>>>>>>>>>>

Hahaha, snagged this from

melina_agape. I'm not the biggest Michael Phelps fan but that race was friggin amazing and considering how everyone figured France to win and without gold there Phelps wouldn't be able to beat Spitz's record, he deserved that freak out. I DVR'd the events while I was out last night then watched the women's gymnastics and the swim races when I got home. I couldn't believe Nastia Liukin wiped out :( Oh my god and that Alicia Sacramone bounced way off on her floor routine! The women's gymnasts were looking rough last night...

>> Beijing's hottest event still to come

>> Roger Ebert reviews the opening cermonies

>> Hansen misses medal in 100m breaststroke I felt so bad for him, his rivalry with Kitajima was supposed to be this big thing but Hansen has been wicked off, poor guy :/

>> US basketball favored on and off the court

>> No blarney: Irish journeyman counsels Chinese soccer team

>> Spanish cyclist kicked out of Olympics for doping

I watched a whole mess of events this weekend; beach volleyball, basketball, rowing, road races, weight lifting lol. Some events are way more entertaining than others obviously but seriously, I'll tune in for whatever :)

Peirsol is swimming tonight (yay!) in the 100m backstroke final and again on Thursday in the 200m final. The women's gymnastics are up Thursday too so that is seriously one night of must-see events! Eeeee!! I love Olympics time!!!

>>>>>Olympics Trivia of the Day: The emblem of the Olympic Games is composed of five interlocking rings (blue, yellow, black, green, and red respectively) on a white field. This was originally designed in 1913 by Baron Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympic Games. These five rings stand for passion, faith, victory, work ethic and sportsmanship.

Some things

2008-08-09T17:20:30Z

I can't believe Bernie Mac passed away. I'd heard about his pneumonia and even though they're saying it was unrelated to that lung disease he had maybe the disease just compounded it? I don't know but man, 50 is way too young to die.

Also Paul Newman reportedly has only a few weeks to live and told his family that he wants to die at home. They said that he's been readying his oldest daughter to take over his Newman's Own salad dressing business for him. On the one hand I think that at least his family is prepared they'll have time to say goodbye but on the other hand... omg Butch don't die :(

>>>>>>>>>> Olympic News >>>>>>>>>>

>> American killed, another injured in Beijing stabbing

>> Air rifle event awards first medals, Czech Republic nabs the first gold

>> Mariel Zugins wins gold in sabre fencing, Americans sweep They just showed her medal ceremony, she was was crying with a huge smile on her face awww

>> Photo Gallery of Beijing's Water Cube

>> US Flag carrier former child soldier

>> The world's biggest fashion show: Bejing's opening ceremony I didn't care for the American outfits, they looked like they were going boating, my mom thought they looked like newsies

>> Photo Gallery Ab Fab: Guess the Swimmer lmao, best gallery ever

I've been trying to track down a nice clean schedule of when all the events will be airing but NBC is covering so much this year across so many channels that it's a tad overwhelming. This is a quick reference of when finals are happening in each event, this is a list of when things will be airing on TV and on what channel, and this is the TV schedule for this weekend broken down by event. I just don't want to miss something big but luckily the finals for swimming and gymnastics will be airing live at night here so I know to just tune in then. There's so many things to watch though, it's wild.

>>>>>Olympic Trivia of the Day: The 1964 Games held in Tokyo are notable for heralding the modern age of telecommunications. These games were the first to be broadcast worldwide on television, enabled by the recent advent of communication satellites. The 1964 Games were thus a turning point in the global visibility and popularity of the Olympics.

08-08-08

2008-08-09T04:21:11Z

OMG :D

The opening ceremonies were amazing! AMAZING! I can't get over how beautiful they were and how they executed everything so perfectly. Agh the thing with the boxes and it turned out that it was people under there working them!? Holy crap, hardcore. And that little boy who survived the earthquake and saved his classmates who walked with Yao Ming! Most moving story ever! They just exceeded all expectations, what a beautful ceremony.

I seriously love this stuff. I don't care if it's cheesy but I get so moved by it. That thing with all the children's faces just tugged on my heart. ~~I may have cried a little bit~~ Bob Costas made a comment about retiring the olympic ceremony trophy and seriously, I don't know how anyone could top this. Good luck London!

Also did you see the wicked fierce dress the women who carried the names of each country during the parade of nations were wearing? That red one with the white flowers along the front that split into a layer of tulle in the front? Good lord I want that thing, gorgeous.

SO GOOD!!!

Randomishness

2008-08-08T13:17:12Z

Okay so last night we were eating dinner and this was part of the conversation:

Dad: Hey are the Patriots playing tonight?
Mom: Yeah, they have an exhibition game.
Dad: Ok that's what I thought because the traffic heading towards the stadium was bad. I guess it was from that and the Jonas Brothers-
Me and My sister: *die laughing* The JONAS BROTHERS!?!?! Hahahaha oh my god
Dad: Whaaaat!? They've been talking about them on the radio! There's a concert or something tonight. I don't even know who they are...
My sister: *pointing to me* God, you should have just seen her face.

Haha I don't even know why that tickled my funny so bad but hearing my dad just slip something about the Jonas Brothers into a conversation was hilarious. He just said it so casually and unlike my sister and I who devour celebrity news in every way, shape or form he knows nothing about it at all and him mentioning them of all people killed us. Haha idk, it was just amazing.

Oh and you know that "Man hits bear on motorcycle" story I mentioned recently? Looks like the boys over at Cyanide and Happiness saw it too ;)

Also also the other day I had banana oreo ice cream. AMAZING.

Opening ceremonies tonight!!!

Movie Trivia of the Day: X-Men: Despite being nearly 6 feet tall, James Marsden had to wear platform shoes so that he would appear taller than Hugh Jackman (6'2").

Citius, Altius, Fortius, Friggin Awesimus

2008-08-07T17:30:32Z

Yay! The Olympics kick off tomorrow! Hooray :D

I'm wicked pumped for the opening ceremonies, I always get chills during them oh man. Even though countries don't really do like in ancient times with postponing wars and stuff to participate in the games I still love that it's this huge celebration that people the world over can enjoy and participate in.

I am ridiculously in love with the summer olympics in particular. I didn't know what to do with myself when Athens was over. I literally watched until the very end when NBC was like, "Okay bye now" and showed a montage with clips of Greece and the events played to the olympic theme music. Lol if memory serves I may have cried. Yeah I love them :)

This year I'm pretty nervous about security and safety in Beijing though. They are so crazy over there with the way they handle protests and there was that incident with sixteen police officers being killed the other day and now President Bush, clearly beloved by the world over, is there and everyone knows it. I've been watching these specials on the games and how Beijing has been getting ready for them and naturally they have plans in place should any acts of terrorism occur but they were even saying that they have to secure all the roads that food for the athletes in the olympic village comes in through in case someone tries a terrorist attack like that. Mass poisoning food like that had never even occured to me, how scary would that be? Eeshk

I just hope that nothing will happen and everyone will be safe during the next two weeks. I understand why so many people are protesting the games being held in Beijing and they certainly have reason to be but at this point I just want things to go smoothly for the sake of everyone involved.

And since work is dull....

>> Pictures of the Olympic Torch on the Great Wall

>> Morgan Hamm drops out of Beijing both Hamm twins are out now D:

>> Olympic Athlete Locals (local meaning New England)

>> Bush arrives in Beijing, first president to attend Olympics on foreign soil

>> Chinese trying to control the weather

>> Stories to follow in Beijing

>> Experts Split on Threat of Terrorism at Beijing Olympics

>> Eric Shanteau- cancer diagnosis can't keep him off the U.S. swim team

>> Chinese activist barred from homeland

>> NBC plans 3,600 hours of Olympic coverage old news but still, that's impressive

>> China's Games: "The Olympics Have Destroyed Our Lives"photo gallery

Olympic Trivia of the Day: During the Olympic Games a truce or ekecheiria was observed. Three runners known as spondophoroi were sent from Elis to the various participant cities at each set of games to announce the beginning of the truce. During this period armies were forbidden from entering Olympia, wars were suspended and legal disputes and the use of the death penalty were forbidden. The truce was primarily designed to allow athletes and visitors to travel safely to the games, and was for the most part observed, although Thucydides wrote of a situation where the Spartans were forbidden from attending the games and fined 200,000 drachmas for assaulting the city of Lepreum during the period of the ekechiria, claiming that the truce had not yet taken hold.

Hiiiii

2008-08-04T14:19:06Z

So it's a bit early to already be procrastinating at work but I slept very badly last night and am struggling to stay awake and scrolling through identical lists of data to check things off isn't helping. Plus I finally finally saw The Dark Knight so why don't I just talk about that instead hm?

I hate that I couldn't see it sooner but things got all out of whack with family stuff and me feeling like shit this past week but better late than never. I'm always behind on these things, I need to work on that.

Anyway it was as amazing as I'd hoped it would be :)

Everyone was so awesome and kick ass. It really kills me that Nolan has such a group of talented actors all working on the same project. I was half expecting the screen to spontaneously combust from the amount of awesome.

You know who was not awesome though? Rachel Dawes. Again. I swear I did not think it possible but I believe Maggie Gyllenhaal was even worse than Katie Holmes. She was atrocious. I was so glad when they bumped her off because she was a useless character and stealing screen time that could've gone to an actual Batman canon lady. What was with all that shoulder jiggling? Really? That is the woman you expect us to believe Bruce Wayne and Harvey Dent would be pining over? Bitch plz.

And I think that the hype for Heath's Joker was well deserved, he was fantastic. The whole thing with the nurse's costume was one of the funniest things I have ever seen, I was dying. He just completely disappeared into that character, it's always really amazing to see something like that happen.

Aaron Eckhart was great too. Considering that they had only the span of one movie to turn him from Gotham's white knight into a man who would shoot a child they handled his story really well. It was believeable for him to change the way he did and it didn't feel rushed or like it came out of left field. I loved the scene of him and the Joker in the hospital, just awesome.

Other kick ass things in random order because there is no rhyme or reason to my fangirling:

>> Gordon! Pfft I knew you weren't dead! Pretending to die to protect your family awww, what a good guy :)

>> Eyeliner guy! Compared to the Joker Locke doesn't seem so bad huh?

>> Batman leaping through Chinese skies :D I love it, I love it

>> Omg Batman versus dogs D: NEVER AGAIN CHRISTOPHER NOLAN

>> Bruce Wayne on a bright red motorcycle... I may have had a heart spasm from the sexy

>> The Joker tricking Batman into saving Dent instead of Rachel oh my god! There is no consistency to the things I see coming in a movie. Sometimes I can predict with a doubt what will happen but usually I'm blindsided. This blindsided me, I was like, "OMG HE TRICKED HIM OH SNAP!" I love being blindsided good. Haha it wasn't even a big deal, I just thought that was a cool part idk

>> Lucius making that accountant dude wibble

>> Batman interviewing the Joker who was just all Lulz! good times!

>> The soundtrack :D

Overall it was just a great, fun movie. I absolutely love Batman Begins, it's right up there on my all time number of watches list with The Matrix and Mulan, and it's awesome to have a companion movie that accomplishes even more.

Movie Trivia of the Day: Nestor Carbonell ~~Eyeliner guy~~ who plays the Mayor in The Dark Knight coincidentally also played "Bat Manuel", a parody of Batman, in the comic-based live action "The Tick" (2001) TV series.

Hahahaha oh my god I love it, Bat ~Manuel~

Ummmmmmmm

2008-07-31T23:10:52Z

So apparently the guy who is producing the upcoming live-action Cowboy Bebop movie has worked on a whole bunch of Keanu Reeves movies before. Surely though this doesn't mean that they would cast stiff as a board 44-year-old Keanu Reeves as the lazy and charismatic 27-year-old Spike Spiegel right? Right?

"Keanu Reeves has been attached to play Spike Spiegel in a big budget live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop"

FAIL

People have been suggesting Joseph Gordon-Levitt for Spike and actually that I could see if they did it right. I'm cringing to think about who else they're going to cast though...

Story of the day

2008-07-29T19:52:52Z

Saw this on boston.com this morning

"Man hits bear on motorcylce"

I cannot even tell you how badly I wanted this to be about a bear riding a motorcycle. Honestly I just imagined him cruising along and then some wild-eyed loon comes out of the forest waving a stick or maybe bamboo, if it was a panda bear. Not that I want some poor bear to get hit with a stick or bamboo but for those 3 seconds I believed that a bear was riding a motorcycle? ... well those were 3 magical seconds.

Also as I was reading the article I was totally imagining that it was jinx!bear, the greatest of all bears.

There's no word on the condition of the actual bear that got hit. I'm hoping he lumbered off somewhere though and it was only his bear pride that got hurt. Poor fella, I bet he just wanted a lift.

Loling

2008-07-22T21:07:08Z

Oh man, so one of my summer intern projects is updating my group's webpage. There are individual profile pages so I've been compiling a small list of new questions for everyone to fill out for their page. I've been googling things like "getting to know you questions" and "ice breakers" etc. Basically questions you might see on a meme but less goofy because, well, it's work.

Anyway, I found one list with lots of good questions and then I scrolled down and came across this gem:

Hahahaha who would ever ask that!?! That's not an ice breaker, that's like the iceberg that sank the friggin Titanic. I'm pretty sure I would quit my job if I was asked that on my first day omg

And speaking of funny things at work, isn't it the worst when you see/read something that makes you want to bust a gut but it's so quiet in your office that you can't? Is there an abbreviation out there for when that happens? Like instead of lol or rofl it'd be cqamd (chuckling quietly at my desk) or cuimc (cracking up in my cube), haha I don't know....

24 minutes and this day is overrr!

Greetings my good hotman!

2008-07-19T22:59:53Z

Right quick!

My mom and I went to Martha's Vineyard yesterday. We rented bikes and looked around, had lunch, took an afternoon ferry back and headed home. It was a nice, last vacation day :)

Tonight I'm going to a birthday party for my sister and her cousin-in-law (idk what you'd call him). I made gluten free can't leave em alone bars since my sister has celiacs and has started her gluten free diet now so I wanted to try them out for her. The party is at her and Dan's new house (they aren't totally done renovating but the downstairs is in good shape for tonight) and a couple friends are coming with me which will be nice because even though I know everyone going I always feel awkward at these kind of things. Since all their other parties have been here at our house I usually just peace out to my room or something when I'm done socializing but it's different this time. I think it'll be fun though :)

Also! The Avatar finale is tonight! Unfortunately I'll be miss the live airing but I'm DVRing it and plan to watch it as soon as I get home. "The Ember Island Players" last night was so funny, that was such a good episode. I love that they parodied and poked fun at themselves ("Did Jet just die?" "You know, it was really unclear") and that they set up some big things for the finale like Zuko and Iroh as well as Aang and Katara's relationship.

Here's a snippet from a review of tonight's two-hour finale:

One thing is certain: with "Sozin's Comet," the bar has been set almost impossibly high for any future Avatar tales. Despite an uneven first half to the third season, this season finale easily cements Avatar's position as one of the finest animated television series ever made. The cast and crew of Avatar has produced a work that is truly exceptional, and "Sozin's Comet" manages to produce a truly satisfying conclusion while still leaving us hungry for more.

:D SO EXCITED :D

Avatar Trivia of the Day: According to the DVD audio commentary for the episode "The Waterbending Master", Pakku's method of disabling Katara at the end of their fight by trapping her within a cage of icicles was inspired by a sequence in House of Flying Daggers.

I'd like to spend my vacation AT THE LIBRARY!

2008-07-18T04:09:07Z

Vacation has been so much fun! We've spent the week relaxing, eating sandwiches, swimming, reading books at the beach and just... relaxing. It's been really nice :)

My dad drove home today (he's not much of a relaxer and gets fidgety) and my brother went back before dinner tonight after coming down yesterday to spend the night. Erin came down today for a beach day and then tomorrow my mom and I are gonna go to Martha's Vineyard for the day before heading home. We just came back from seeing Hancock (fun but a bit saddish tbh) and we have to get up early tomorrow so I'm a bit worn out.

I got some decent color from the beach but my wonderful Irish skin means that mostly I'm burned. Not too crispy actually but enough to be a tad uncomfortable. I wouldn't have been able to spend one more day on the beach roasting under the sun. It'll be fun to poke around tomorrow on the Vineyard and maybe rent bikes!

Also also tonight was (finally!) a brand spanking new Avatar that I haven't seen yet :D

>> Sokka and Suki's tent rendezvous!!! Oh my god, that was priceless! I mean, I know they're, what? 16 in the show but oh lawd, that was friggin amazing. I wasn't expecting Brian and Mike to go there but bravo boys ;)

>> Zuko and Katara kicking ass and taking names (literally)!!! They're fantastic together, their "little fieldtrip" hahaha

>> OMG BLOODBENDING D: Oh Katara, you didn't! I mean, you just knew she was gonna but damn, I still OMGd when it happened

>> Azula, if possible, has become even crazier

>> The separation of the Gaang from the adults/random newbies was quick and well done, it was inevitable that they'd split up and I'm glad they got that out of the way

>> Katara and Sokka's mom! Kya! Or is it Kaya? Idk idk but she was so lovely and oh my god defending her baby girl to the end, ugh I was tearing up :(((

>> I figured Katara wouldn't end up killing that old dude but still, I'm glad that the "fieldtrip" with Zuko helped her sort out her issues with him. That hug? Priceless :)

>> And Zuko, throwing Aang that question at the end, oh man. Just the look on Aang's face, poor kid :(

"The Ember Island Players" tomorrow night :D JOY!!

Avatar Trivia of the Day: Professor Zei's name comes from a character meaning "thief" or "robber" in traditional Chinese. This is actually a reference to the fact that this is what archaeologists were considered to be before anthropology was established as a semi-official social-science.

To all of you lucky ducks who got to see The Dark Knight tonight I am extremely jealous of you! I have no clue when I'll be getting to see it but it better be ASAP!!!

That gloomy girl who sighs a lot?

2008-07-17T01:13:38Z

Oh my god, oh my god

Okay so I'd already seen "The Boiling Rock" but I watched it a while back during finals and stuff and this was actually only the second time I've seen it. AGH OH MY GOD SO GOOD :D

As soon as it was over I pretty much leaped up from my chair and put my face as close as possible to the TV for the preview for "The Southern Raiders" tomorrow night lmao. There are no words to describe how friggin excited I am for that episode. All shipping aside ~~because I think we all know who she's going to end up with in the end and I'm happy with that~~ I am wicked pumped for a Zuko and Katara episode. We've seen Zuko and Aang and Zuko and Sokka and we know Toph was chill with him from the start so that only leaves Katara. I just love the idea of a friendship between them, their being opposites from the very start, it's just going to be so kick ass. And having mommy-issues Zuko be the one to help her confront the past concerning her mother? Brilliant. Doing it up ninja style? Fierce. Waterbending and firebending on the same team? I LOVE IT I LOVE IT :D

Only two new episodes left and then the finale. I am going to miss this show so much but damn if they didn't give us a perfectly executed story. And I am totally confident that their finale will be fantastic. More tv shows could take a leaf out of the Avatar books. It's just been a perfect series :)

Avatar Trivia of the Day: The fighting choreography of the show draws from martial arts; the fighting styles and weaponry are based on Chinese martial arts, with each bending art corresponding to a certain real-world style. The creators use Bagua for airbending, Hung Gar for earthbending, Northern Shaolin for firebending, and Tai Chi for waterbending. The only exception to this is Toph, who employs a Chu Gar Southern Praying Mantis style.

Stoop kid's afraid to leave his stoop!

2008-07-13T19:48:42Z

I'm trying to be better about posting fandom stuff and not just random ramblings because fandom stuff is more fun so how about that meme that's been floating around?

Pick a Fandom and I'll tell you....
1. The first character I fell in love with.
2. The character I never expected to love as much as I do now.
3. The character everyone else loves that I don't.
4. The character I love that everyone else hates.
5. The character I used to love but don't any longer.
6. The character I would shag anytime.
7. The character I'd want to be like.
8. The character I'd slap.
9. A pairing that I love.
10. A pairing that I hate

Also tomorrow is the start of Avatar fangasm week :D I can't wait for all the new episodes and the 2-hour finale on Saturday which I won't get to watch live because of my sister's birthday party (agh why!?!) but which I will DVR and sit 2 feet in front of the TV for when I do watch it. Not to mention The Dark Knight comes out on Friday! So much awesome in one week!!!

Movie Trivia of the Day: Gone Baby Gone: Broadway actress Amy Ryan looked and sounded so convincing as a low class Dorchester mom that a security guard mistook her for a fan on the first day of location filming, and wouldn't let her on the set. One of the producers finally noticed her on the other side of one of the barricades, and said she should be let through. The incident made Ryan twenty minutes late, but convinced her the Boston accent she'd prepared was realistic.

I finally saw this last night, it was great. Definitely one of the better "Boston" movies because they didn't spend the whole time being "Oh hai look at us we're in Boston and like the Sox and Dunkin Donuts and pahk ah cahs, etc.". I love that Michelle Monaghan who isn't from Massachusetts didn't put on an accent or anything because there are so many people who live in Boston who don't have the accent and actors sound ridiculous when they force it *coughLauraLinneyMysticRivercough*. Amy Ryan was good though without being forced. It was just a great movie that was set here and influenced by the fact that it took place in Dorchester but the story was what mattered. And talk about a friggin moral dilemma, that was crazy. Casey Affleck was amazing.

Those lazy hazy crazy days of summer

2008-07-11T20:31:20Z

Wheew, it's been a busy week!

Work has been picking up because I have new projects and even though sometimes I feel like I'm just floundering without a clue the days have going by a lot quicker :)

I baked two cakes this week. My sister's work group threw a shower yesterday for one of the girls getting married and my sister offered to make the beach themed cake. Well her dry run cake didn't come out how she wanted it so I offered to make a test one so she could get ideas. Monday night I spent making and decorating the cake. I bake a lot but don't get into the decorating besides just frosting and sprinkles. I ended up dying some frosting brown for the sand and some blue for the ocean. My sister wanted crushed vanilla wafers to be the sand so I crushed and rolling pinned (wtf) them to a pulp. It took most of the evening because Matty and I had been shopping for beachy decorations and by the time the cake was baked and cooled it was late.

Anyway it came out pretty good for a first time and then I made it again on Wednesday night since the shower was yesterday. This time I added little beach umbrellas and edible glitter on the ocean frosting part. We ate my sister's dry run cake and my dry run cake this week, I am so sick of cake lol

Then yesterday my dad drove Matty to my work and picked up my mom to go to a wake for my grandma's cousin. Matty came home with me and when my parents got home we had him for the night since Dan is one a business trip and my sister went to a concert then stayed in Boston last night.

It's just been a crazy ass week. But after work today I am officially on vacation :D One week off, wahoo!

Okay so that was a lame entry but I'll talk about interesting things later on when I have the energy :P

Movie Trivia of the Day: No Country for Old Men: The Coen Brothers used a photo of a brothel patron taken in 1879 as a model for Anton Chigurh's hair style. Looking at its weirdness after getting the hair cut, Javier Bardem said "Oh no, now I won't get laid for the next two months".

Just another reason to love summer

2008-07-02T15:08:22Z

Have you been watching the US Olympic swimming trials!? Haven't they been awesome :D

Okay if you have not been tuning in then here is some incentive:

Aaron Peirsol is still the sexiest and most adorable swimmer in the pool. He set a new world record when he won the 100m back final last night. The 200m back semifinals are tomorrow night and the finals are on Friday. I can't wait :)

Sunday things

2008-06-29T17:28:44Z

My mom and I went to a late showing of Indiana Jones last night. It has been an embarrassingly long time since I've gotten to the movies and I've missed going. I always want to go but I chicken out when it comes to asking people to come along. You'd think I'd be over that by now, it's so silly.

It was pretty much what I was expecting: good summer blockbuster fun. It's not the kind of movie worth nitpicking over because you already know that it's just going to be about the action and watching Harrison Ford swing around and do cool stunts and such. I mean, when you have George Lucas working on the story you really should know better than to get in a tizzy over cheesy dialogue, it is what it is.

I really enjoyed the Indy/Mutt scenes, Cate and Shia fencing over the trucks, the motorcycle chase, Jim Broadbent being his adorable grandfatherly-self for the 5 minutes he was in it and Ray Winstone getting his sucked-into-the-space-between-spaces comeuppance which was inevitable from the moment he turned his gun on Indy at the beginning.

My favorite part of the whole movie was probably when Mutt threw Indy the snake to pull him out of the quicksand. You just knew they were going to throw in the snakes thing somewhere and I kept wondering when it would show up. I loved how they did it, it was actually a surprise. A lot of the movie felt like you were just watching old Harrison Ford be old Harrison Ford who happened to be wearing the whip and hat but in that scene he was so freaked out and his face was hilariously contorting every which way and it really felt like, "Okay now that's Indiana Jones!"

It was just a lot of fun, I'm glad we went :)

Oh man, I had a terrifying dream last night.

A lot of weird stuff happened and George Clooney and Brad Pitt were both there at one point or another. I swear they are always hanging around my dreams and yet it's never in a sexy way, sigh. Anyway the terrifying part was when I was on a boat in the middle of the ocean. I was with some other people and I guess we jumped out to go swimming and when I looked back at the boat it was really far away from us which put me a little on edge. Then this little boy fell into the water and was sinking so George Clooney and I swam down to rescue him. By then we were near land, like by a dock and some houses. We both got to the bottom of the water and George Clooney got the kid and we were going to swim back up. Only we couldn't. Every time I pushed off the bottom it was like my body was too heavy to pull up. I was trying desperately to swim up and I could hear George Clooney and the kid actually talking to each other but I couldn't say anything to them. I guess the kid had a red ball and it fell into the water which is why he jumped in after it in the first place. There'd been a whole crate of red balls though and when he jumped they all fell in and he wouldn't swim up without them. That felt vaguely familiar to me, like it was something I'd seen in a movie once or something but I couldn't remember it to well. Anyway I think George Clooney tied one of the balls to the kid with some rope and convinced him to swim up. Finally we all pushed up and got back to the surface which actually led us to the stairs into my kitchen from the basement. Bizzare.

It was seriously terrifying though, even if it was just a dream, to feel like I was drowning. Agh it went on for sooo long too and I was dream freaking out like, wake up already aaaaahhh!!!

Also later in the dream I talked to a caterpillar while perusing his DVD collection and put a pair of green apples to bed in the cupboard. Idk IDK. Apparently mini coffee cakes, mountain dew, and The Hound of the Baskervilles are not a good combination at 5:15 am before going to bed...

The US Olympic Trials for Swimming start tonight :D I'm so excited!

Also Aaron Peirsol >>>>>> Michael Phelps.

If anyone tells you otherwise they have been misinformed!

Movie Trivia of the Day: Rat Race: This is the first feature film ever to co-star African-American Academy Award winners (Whoopi Goldberg and Cuba Gooding Jr.).

MIA much?

2008-06-27T16:14:41Z

I can't believe I haven't updated or anything for a week! I'm so behind on my f-list and catching up on messages D:

I guess things have been kind of crazy. Work has gotten busier, now that I have the training to actually do the projects I'm assigned, and when I get home I basically babysit Matty for the rest of the night. I love him to pieces but he's an exhausting little guy and I then I end up hanging out in Laura and Dan's place until one of them comes home. I mean, I could go upstairs and bring the baby monitor with me but I feel weird about leaving him down there all alone. It's fine, I usually just watch TV, but even though their "apartment" is technically just part of our house I don't feel like I can relax in there. It's their place and I just end up feeling like I do when I babysit at someone else's house, like I can sit and enjoy a movie but not really hunker down and be comfy. They usually aren't home too late but by then I haven't really had my own time to relax and if I don't get to bed at a decent hour I'll be falling asleep at work. I'm just a little burnt out I guess.

I don't remember if I had anything interesting to say here. Just popping in because doing work is boring and it's been too long since I updated. What a bum.

Ugh I also still have the Wedding Picspam to post. I have an entry with all the pictures but I need to toss in some commentary now. I'm being so lazy this week! Maybe that can occupy my afternoon...

Movie Trivia of the Day: Benny and Joon: First choice for the leads were Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts, followed by Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon. Eventually MGM had their dream casting in place: Johnny Depp, Woody Harrelson and Laura Dern. Harrelson's contract would have given him top billing. When Dern (a recent Oscar nominee) found out that she would be third billed, she quit the picture. Harrelson followed soon after, having landed the young male lead in "Indecent Proposal". MGM promptly slapped him with a $5 million lawsuit for breach of contract (which was ultimately settled out of court).

Kicking off summer with a big WTF

2008-06-20T19:30:42Z

Happy first day of summer!

On the drive to work today I heard on the radio the story about the 17 teenage girls from Gloucester who made a pregnancy pact and have been getting pregnant so that they can raise their babies at the same time. I seriously cannot get over how messed up this story is. My stomach literally dropped out the way it does when I hear about something really tragic on the nightly news. It's not like anyone has died or been injured but I mean, what the friggin hell?? They're saying that a lot of the girls are just looking for "someone to love them" and even though they've heard from other teenage moms that it's really hard they think their parents won't mind and it will all just work out.

Honestly, I just can't wrap my head around this one. My mom always told my sister and I that if we ever found ourselves in that situation we would have support and help. Even still when my sister found out she was pregnant while in college she was terrified that my parents would ship her off to Amish country to have her baby in a barn. I can't imagine young girls actually planning something like this. They're saying the girls are younger than 16 and I know that at that age I had 7 or 8 "best friends" who I thought I'd be close with forever so I can understand why girls like that would be willing to make some sort of pact to each other but a pact to get pregnant? One of the girls went so far as to have a homeless guy knock her up. Seriously!?

I'm beyond baffled by the whole thing. Do they think they're going to buy one giant apartment complex and live together and it'll be like a big sleepover and the babies will never cry and their overly thrilled parents will shower money on them to pay for it all?

A teenage couple getting pregnant on purpose, thinking that they're in a position to be parents while studying for 5th period Chem lab would probably really annoy me. A teenage girl getting pregnant on purpose because she's lonely and just wants someone to love her would make me feel sad for her but still think she needs a bitch slap. A friggin field hockey team of teenage girls getting pregnant because "omg it will be fun and our parents will totally support us" is just not something I even know how to comprehend.

What. the. hell.

Blasts from the past

2008-06-18T19:23:48Z

Yesterday was like reunion day or something.

I had that Time Management seminar yesterday (as lame as expected) and then a training in the afternoon. The seminar was in the building I worked out of last summer so I got to see my old group which was really nice. They caught me up on all the drama and stuff like that over lunch and it was just fun to laugh and talk with everyone. I don't really know anyone in my new group. They aren't too chatty and I guess I was kind of spoiled last summer since the girl I worked with directly is insanely friendly and we clicked immediately. Being buddy-buddy with her made it easier to get to know everyone else in the group but that didn't happen this year and I just sort of chill in my little cubicle because I'm too awkward and shy to really do anything else. It's slowly gettting better, we'll see what happens.

Anyway after work I went to the preschool graduation for the daycare I used to work at. The kids heading off to kindergarten started as babies when I started as an aide so it was a bit nostaligic and bittersweet. One of the moms who I'm still really friendly with and babysit for a lot had invited me but I was nervous about going since it's been a while since I talked to any of my coworkers from there. Not for any partiular reason, things just got busy and I'm bad at keeping in touch and, you know, my usual excuses.

It was pretty good though. The graduation was cute and the few remaining teachers who I'd worked with seemed really happy to see me and I was happy to see them. I promised I'd come in at some point this summer to do a proper visit with them and I really want to stick to that.

Today has been slow but a good kind of slow. These trainings they're having me go to are boring as hell and are 3 and half to 4 hours at a time, lawd. Luckily I didn't have one today, just a short meeting this morning. I've been bopping between buildings and it's wearing me as well as my gas tank out. Is it my week off yet?

Movie Trivia of the Day: Dumbo: Initially Walt Disney was uninterested in making this movie. To get him interested, story men Joe Grant and Dick Huemer wrote up the film as installments which they left on Walt's desk every morning. Finally, he ran into the story department saying, "This is great! What happens next?"