Play this game with me: What's in your purse/bag?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/cherylstaner/4172800058/

I am convinced this is what REALLY happened with the LCROSS mission...

I think NASA is playing us all. Did you watch live coverage of what happened on the moon? I did and I didn't see anything. Have you ever watched Mars Attacks? You know that one scene where humans shoot a bomb at the aliens and they pretty much eat it? Well, that is what happened on the moon. And NASA told all of their people if something like this happened to act normal and as if they accomplished their mission successfully. After awhile, we won't hear anything more about this and NASA will try to make us believe that nothing strange happened. Well, I know and I won't forget.

A Bag

Made this small bag today. I will probably be selling it in my Etsy shop once it is up and running. Cute!

Passed out.

Weirdo.

A neat website!

http://architectureblog.tumblr.com/

I could get into trouble if I look at this for long. Too many cool ideas.

TUMBLR

Visit my new tumblr!!!! cherylstaner.tumblr.com I use it to post all of the funny/cool/weird stuff I find online. Pictures, videos, etc. Basically saving it there so I don't have so much useless junk on my desktop and in random files on my computer.

5 NEAT GUYS!!!

Something to make my horrible week slightly better...!

Font Problems with Safari after installing Snow Leopard

I thought I would make a quick post in case anyone else who happens upon my blog is having this issue:

I installed Snow Leopard last night and, ever since, my fonts in Safari have been incredibly whacky. I fixed the problem by, first, using fontbook's "resolve duplicates" function. That helped a little, but there were still some funny fonts so I manually went to my arial font (my default font) and looked at the preview in fontbook. Sure enough, there was a duplicate in that set and one of them was definitely NOT arial. I deleted it and everything is back to normal. So, if you are having a similar problem, check duplicates in your default fonts because that may be where your problem lies!

EEEDIOTS

So, I follow Dean Ween aka Mickey Melchiondo aka Mussels Marinara  of Ween on youtube (his username is djankle) and he recently posted a video of their concert in Oregon. It definitely stirred up my Ween addiction. I've seen Ween live five times and every time was amazing.....even the ones where lame and smelly hippie people had their nasty armpits too close to my face. I really want Ween to come back to Madison (it would be so easy for me to get to the Orpheum any night!), but I don't think they ever will again because some EEEDIOTS threw crap on the stage and made Glenn bleed. I hate people sometimes.

Photo taken by me at The Roy in Minneapolis last year.

Completely off subject, but last night on a whim I went to the Apple Store and purchased Snow Leopard. I had been thinking about it and wasn't going to drop the $29, but then I saw a lot of good things said about it on Twitter. I installed it and, I must say, my computer seems to run faster. Also, preview is a lot nicer. I haven't gotten to play around with the new Quicktime very much (was never a big user of it in the past), but I opened it and it looks like it has a lot of new features. I haven't checked my computer, but I read that Snow leopard takes up less room than Leopard did. If that is true, I like that a lot. Overall, though, it doesn't *look* much different, but I guess that is what you get for $29.

Ren & Stimpy video just because that show is AWESOME~

Mackenzie Center

Today, Ian and I visited The Mackenzie Center, which is an environmental center which has a lot of trails and is home to a lot of wild, local animals who have been injured and are recovering at this facility. I took a few pictures with my phone, so please forgive the not-so-great quality (forgot my real camera). And I wasn't able to get a good picture of some of the coolest animals-the wolf and the coyotes! They were moving too fast.

A skunk.

A wild deer on the same side of the fence as us.

A porcupine eating some stinky broccoli.

A very strange badger.

An angry-looking bald eagle.

Bobcats.

A mountain lion-the scariest cat I've ever seen!

Very cute fox.

A squirrel nibbling on a nut in a tree.

Mean-looking owl.

The other insane cat

They are mental!!!

Thank you for using Picture and Video Messaging by U.S. Cellular. See www.uscellular.com for info.

Insane Cat

Spirit is super hyper when I go to bed.

Thank you for using Picture and Video Messaging by U.S. Cellular. See www.uscellular.com for info.

Purse #2

Another purse I made last week.

Purse #1

A purse I made last week.

Buttons-Round 1

These are some of the buttons I had made. They will be available at my etsy shop, which I am planning on opening by October 1st. Link to follow in future post!

Ponyo Loves Sosuke!

I saw Ponyo last week....and loved it! It was so cute. I highly recommend it for children and young at heart alike!!

I don't know if I have mentioned this before, but my top two movies of the year are

Coraline

And Moon

P.S. My week off of work last week was AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

BUTTONS!

I spent nearly the entire day today researching pinback button makers. Oh my gosh, I didn't realize how overwhelming this was going to be. I can either go the route of a plastic hand-press for less money (but still a little pricey) and risk things such as having buttons not turn out because of major room for error in the process of making the buttons and/or the machine itself breaking because of not-so-durable materials used in its construction. Or I can go the route of a much more expensive manual press that would allow me to make really nice buttons in large quantities. Now, I am pretty certain I could make money doing this. How much money, though, I am not sure. I am pretty confident that I could make nicely designed and pleasing buttons. I am also a bit of a nerd about popular and geeky things that seem to be appealing to people. I also know that buttons are quite popular and have been for quite awhile. My ability to sell, though, may be lacking. So, what I have decided to do is to design several great buttons, have them made at someplace like Cafepress and test the market. I will open up a shop somewhere online (most likely ebay or etsy) and try this out. If successful, I will then assess how much money I am willing to dish out for a pinback button making machine.

Forever Young.

I want to build a giant castle and decorate it with medieval things and live in it.

(It has to be in the country on a hill and placed so that I can see the sunrise and sunset.)

I want to put my own movie theater in the basement.

I want to have a lot of kids while I am young and give them all unique and strange names, then only expose them to things that I think are cool. They can all be scientists and study outer space.

I want to adopt every animal who doesn't have a home and let them live on my castle grounds.

I want someone to make me penne rosa from Noodles & Co. to eat every single day.

And a caramel frap from Starbucks for desert.

I never ever want to grow up.

Rant time! Lady Gaga

To whomever made the statement that Lady Gaga is like "Prince, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury all in one", you are a complete idiot. She has no talent and no fashion sense. Anybody can talk and distort their voice, so I am dumbfounded as to why people enjoy listening to this. Also, a tacky wig and a trashy dress are not a good look. I am really, really, really, really, really, REALLY mad about this. She is NOT a real artist at all. Go research music by real artists such as Prince, David Bowie, and Freddie Mercury and I think you will agree. Please take that statement back and correct yourself, you turd burglar.

Hi!

There haven't been many good new movies in quite awhile! I saw Public Enemies this past week. It was decent. Definitely one of my least favorite Depp films, though! I've been watching a lot of television. I am getting myself so absorbed in these celebrity deaths and divorces lately. It's, like, Jon&Kate and Michael Jackson in one week?! How am I supposed to deal with this?! I'm addicted to Star Trek the original series. Also have been watching reruns of Big Bang Theory. Geeky stuff.

I can't figure out if the "resident managers" in my building are still here. There were older, I keep thinking one of them died. They had a big van parked in the yard on the grass earlier in the week and now all of their stuff on their patio is gone except for a table, a chair, and an ashtray. Also, most of the cars in the parking lot have been gone all week. All of the people in my building are friends, I think, and somehow they are all labeled as resident managers. It's so confusing. I want to move. I have way too much junk and I just need an excuse to go through it all and get rid of some of it. I would really like to have a garage/yard sale, but have no garage or yard. I need to give the apartment a good cleaning, too, but I don't even know where to begin and I don't know where to go with anything. It's so frustrating.

Last weekend I went home for Cascade's 175th anniversary. It was pretty fun and I saw a lot of people. This weekend is the 4th of July and I'm not sure if I am going home again or staying here. Today (Friday) I have the day off of work and was planning on waking up early and cleaning but there were so many obstacles to overcome, so I gave up. I think I may go get at it now, though, because if the parents are coming tomorrow (which is a possibility), this place is not presentable. Also, I think one of my indoor plants is housing small knats. I keep seeing them around (they look like fruit flies), but I have no old fruit or veggies sitting around. Last night I picked up a few leaves to give the plant a good watering and several of these flies came out of it. It is so yucky.

This is going to be short.

Up was great. Pixar can apparently do no wrong.

Seattle was fantastic. I had so much fun!

Live Long and Prosper!

Muhnnnniiinnnggggg!

I saw the Star Trek movie and what do you know I loved it. I should have known I was going to be a total geek about this! Now I constantly catch myself throwing up the Volcan sign and I am renting all of the old Star Trek movies and next I will be renting the tv series. This is a big undertaking, but what the heck. So far I've only seen Star Trek The Motion Picture from 1979. It was a little slow at times, but overall enjoyable to me.

I also saw Angels & Demons. I went into that movie with too high of expectations. Much like Da Vinci Code, it was too simplified and didn't go into the information enough. Why would I even expect the movies to do that, though? There is no way they could ever put all of that into a 2 hr movie. Ah well. Maybe people who haven't read the books will be inspired to after seeing the film? Who am I kidding! Everyone has read those books.

This weekend I am flying to Seattle for a vacation! I am so excited to drink Starbucks and play tourist everyday. Not to mention...no work for five days! I am hoping for little to no stress during this time!

That's all folks. Just wanted to update with my recent movie viewings.

(P.S. Rickie weeks is out for the year and that makes me sad)

MOVIES

I decided that I need to write a little blurb everytime I see a movie. Ha.

We saw Wolverine last Friday night. 10pm showing-much past my bedtime. ;) This movie was okay. I think my rating (out of 10-1 being worst; 10 being best),  I would give it a 4. I really don't think it was very well-made and I don't think the effects were up to par, but it was kind of enjoyable. More-so than I thought it would be going into it. There were several moments of giggling for me. Also left the theater and claimed that I was Sabertooth for the rest of the night.

I watched Casino earlier this week. First of all, the lead actress was the WORST. Not only did the character annoy me (what a train wreck!), her acting ability (or lack there-of) annoyed me.  That being said, I did enjoy the movie. It kept my interest and I do love me some amazing De Niro acting and gruesome Pesci violence! (Head in vice...classic).

Might go see Star Trek soon. I've never watched Star Trek before but am thinking I might have to. We shall see! 

I can guarantee the closest shave you'll ever know.

Recent happenings:

• Last week I saw State of Play. It was decent. Not bad, not great...just in between. I saw The Soloist last night. It was pretty good. Today I saw Earth. I liked it! It was sad, happy, beautiful, ugly, and scary all rolled into one. I love that there are decent movies in theaters now so that I can fill my weekends with movie outings.
• Yesterday I purchased a Bluetooth Headset. I got the Samsung WEP350. I have never owned or even tried one of these before. So far, with the limited talking on the phone that I've done since last night, it seems to work pretty well! I like the fact that I won't have to dig through my bag while driving to find my phone when it rings. Also like the fact that I will be alerted in my ear when my phone is ringing instead of missing calls because I can't hear the phone over my loud music.
• We implemented a new system at work and it's supposed to catch anyone if they fall behind in their daily work (which can happen really easily). So far so good...we haven't had any major issues. Not sure what it will be like once we get really busy, but for now the workload is good and I've been steadily pushing things through everyday!
• It is thunderstorming/raining today. Pretty crappy. Yesterday was sunny and 80-something degress outside. Sadly it seems the only nice days happen during the week when I'm stuck inside at work! :(
• I am getting more and more anxious about getting a new phone. The one I have is ok...if you just want to talk on the phone. I badly want an iPhone, but I'm afraid of AT&T's service. I checked out the coverage map and it seems between here and my parent's house is not very good and it also seems there are a lot of holes in the United States (thinking ahead to traveling across the country for vacations). If you have AT&T Wireless could you please tell me what you think of the service? Also looked at the Google Android. Seemed pretty nice on the videos I watched. Not even sure what carrier has that phone. I currently use US Cellular. I'm very happy with the coverage area, but very unhappy with the money I am paying each month compared to what I get in return. I'm an internet addict and obviously having it with me wherever I go is like a dream come true. Also longing for a camera that is more decent than the one I have now. My contract with US Cellular is not up until early next year, so I guess I have awhile to think about it.
• I have so much coming up in the next couple of months. Very busy! I need to document all that I am doing so I can look at it and marvel.

That's all for now, just needed to make a quick update since I haven't blogged in awhile! (I'm bad, I know). I do Twitter almost daily, so I guess maybe that makes up for it?

Order of the Phoenix

I flew through this book pretty fast! It was wonderfully, magically, superbly outstanding! I was very sad at the end--almost to the point of tears! I watched the movie this evening and thought that they changed A LOT, more-so than what has been changed in the last movies. Not saying the movie wasn't good, though, because I did enjoy it. I am watching all of the movies with Ian, who has not read the book before the movie (he is listening to the audiobooks after we watch the movies...how is that enjoyable?!!..), and he even admitted all of the jumping around and skipping over stuff was confusing. I just hope that this director doesn't mess up the next few movies! I am keeping faith though because so far I have not been thoroughly disappointed in any of them. GOSH these books are so good. I feel like a drug addict and Harry Potter is my drug...I just want to read more and more and more. I almost picked up Half Blood Prince tonight at 10:45 and started reading it...but my better judgment consumed me and now I am going to bed because otherwise I will be very tired at work tomorrow. Hopefully this week FLIES BY!

Saturday Morning

I'm lazing around in my pajamas eating banana bread, playing on facebook/twitter/dailybooth/blogger, and watching The Brady Bunch. Today looks like it might be a pretty good !

(edit: It was a good day. Spent majority of it in bed reading and playing on the internet. So lazy and so awesome.)

I've Got Friday On My Mind!

I am very ready for this week to be over! A little stressed at work and a little stressed at home means I need the weekend!

Our lease is up soon and we got a letter from the landlord saying that we have to renew it in 13 days or else. I don't want to live here for another YEAR. I'd like a few more months. We are going to call and see if we can negotiate. We want to stay in this town because it is quiet and laid back and it's only about a ten minute drive to Madison. It seems like it is popular to rent here though because units go up for rent one day and are already rented within the week! Blah, lots to think about but I guess we will see what comes of this phone call!

Last weekend I saw Monsters Vs. Aliens. It wasn't as good as I thought it would be (I did not like the whole story being wrapped around that silly girl's lame life and relationship....I wanted more monster and alien fights!) It was still a good movie, though. The 3D was cool and it had some great references.

I have to put a plug in for my new favorite website: Dailybooth. I haven't been using it as much as I would like, but I'm hoping to start using it a lot more soon. Instant photo uploads are great. Plus it is a cool online community and has neat threads. I'm following "Dailybooth" on Twitter so I get a lot of great updates on the most interesting threads. I love it!

I'm chugging away at Order of the Pheonix. I love the Harry Potter books. They are soooooo good. Why wasn't I into them earlier? It would have been neat to be part of the book release madness and such. I will just have to be a geek for the movies to make up for it!

It's late and I'm tired, so that is all I have! Goodnight~

Wednesday Woes.

Okay, so maybe saying that I have "woes" is exaggerating, but why can't today be Friday?!?! This week hasn't been dragging like the last few were (thankfully), but I just want it to be over. I have a giant pile of orders on my desk at work and I just can't seem to burn through them! I think I have been doing a lot each day this week, but I am getting new ones faster than I can get the old ones off of my desk. Plus, we are supposed to be moving into a new room soon. They are cramming all of the artists into one room and giving us smaller cubes (downgrade!). Actually, I am sort of looking forward to moving. A change of scenery will be nice. It will also be nice to talk to artists without worrying about bothering other employees in other departments. I'm also going to decorate my new cube. I never got around to doing anything with my current one; just papers and notes stuck to the wall for my viewing pleasure (that was sarcasm-they are not pleasurable to my eyes at all!). Like I mentioned a couple of posts ago, I spent quite a chunk of money on a junk website and got a few things to litter my new cube with. All of which are highly entertaining and geeky.

Lately I have been totally in tune with my inner geek. I love it! I just want to pile all of my geeky little obsessions in front of me and marvel at their awesomeness.

It's supposed to snow this weekend! Nooooo! I am over winter....I just want it to be spring! Even if it does snow, I'm going to try to drag Ian to the movie theater. I definitely am going to see Monsters Vs Aliens in 3D!! Also, I wouldn't mind hitting a matinee feature of Knowing, even though I'm pretty sure it's horrible! I just want to see! And if it is horrible, oh well, I can just complain about it.

Today I saw the trailer for Where the Wild Things Are!! It looks SO good! Ian informed me that the Arcade Fire song in the trailer is REALLY good when Bowie performs it....and it's true! I saw it on Youtube. Can't wait for October! While on apple trailers...I saw the "other" Half-Blood Prince trailer! (I had only seen one before today). Looks pretty good! I haven't read that book yet (I'm only a few chapters into Order of the Phoenix). I'm sure it will be chopped to pieces as was Goblet of Fire and I'm sure Order of the Phoenix will be. The first three movies didn't bother me too much because they didn't seem to change the story all that much. They were good movies overall. Goblet of Fire bothered me a little more than the others because of the cutting out and rearranging, but I didn't hate it. I'm expecting the same from the next few because really you can't turn such a long book into a 3 hour movie and have it make sense without jumbling a few things around. My big thing is the telling of the story and how well it comes across, and I think the Harry Potter movies do a decent job of that.

I'm also pretty excited for this weekend to see how my NCAA bracket fares! So far, I am not doing horrible. As long as UCONN wins it all I will be okay! :P I really know nothing about basketball, so my picks are based on things such as how well the schools colors go together or how cute the mascot is. I really don't thing stats matter anyways! It's mostly luck. 

Also, I am still having a tough time deciding on a vacation! I want to do/see so much! I'm trying to figure out how many of my vacation days I want to use for which trips! Ian and I are thinking of just doing a weekend getaway, and though I haven't decided on any package deals etc, I still would like to visit D.C. this year or next with my dad! I know there is a lot to do but I am unsure of how much time to devote to what? Someday after I take a few vacations like this I will probably get the hang of it, but gosh golly gee wiz I am still new to this and it is frustrating.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon.

Today is great and relaxing, wish it wouldn't end.

Just wanted to comment on my experience with walking and listening to audio books. It was pretty nice! There were a few times where I had a hard time paying attention to the book, but for the most part it worked pretty well. This might be a breakthrough for me: now I can get some much needed exercise and burn through some books at a good pace! Plus today was beeeaauuuttifulll so it was all-around a good experience. :)

By the way, the audio book I am "listening to/reading" is Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Only a few chapters in, but so far it's pretty entertaining!

Shopping!

I went shopping with my mom and sister yesterday. It was GREAT. I spent a lot of money. I got several new tops, a couple of Brewers hoodies & a Brewers windjacket (mom bought these for me as a gift for my birthday from the family), several decorative things, some apple scented bodywash/lotion/body spray, some fabric, some felt, a new pair of fabric scissors to replace the ones I lost, rugs for the balcony, and a second cat carrier to quash my fears of having a fire in the apartment and squishing both cats into one. I really had a good time yesterday and it is so nice to have a crazy money spending day once in awhile. I actually continued spending money this morning by buying 9 t-shirts from threadless (there was a big sale) and several "junk" items from perpetual kid. However, I do not consider them junk...I consider them treasures. Yes, so put some money into the economy. Just doing my part. 

Today is a day of relaxation. I got my grocery shopping and laundry out of the way early. Now I am just surfing the net and watching some basketball. Later I may go on a walk if it is still nice. I want to finish Goblet of Fire within a couple of days if possible because I'm excited to know what comes of this and to see what the next movie will be like!!

I love lazy Sundays.

March Madness

Tonight we went downtown to meet up with my aunt and uncle, who are in town for a couple of days. It was my first experience in downtown Madison during the big high school basketball state tourney. Pretty crazy! There were a lot of people around town and the bar we met at was packed. It was so nice to see them though!

Tomorrow I am going shopping with my mom and sister. It will be GREAT, especially since they are buying me something for my birthday AND I just got my paycheck with my raise in it and my bonus.

Happy birthday to me

Well, my birthday was yesterday (March 18). Not an extremely exciting one. Last weekend I celebrated a bit with Ian at Olive Garden (yum) and this weekend I will be having a shopping excursion with my mom and sister. On my actual birthday, though, I worked. Blahhhh. After work, I had some ice cream cake (yum again). Then, an unfortunate event happened. My kitten ran away from me outside. She is an indoor cat and hasn't been outside really since we adopted her. Luckily she went no further than under an old truck that has not moved from its parking spot since we began living here a few months short of a year ago. She climbed underneath into a little cubby surrounded by pipes and covered in grease. It was disgusting and we spent nearly an hour and a half trying to convince her to come out (and hoping that the owner of the vehicle wouldn't come out and yell at us for being under his/her truck). The poor kitten was scared out of her mind. Eventually we got her to move and pulled her out. We brought her back into the apartment and gave her a bath. We have never given our cats baths before, and we can't seem to get all of the shampoo out of her fur. We rinsed and rinsed and it still remains a bit oily after she dries out. Anyway, she is safe and happy once again, as am I. 

I'm hoping that tomorrow (day) goes quickly and my fun weekend goes slowly!

Jon & Kate Plus 8

Okay, I am not an avid viewer of any television show except for this one! Sure, I will DVR The Simpsons & South Park and watch them almost daily, but it is not the same. Every Monday night at 8:00 I am sitting in front of my tv enjoying the new episode of Jon & Kate Plus 8.

However, tonight I learned that next week is the season finale. Sad, but these things happen. After googling the topic, I found out that it should be starting up again in May. Whew. But..........

what was this preview that showed them acting as if they were going to get a divorce? I know they might just be playing it up because of the many many rumors about Jon's excursions with young college girls. But a part of me wonders...is it real?

Ugh these things bother me! Hopefully next week's episode clears things up!

Really? Really???

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/03/14/AR2009031401394.html

One more....sorry.

I promise this will be the last post I write complaining about Watchmen.

Youtube comments are just ticking me off!

I prefaced my video review (which can be found in my last post) by saying that I complain a lot. People shouldn't watch it if they don't want to hear my complaints! And of they are going to tell me my complaints aren't valid, they should give good reasons to back up their arguments. Fine, people liked the movie. Good! I'm glad they liked it. They keep telling me that I was delusional for thinking that the movie would be anywhere near close to the greatness of the graphic novel. I'm sorry, but they made a film adaptation of the "best graphic novel of all time", shouldn't it be great?

I will say this, my taste in films is drastically different than most other people's taste and I know this! I HATE loads of movies that other people love! It is just a difference in opinion.

If this movie was NEVER a graphic novel and was only this film, I would have probably hated it. Now, granted, it is hard for me to imagine not reading the book before seeing the film. But when I think of the reasons I most often have for not enjoying a movie....I notice that a lot of those things that make me dislike movies are part of Watchmen. The acting abilities of the female leads in this movie were vile. Ozymendias was awful as well. Night Owl was slightly better but not by much. Bad acting RUINS movies for me. Also, the ending was not realistic and overall pretty bad. Not believable to me. I need a good closure to a film and if it lacks in a good ending, I tend to not be happy with the rest of the film. Most of all, this movie seemed to focus way too intently on the love story between Silk Spectre and Night Owl. This whole relationship was not enjoyable to me in the book (I really dislike too much love and romance in a book or a movie) and the fact that the movie was keying into it so much was bad to me.

The chapters in the book that were most enjoyable to me were the ones focusing on the world, the humans, the vileness of human nature and how destructive people were becoming, the pending war, the struggle of the superheroes to come to grips to how broken the world really was. The movie LACKED in this area. I did not feel they put enough emphasis on the deepness of the true story.

That's all I'm going to write about it.

watchmen

This is a video about all of my complaints about Watchmen. As I state in the video, I am aware that I was being too picky. It is my nature to be picky and I am overly critical on ALL movies I see. It makes the ones I do like so much better!

I Solemnly Swear I'm Up To No Good

I have a few things to say...

• The other morning I found THIS WEBSITE posted on a blog. Why haven't I heard about this before? This is the most exciting news I've heard maybe ever! Now I have my 2010 vacation set and am completely excited about it!! 
• I randomly learned how to play the first part of the Harry Potter "Hedwig's Theme" on keyboard. It is very geeky and very cool at the same time.
• Ian bought a new computer last night. It's a PC but I will forgive him. :) He has a webcam and mic built in to the computer now so we can see each other when we are not together. I think we are using it to an extreme level, though, because instead of walking into the next room to talk to each other we just call each other on yahoo. I guess it gets rid of most of the yelling across the apartment that we so often do!
• Work is still super stressful, but I've decided that it's not worth it to carry all of that stress into my non-work life. So, I'm swamped and work really hard while I'm there, but I try not to think about it in the evenings/nights/weekends. I am only one person and I know that I give 110% everyday so I don't feel guilty about anything.
• I am trying to plan a vacation. Ian and I want to go somewhere in April and hopefully I can use some of my vacation time to take a week off that soon. We looked a little bit at Seattle or Denver. Not sure though! We are not social people so we are not interested in night life or whatnot...we like doing things like museums, zoos, aquariums, monuments, etc. We have a lot to think about I guess.

Kind of a quick update! That's okay though. More later.

this is a blog about the watchmen movie! warning: you may not like what i have to say!

I do not think the Watchmen movie is going to be good. I think that the movie will only skim on the surface of what the book was about. I think that the actors casted are way too young and it won't even make sense. I don't think the ending will be right. Blah blah blah I just don't think the movie will be good and I am preparing myself for it! I will, however, still see the movie in hopes that it might actually prevail over my fears! I am not expecting much though.

Today was good and tomorrow will be as well (duh it's the weekend of course it will be good).

I made a videoblog on youtube for the first time in...I don't know....a year??? It's way too long and I was tired and talked too slow during it, but whatever! I can do what I want.

It was kind of pointless for me to write this pathetic blog, wasn't it?

"don't wear green in your dressing room, or mention the scottish play, and be very, very careful"

This is what I say to the Oscars: BOOOOOOO.

Anyway, enough about that.

I am now the proud owner of Coraline!! It came in the mail today. I can't wait to read it (I've already started it)! Between that and Harry Potter, I am in a dreamland of fairy tales and magical places! I love it. :)

Annnnnd this blog post is not very long because I need to get back to reading. Ciao!

Oscar Predictions...(and hopes!)

Alright, I have to get a few words in before the infamous Oscars tonight...

I'm only going to comment on a few categories because I don't really know how to judge all of the categories.

Best Picture

Alright, this one might make me angry. First of all, I really really really really really think that Milk deserves the Oscar because, in fact, it was the best out of all of these films by far.

Slumdog will probably win because people loved it. I, however, did not love it. I think the beginning was decent (the music to me was unbearable, but the story and acting of the children was good). Even the story being told during a game of Millionaire was interesting to me. The ending, though, was AWFUL. It was very cheesy and cliche. Frost/Nixon would be my second choice and the rest were not good.

Best Actor

How can Sean Penn not win this? I know, I'm raving about Milk, but it was amazing. It made me cry in the theater! I never cry at movies, especially not in public!

Everyone keeps saying this is between Penn and Rourke. My thoughts were that Rourke (who by the way was the only actor in The Wrestler whose acting was better than "oh-my-god-I-want-to-shoot-myself-this-is-so-bad". And to me, the character wasn't a far jump from what he is in real life. It's not acting....it's living. I am not saying he wasn't good....he was decent, but Penn deserves it a lot more.

Best Actress

Sorry, didn't see any of these films! (I do want to see Doubt though). I do have to say that if Kate Winslet wins, I am going to be sad because everyone I know who has seen it says she is awful. On the radio, there reasons that they want her to win tend to be "she's been nominated so many times, she took a part in a Nazi war film, and she's nude for a lot of the film". Those are terrible reasons to win an Oscar! Are Oscars not meant for the "best of the year"?

Best Supporting Actor

I think Heath Ledger should and will win this category. Best Joker ever. Josh Brolin is a close second.

Best Supporting Actress

Alright, I didn't see a couple of these movies. I think Taraji P. Henson did do a good job in Benjamin Button, so if she wins, that would be fine with me.

If Marisa Tomei wins, I am going to be deeply disturbed by the Oscars this year. She has no acting ability whatsoever. So she was a nude stripper during every scene she was in of this film...that is talent? I don't agree.

Animated Feature

Obviously I am choosing Wall-e because it is one of the better films ever made.

This past year was a pretty terrible year for movies in my opinion. Hoping for better movies this year!

expecto patronum

Last night I pretty much read the whole third Harry Potter installment, Prisoner of Azkaban. It was GREAT. Today we ventured into Madison, so I bought the first four movies for only nine bucks apiece. I've watched the first two already, so when we got home I watched Prisoner... and I must say I was slightly disappointed. I mean, I realize that the book takes hours to read, therefore could never be accurately made into a film with the complete story. But....I just felt that they skipped over so much that if I was viewing it without reading any of the book I would see it as jumping all over the place with no explanations. Maybe, though, I am just used to having more of a look into the thought process of the characters from reading the books and wouldn't feel this way if I was only watching the movies. Come to think of it, I remember feeling this same way after viewing the second Harry Potter movie as well. It does suck that the movies are so much less appealing this way, but I really really enjoy reading the books before watching the movies so I think I will continue doing it this way. I want to get everything read and viewed up until Half Blood Prince so that I'm caught up when the movie comes into theaters this summer. I don't think this will be that difficult since I have such an enormous pile of books in which I am SO EXCITED to read once I'm done with Harry Potter.

The reason we went to Madison today was not to buy a pile of Harry Potter movies. We actually went because I was DYING to see Coraline one last time before the Jonas Bros. movie kicked it out of the 3D theater! (Which I think is crap). It was even better the second time! I really REALLY love all of the parts with the cat (wus puss) because he is JUST LIKE my cat, Magick. The part where he wakes Coraline up by poking her in the face is exactly what I wake up to every morning. :)

Speaking of my kit-cats, I've decided to experiment in drawing some comics about them. They are too funny and cute and I can't help it. I've been neglecting my drawing skill for quite some time now and need to practice quite a bit before anything will come out of this. I am excited to play around with the idea though. Maybe I will become internet famous and make a lot of money out of this. Highly doubt it...but I wouldn't be the first to have success in exactly these circumstances if it did happen!

I drank a half a can of Monster energy drink tonight for the first time ever, therefore I am having a difficult time falling asleep. However; I need to wake up early tomorrow to do some chores so I'd better at least try to go to bed with no distractions now. :)

Gonna be a dental floss tycoon.

Things I am looking forward to:

• SPRING! Sun, warmth, longer days, being able to go outside without fear of losing a limb to the cold!
• This weekend because I look forward to every weekend :)
• Hopefully seeing Coraline in 3D again before it leaves the 3D theater
• Going home to visit the family sometime soon!
• My birthday & maybe a fun shopping trip with family
• Having my family up to visit me and maybe doing something fun once it gets nice outside
• Al Franken finally getting his seat in the Senate (if it ever happens!)
• CONAN taking over Late Night this summer!!!
• Reading all of the Harry Potter books and then seeing the movie this summer
• Reading all of the books in my "books I own and have yet to read" pile---there are some good ones in there! :)
• Cuddling with my kit-cats in a few minutes
• Someday moving to a place with a washer/dryer in the unit! And maybe a garage too.....THAT WOULD BE LOVELY!

Random Title Generator Time!

Long time, no blog! Not much has happened lately. I can't even remember what I last wrote about...oh yes, I remember now: my Magick. I love my kitty-cats so very much. 

Anyway...the last month or so has been just sort of going by. A couple of weekends ago, Ian and I went home to my parents' house for a day. That was very fun. I wish I could do that more often! Other than that, no excitement really. It's been too cold to do anything. I want spring to get here! 

Today I had my first review at work. It went well! They had nothing but good things to say about me and I got a raise and a bonus! It felt nice to be appreciated. I think that I deserved every bit of it because I really and truly have been working very hard!

Ian also got some news today: he is now employed at a not-so-crappy job! Well, he will be after he passes a mental and physical test...which I think he will.

Well, I have chicken cooking and laundry to fold...so I'd better attend to that now. Ciao. :)

Shocking.

My cat, Magick, always shocks me whenever I touch her. I am pretty sure it is because she constantly rolls around on the carpet. :)

Hello.

Hi.

It's been awhile.

I've been working a lot and in my free time I've been trying to exercise more and I've been crafting. I am slowly but surely learning to crochet and learning to sew. It's really fun and relaxing. I wish I could do that kind of stuff all the time instead of trying to squish it into my free moments in daily life!

I have a list of things I did in 2008 and it's quite lengthy. I want to finish perfecting it and then I will post it.

I've been terrible with money lately. Getting paid once a month instead of twice is very hard. I set myself up a budget, but have gone over by a lot this month. I hope next month things will straighten out. 

Lots of drama lately in several aspects of daily life. I won't go into it, but it's really stressful.

I just wanted to update because I haven't in awhile. :)