West Side Snoring

"Although "West Side Story" was named the best picture of 1961 and won 10 Academy Awards, it is not much mentioned by movie fans these days..."
-Roger Ebert, http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20040215/REVIEWS08/402150301/1023

We've been hearing for a few days about this big nasty blizzard that was going to hit last night. Co. Springs got nailed and everything is closed - even the Air Force Academy. Here in P. Town it just began snowing (instead of raining) around 9:30 this morning. We may get nasty weather yet. My class tonight's been cancelled, which is great. Now, all I have to do is find Nicole, trade her Queer as Folk DVDs, then go home and watch Season Two. Couch, here I come!

Movie Review: West Side Story. I watched the famous movie last night, sorta. I ended up fast forwarding a lot and skipping entire scenes. Classic movie, eh? Bah. Not that good. Ebert's review pretty much says everything I would, except unlike him, I didn't give a fig about all the dancing. A moment here and there and it was fun, but egad - if I wanted to see the ballet, I'd go to the ballet.

Queers and Casanova

Brian: So in other words, for Justin to live here with you, he has to deny who he is... what he thinks... and how he feels. Well, that's not love. That's hate.
-Queer as Folk, Season One

Good news! The gal at work who I have a hard time standing gave her two-weeks notice and will no longer be at the bar. Hoorah!

On Friday night (the one I requested off but couldn’t get it because whiney gal – see above – swindled her way into getting it off instead) I went to work only to find out that the bartender who was scheduled for downstairs called off. Long story short, Jan said I could go home. Yeah, I ended up getting the night off after all, but only after I showed up and skipped the Hungry Eye reading because I knew I wouldn’t make it until 2 a.m. without a nap. Ugh. The bright side – Constance, Lynn, and Nicole were at the bar so I chatted with them for a while then went to Nicole’s to watch the pilot episode of Queer as Folk. She let me take Season One home and I did a Queer marathon. Now I need Season Two.

One thing I must say about the show is the writers are good. This is a show where they set up a situation and I think, “Now, if they were smart they’d do this,” and they do. It also pisses me off because a lot of the being smart means not resolving all the issues they bring up in a given episode, which means I have to watch the next one to find out what happened (except they bring up something else and don't resolve it so I have to watch another episode, and it just goes on like that). They really pissed me off, though, with the Season One finale. At the end of the episode, Justin is rushed to the hospital thanks to one of the students at his school taking a baseball bat to his head. We see him pulled out of the ambulance, blood everywhere. We see Brian sitting on a bench, also bloody. We see Michael come and sit by Brian, obviously worried. We see the credits. So, what happened to Justin?! Bastards. Of course, I know he lives, but damnit, that was mean of them. Luckily, since I’m doing the DVDs vs. watching it on real TV, I don’t have to wait months to get to the next season. Ha! I just have to catch up with Nicole.

Movie Review: Casanova. Yeah, um. No. Come on people, Casanova was a man-slut. “Rewriting” him as the man-slut turned loyal hubbie type is just wrong. Give me a friggin’ break. I love Heath Ledger, but this movie fell flat. Sienna Miller was good as Francesca, and Charlie Cox was cute. Ultimately, though, the plot conflicts were resolved too neatly, everything/everyone got matched up and tied in a pretty knot. Ugh. Get real. Yeah, the Masterpiece Theatre Casanova kicks this one's ass.

Guess what? I just looked up Russell T. Davies on imdb.com and found out that not only is he responsible for producing Queer as Folk he is also responsible for the Masterpiece Theatre version of Casanova! Funny ol' world, aint it?

How to Make Rouladen

If you google rouladen you can find dozens of recipes. Here is the recipe my mom taught me, courtesy of my german grandparents. Note: my mom makes them much wider than I do, entree size vs. appetizer size. I made these last night, letting them simmer while I watched Desperate Housewives. Mmm...

Ingredients:
Beef roast, approx. 1 & 1/2 lb.s
Bacon, approx. 1 lb
Pickle spears, 1 regular sized jar
Mustard, approx. 1/4 cup
Toothpicks
White wine, 1/2 cup
Water, 1/2 cup
Oil/butter, 1 Tbs

Slice the roast into thin strips, roughly as wide and long as half a slice of bacon. I like to partially freeze the roast before I cut it, that way it's much easier to get even slices. Cut the bacon in half (whole strips are usually too long). Cut the pickles in thirds.

Assembly: Lay a slice of beef on your prep. surface. Smear the top side with mustard. Lay a piece of bacon on the beef, then roll them up together with a pickle in the middle. Use a toothpick to secure the roll.

Once all of the rolls are assembled, put them in a large pan with the oil and brown them. Then add the wine and water and simmer for at least half an hour. Viola! Rouladen. You can eat them in civilized fashion with a fork and knife, or just eat them off the toothpicks (make sure you have a napkin handy, though).

'Twas a Dark and Chilly Day

"I got one foot stuck in paradise, another foot in the grave"
-"One Foot," Seven Nations

Last night it rained where I live and thirty miles north they got the year’s first snow storm. Today it was actually colder at 2pm than 10am. Go figure. Winter’s coming. ‘Tis the season when I wish I had a fireplace. I do, however, have hand-crocheted afghans that my grandma made, flannel bed sheets, and flannel PJs.

Gotta work at the bar tonight, and I’d much rather not. What I’d like to do tonight is go home and curl up on the couch with my latest Netflix DVDs and a cup of something warm to drink. Mmm… Instead, I get to go to work. Ugh. Still the worst of it won’t be until this weekend – which was remarkably like last weekend – when I’m scheduled for both Friday and Saturday. The up-side of this weekend is that I asked for Friday off, and since I didn’t get it, Marianne scheduled me for a short shift (5-midnight). The down-side is that my coworker for the night noticed, “But isn’t the person who gets here first (4 o’clock) supposed to go home first?”

“Yes, but I asked for the day off.”

“Well, do you think I could go home first, ‘cause I have a test to study for and I flunked it the first time, and I really need to study.”

“We’ll see.” (Nuh-uh)

The part that makes it worse is that this gal only works at the bar one night a week. If she was scheduled to be back Saturday, I’d send her home first without much thought. However, since I’m the one due back Saturday, I’m not feeling generous. After all, I’ve got school demands too. Also not on her side is the fact that she tends to whine and gives the impression, whenever she’s working, that she’d rather be anyplace else. A kind of bare-minimum type of gal who asks for a lot of favors but has yet to do any for me. *Sigh* Can you tell I don’t care for her much?

In other news, my CDs from CD Universe came. I now have seven more albums than I did yesterday, mostly Church, but also Eve 6, Seven Nations, Third Eye Blind, and Rusted Root. These are the first new albums (save one GBS) I’ve bought in six months, maybe more. It makes me happy to think I can go home and fill my stereo (holds 5-discs) with completely new music. Yay!

Movie Review: Beloved. I read the novel a few years ago in class and, from what I remember of it, the film is very true to the gist – if not quite every single detail – of the story. Danny Glover is great as Paul D, and Oprah holds her own as Sethe. Denver and Beloved were also cast well and the actresses deliver high-caliber performances. Watching the movie, I couldn’t help but think of certain parts of the non-fiction book Black Like Me, by John Howard Griffin. Though the book was written in the late 1960’s a lot of the same themes occur in both. The most striking instance is the scene in Beloved where Sethe kills her baby and one of the white men, who came after her to take her and her children back to slavery, calls her an animal. Griffin addresses the stereotype of African Americans as somehow subhuman, and basically says “Can you blame people for it when you’re the one driving them to it?” The event he’s talking about is different, but the principal is there. A good movie, but not for a superficial viewer.

Famous Literature Turned Movies

Henriette: The man of parts.
Giacomo Casanova: Many parts.
Henriette: Is that how you win over the ladies? Cheap innuendo?
Giacomo Casanova: No, you just make all my best lines rubbish.
-Casanova (Masterpiece Theatre)

Yesterday I slept in by about three hours. Then I took a nap later in the day. I’m still tired. Ugh. That’s what happens when I’m scheduled at the bar both Friday and Saturday from 5:00-2:00. I’m not sure how much of it is due to working until the wee hours of the morning, and how much of it is being on my feet the whole time, walking back and forth from tables to the bar, but it makes me very exhausted. It definitely didn’t help that on Friday I was awake and at the dentist’s office by 9:00 a.m. (the good news there is they fixed my cracked tooth for free).

I can’t wait until tomorrow, when I have a whole day to myself (in theory, anyhow) and I can be a bum. Yesterday was somewhat like that, but since I slept until noon and then Keith came over a few hours after, I didn’t have much free, by myself, time. Of course, tomorrow I really should do laundry, but I might have to procrastinate that, we’ll see.

Movie Review: Beowulf and Grendel. A far cry from the staleness of the original saga as read in my Brit. Lit I class a few semesters ago, the movie makes the famous characters 3-D instead of 2-D. It also throws in some humor. I love many of King Hrothgar’s lines. While there are a few scenes at the beginning that probably could/should have been cut, the storytelling is pretty tight overall. Awesome scenery, costuming, etc. Gotta love the attention to detail with the helmets.

Movie Review: Casanova. After seeing this version of Casanova on PBS, and assuming it’s fairly accurate to the original tale, I’m at a loss for wondering what the heck the Heath Ledger version will do. I have to say, though, that I really like David Tennant’s portrayal (and Peter O’Toole’s) so Heath Ledger will have to work to overcome my bias – never thought I’d say that about him. Think about it, what kind of man could really pull of being one of the world’s most famous lovers? Where Ledger has the looks part nailed, Tennant’s performance was extremely endearing and you can’t help but like him. Although it's rather hilarious how these "venetians" have british accents and use british terms. Anyway, I’ll have to see them both before I can really start comparing. The Ledger version is at the top of my Netflix list, so it won’t be long.

Jesus-Dog

"$72 dollars due"
-Dentist's bill I received yesterday in the mail (despite the fact that I paid, in full, the day I got the filling).

Netflix is pissing me off again. Most of the time when I send a DVD back, I get a new one two days later - i.e. I send one back on Monday, and get a new one Wednesday. However, they've fallen behind again. Last week I sent DVDs back on Fri. & Sat. Today, Thursday, is when I'm supposed to get my fresh DVDs. Almost a whole week's wait. Bastards.

So, for someone who doesn't have recurring dreams, I've been having a lot of them lately. One theme that keeps coming up is Highlander, the other is my now-deceased dog. Except, she's not dead in the dreams. In the dreams, I have a Jesus-dog. I know she died, yet there she is, alive and well. In one, it was like her death actually was good for her because she was healthier after she was buried than before. In another (which I had just a few days ago), not only was she alive and well, she had puppies. Of course, they weren't quite right - all hairless and pink with legs so small as to be almost invisible, in short, mammal catepillars. I think part of it is that, even now, when I go over to my parents' house, I still expect her to come to the door. I still find myself looking through the window for her as I walk to the porch. Every now and again, I even almost ask my mom how the dog's doing. It keeps making me sad, to think that I don't have a dog any more.

I wonder how long the dreams will last.

Maybe I'll Just Get Dentures

"I guess you've got the Eickholt teeth. By the time your grandmother was twenty, she had lost all of hers."
-My mom

I had a pretty good day yesterday. I had no work, no class, and Keith came over and we watched the Venture Bros. while lazing about on the couch. Then, at about eight thirty, I ate dinner and broke a tooth on some broccoli. It went like this: "Munch, munch, munch, CRUNCH - what the fuck was that?" This is the same tooth I got filled a few weeks ago, and now I have to go back to the dentist yet again to get the bastard fixed. (Making for three visits in one month) Fortunately, though, while the tooth is broken it is not causing pain. I'm really hating my teeth right now. I limit my sugar, even though I love sweets, try to drink lots of water, floss, brush well, etc. However, that's apparently not enough. Damn genes. Mom added, "At least you didn't get the Metzger gums." See? There is a bright side.

I called it a night around ten thirty and was woken at one a.m. because my phone was ringing. Keith was calling. No, it wasn't some kind of emergency, "You should come over to Jason's." Because that's exactly what I want to do - get woken up at one in the morning so I can go over to Jason's and hang out with drunk people. Don't get me wrong, they're nice drunks, but, well, screw that. I'm going to have to have a conversation with Keith about not calling me after eleven or so on week nights and not calling me when he's drunk (not to mention when both are the case). Dumbass.

Movie Review: Deliverance. Meh. I've heard a lot of people talk about how everyone should see this movie. I did, and I really don't see what all the fuss is about. The plot lacked cohesion and I didn't really understand what the point of the story was. I think my problem is that I lack testicles. That probably makes the movie better.

Cartoon Review: Venture Bros. Keith is an adult (not adult) cartoon affectionado, so every now and again I get subjected to things from Cartoon Network's Adult Swim. Yesterday, was Venture Bros. (A revisitation/satire of Johnny Quest) I had reservations going in, but I have to admit, the show is pretty hilarious. There's plenty of juvenile humor (lots of potty jokes), some obscenity, etc. Basically, it's not the most "intelligent" humor. However, they make some good digs - like a Fantastic Four parody - and Brock Samson is damn funny. When Keith left, I had only finished disc one, and I liked it enough to keep the box so I could watch disc two. Fun stuff.

Mrs. Dalloway, Highlander Dream, and Hysteria

"Holy Mother of Oats! I turn my back for five minutes (that's how long it takes to admire my lovely back) and the interweb goes banoonoos! Isn't there any ACTUAL news to get wrong? Sorry about all this; it might be best if I just stay off the computer for a while. Or just glut the feed with wild conjecture. Hmm, let's see... I'm me, so... let's glut! Here are some ABSOLUTELY TRUE statements of factiness. Gentlemen, start your websites..."
-Joss Whedon, http://whedonesque.com/comments/11513#144407

See? This is why Joss is my hero.

I had another Highlander dream the other night. That brings my total to four. It was about Duncan and Tessa in Renaissance Italy (or somewhere like it, anyway) except they weren’t in period dress. Duncan was trying to convince Tessa why he couldn’t love her, because she’s not an immortal and he didn’t want to love her just to lose her. Of course, the fact that part of the dream was the same argument, but in modern times, means that she lived a couple hundred years anyway, so the argument was more or less moot. *Shakes head* Don’t ask me what’s going on there.

Oh yeah, some school based gossip. There is a man in both of my classes who I don’t know well. When he speaks in class, he tends to say odd-ball stuff, but I didn’t think much of it. A few days ago, one of my friends (who is in this guy’s group in one of the classes) told me that while they worked together he made frequent remarks about how she, and the two other gals in the group, were hotties. He also made a lot of inappropriate remarks in group e-mails – one example is the time he e-mailed everyone a poem about boobs. No joke. Mind you, my retelling of the situation is not at all detailed and rather more G-rated than what my friend told me.

The point is, he made her so uncomfortable that when he sent an essay to the group about hysteria – i.e. detailing all the gruesome details of how it used to be “treated” (for those who aren’t aware, hysteric women were sent to the doctor and hooked up to vibrators or manually “treated” by the doctor) as in more porno than academic essay – that she approached the professor who he was going to turn the essay in to, and the professor told him it was not appropriate to share with the class (which is what we usually do). He did not come to class that night at all. So, my friend, that professor, and the chair of the English department are discussing the situation. We’ll see what happens.

In other news, I watched Mrs. Dalloway last night. Perhaps I was just tired, perhaps I was just bored, but either way I fell asleep before I got to the end. Basically, I missed Mrs. Dalloway’s actual party. Funny, eh? I thought about watching the last part again this morning, but couldn’t bring myself to do it. No interest at all. I haven’t gotten all that far into the book yet, but I’m thinking the fault lies in the structure. Namely, I don’t think it’s all that translatable.

The Keith/Anniversary Post

"I love you."
-Keith

Unfortunately, that's how I've been for about a week now. I feel bad for Keith, since this is anniversary time and he's being all sweet while I'm being grouchy. He took me to dinner Monday at the steakhouse, and has made mention a few times of the fact that we've been together three years now, and it's still working well. In his words, "I'm not tired of you yet."

Also in his favor is the fact that he called me last night after I got home from work. He wanted to check on me because he knew I was miffed about what happened. It perked up my night considerably. He may not be the most diplomatic of guys, but he's a good one and I'm glad I have him.

Bar Frustration

Me: You shouldn't come to see me at work tonight.
Keith: Why?
Me: Because I'm pissed at the owner.
-Phone conversation

I'm beginning to be extremely excited about the fact that I'm working only one night this week. I got a call at something like 2:30 saying could I cover the kitchen tonight? The jist of my reply - I'd rather be on the floor, actually, so I can make $50 more dollars. The response - yeah, but no one else can cover the kitchen, so you have to.

I first said I'd do both, allowing for how busy it got. Then I realized I didn't want to do two jobs tonight. Because doing both would mean shutting down the kitchen, then going out to the bar so I could sweep and take out the trash. Fuck that. So, I'm just going to be in the kitchen. Hooray. Fortunately, I'm less pissed now than I was at first. When I called the owner back, she at least tried to compromise by saying she'd talk to the kitchen manager about staying late. Of course, the kitchen manager has a "prior engagement" and cannot. Just so you know, that means she doesn't want to skip her pool league. It's not like she should have to suck it up instead of me, I mean, it's not like she gets paid more, or is the kitchen manager or something. No, not like that at all.

The timing could be better, too. I'm already generally stressed thanks to being busy (in general), still in the process of moving and preparing for my party, and having had a very frustrating Saturday at the bar. It was slow from 5-11, then I had no tables for the following three solid hours, but could not go home because it was my job to stay and help close the place down. So, I sat around for three hours thinking how tired I was and how I had been cleaning my old house all day and how badly I wanted just to leave. It also didn't help that it was a night of stupid drunks. So, I was tired, and pissed, and pissed that I was tired...etc. Generally: very cranky.

Thus, we get back to today: doesn't help with the crankiness.

Joy for me - I get to go to my favorite class tomorrow. Damn, that perks my mood right up. Did I mention that I walked out early last week? It's going to be very hard not to do so again tomorrow.

All right, I can never stay bitchy for too long. I remind myself that I should have a movie and Highlander Season 2 Disc 6 waiting for me at home. Also, covering the kitchen means I get to leave earlier than I would if I were waitressing. That means, I can watch stuff tonight.

Moving, Movies (It's a comma splice)

“Everyone always leaves it trashed.”
-Landlord of old house

Moving. Ugh. That sums it up, really. I finally got rid of one house, yesterday, by returning the key to my old landlords. They were terribly thrilled that I had actually cleaned the place up. A first time occurrence, she said.

I also hung my numerous pictures, some are crooked, and none are even with each other, so it’s bugging me, but they are on the wall instead of in a pile on the coffee table, so I’m going to call it good for now.

Hollywood has been pretty disappointing lately, putting garbage like The Descent and Pulse up on the big screen, but in the past few weeks they’ve geared up for colder weather by opting for some decent flicks, like The Illusionist. Keith and I went to the theater Friday, and now I’ve seen two good movies, in a row, at the theater. Good God! In other news, my two latest Netflix flicks didn’t quite do it for me.

Movie Review: Flyboys. Where Geronimo got it wrong, this film gets it right. It takes a big historical story – that of the Lafayette Escadrille – and works into it a manageable and focused plot with developed characters. Here’s the gist: Take a handful of Americans, before America joined the war, who volunteer to go to France and be among the first ever fighter pilots. Make one of them James Franco, who plays a cocky ranch boy who plans to become the new unit’s first “ace” and add Martin Henderson (playing Reed Cassidy) saying his line about the average life expectancy for a fighter pilot being three to six weeks, and viola! The writers do a nice job of individualizing the characters, and creating a tight plot – they’re pretty slick about nonchalantly introducing elements that become important later on, so pay attention. Martin Henderson is mundo badass as Cassidy, and he and Franco have a nice mentor-protégé dynamic. Although a savvy movie-watcher will see the main plot arc pretty early on, there’s plenty of other good stuff to keep you watching. The fight scenes had me leaning forward, and that doesn’t often happen. Definitely worth a trek to the theater.

Movie Review: Donnie Darko. Cult classic. Demonic Bunny. Adolescent kid with a bit of mental illness. Sounds good, right? Eh. I can mostly see where they were going with the idea, but the execution left me not caring much. The movie plods along, making a point of “ain’t life weird?” and here and there dropping hints that there’s a plot, oh and characters. Jake Gyllenhaal wanders around acting either really weird, psychopathic, or very intelligent and sometimes sweet. They emphasize the mental illness a lot with, “see, he’s not right in the head” scenes that kept making me think, “Yeah, I get it already.” Of course, you get to the end and have the big twist, and then get to thinking about it and realize – but what the hell? If that’s what happens, then why does the rest of it matter? Dunno on this one guys. I salute it for its outright weirdness and the fact that they did something radical at the time, but for pure movie value, it fell short.

Movie Review: Great Expectations. This is the one with Ethan Hawke and Gwyneth Paltrow. As far as I can tell, most people are either really fond of it, or particularly dislike it. Me? The second one. I’m all about modernizing classic stories in movies, like the slightly corny and wonderful Bride and Prejudice, but only when they’re done well. This one wasn’t. I don’t mind that they change details, like naming him Finn instead of Pip. I do mind when they change random stuff for no good reason – like why the hell was Maggie a hooker instead of a bitchy housewife? I also mind when they miss the themes that made the original so enduring. The major one for me: in the novel, Pip’s miserable because he’s ashamed of where he comes from, in the movie, he’s fine with it and when he gets his “big break” he almost turns it down instead of jumping at it. I mean, come on, that’s practically the WHOLE POINT of the novel. Dumbasses.