Some thoughts for the next week

I'm going to be EFY-ing this next week so let me leave you with some random stuff:

1. The movie Fearless starring Jeff Bridges and the surprisingly moving Rosie Perez is great. I can't get the last scene out of my head. It's psychological, moving, and the best way I can describe it is a mix between the pilot episode of Lost and "Noel" of The West Wing.

2. Indiana Jones is absolutely preposterous. Yeah, all of them are, but this was ridiculous. I guess I won't ruin it yet, but take someone with you to predict everything in it. It's pretty amusing.

3. I plan on going through Twin Peaks and 30 Rock this summer once I'm done with EFY. I'm excited.

4. And lastly, a great moment in television history:



Have a good week all!

Confession: I kind of wish I was from the South

I realize the Pacific Northwest has provided the world with coffee, Nirvana, and Jimi Hendrix, but I wish I came from more of a tradition. For instance, the South. I'm basing this mostly on movies like Big Fish, but the South seems magical while the NW seems dark and full of Bigfoots and rain*.

One thing I like about the South is its musical tradition. I really enjoy bluegrass music. I started a new Pandora radio station from the Peasall Sisters (aka George Clooney's little girls in O Brother, Where Art Thou?) and it's wonderful. It's some of the only music that I prefer female vocals on**.

It represents the mystical, Gothic, childhood summer South. Crazy stories, adventures in the woods, swimming holes--it just appeals to me. I just wish I could do cooler things with my time than work custodial, smelling like chemicals when I come home and watch TV. I guess I could just run around barefoot if I wanted to, but concrete and asphalt are no replacement for grass and pine needles.

I'm still stuck in Utah


*Not to mention vampires.
**Sorry my entire sex.

Grad School

So I still have until February to actual apply to grad schools, but I'm exploring where I want to go. So far I think I want to apply to University of Washington and Western Washington since Washington is awesome and I can claim residency there. I'll probably apply to BYU since it will be cheap, but I also don't want to be in Provo longer than I have to. Other options that look cool:
-University of Tennessee in Knoxville only because I think Tennessee seems like a pretty cool state with some neat stuff in it. Also, Dollywood.
-University of Colorado in Boulder. Colorado seems pretty chill and it seems like there's civilization there.

Anyway, there are programs for Speech-Language Pathology all over, so I just need to narrow down where I want to go. Any suggestions? Cool states I should check out?

You know that song "Time in a Bottle"?

I do now, Zyrtec, and what a horrible marketing campaign. At work today the radio was on KOZY, which you can only imagine plays the most gentle "rock" possible, and this song came on. And then I realized this was the song Zyrtec keeps referring to in their latest commercial. According to Wikipedia, "'Time in a Bottle' was a posthumous No. 1 hit for singer-songwriter Jim Croce, reaching the top of the charts in December 1973, three months after his death in a plane crash." Apparently it was written for his son, which is nice and all, but Zyrtec, really? It seems like an inappropriate choice 1. because it's about a relationship, not drugs, and 2. because you're a freaking allergy medication. This is just proving how much TV I've watching in the last few days, but seriously, this commercial is on all the time. And it bugs.

But I also got to hear "Have You Ever Really Loved a Woman?" by Bryan Adams. I have a secret love of Bryan Adams. I realize his music is corny and perfect for really awkward slow dances, but I've loved this song since I was a child...which is kind of weird. Whatever. Apparently it was written for a Johnny Depp movie: Don Juan DeMarco which looks crazy. Which is a redundant description when talking about a Johnny Depp movie. But the song was co-written by Robert John "Mutt" Lange, great producer and husband of Shania Twain...so that means the song is actually really awesome. To prove it:



Like I said. Awesome.

TLC owns my soul

I will watch pretty much anything on TLC, much like VH1 in its glory days (the mid to late 90s). Recently, I've discovered a new show to watch: Jon and Kate Plus 8. It's about a family of 10: the Gosselin parents, a set of twins, and a set of sextuplets. Besides being a cautionary tale against fertility drugs, it's about a pretty normal couple with a ton of kids. Lots of them.

So many adorable part-Asian kids!

I started watching out of fascination, but the family is just so likable I kept watching (thank you TLC for all the marathons). I spent many of my pre-16-years-old-and-able-to-get-a-real-job years baby-sitting and a couple summers ago I worked at a daycare, so on some level I understand the chaos and fun of kids. But I always got to leave the kids, go home, and regain my sanity. Jon and Kate don't, and for that I salute them.

Some things I love about the show:

1. Kate's Ellen DeGeneres voice.
2. Jon's monotone commentary during their "confessionals".
3. The kids are freaking adorable.
4. We get to see triumphs and failures in getting the kids to do stuff. (Like their ski trip to Utah: 2 extra adults traveling with the family as well as flight delays = way to go guys).
5. Despite having a buttload of kids, the family is totally relatable and seems normal. They're just trying to function and do their best.
6. The camera crew and producers are like family to the Gosselins. The kids are always talking to the camera/sound men. Sometimes we see them interact and it's great.
7. Mostly, it's a warm-fuzzy sort of reality show that holds my interest more than anything on VH1 these days.

So thanks TLC. Thanks for addicting me to yet another of your awesome shows.

Love,
Kelsy

Yet another reason I hate my apartment complex

A Haiku

Why am I awake?
Jackhammers. Somebody kill me.
Work is going to suck.

Neglecting my blogging

So I started custodial work a couple weeks ago, and I'm exhausted when I come home. So exhausted I have failed to write ridiculous things on this blog. But, I've had a good night's sleep, so I figured I'd write some highlights in pop culture from the last few weeks:

1. Iron Man is the perfect summer blockbuster. It made me laugh, it uses current politics, and is starring Robert Downey, Jr. The somewhat romance between Tony Stark (RD,J), rich weapons maker, and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), his personal assistant, is sufficiently awkward and yet comforting. Also, a great montage featuring Downey interacting with machines Luke Skywalker/R2D2 style warms my heart a lot.

Question: Who looks better hot, sweaty and worn out: Iron Man or Aragorn? Discuss.

2. I bought the 1995 BBC version of Pride and Prejudice. It was $20 bucks for the DVDs plus a book on how they made it. I knew I was going to have to own this someday, and this was just so cheap I went for it. I read the book in a couple days and made me love the entire cast and crew that much more for creating such an awesome adaptation. The Keira Knightly version...well, I'll probably have to see it again, but it's pretty ridiculous. I'll have to blog about that sometime.

3. I caught the movie Five last night in an allergy/benadryl induced stupor on TCM. Made in 1951, it was one of the first post-apocalyptic films ever made. This one featured a post atom-bombed world and 5 people who happen to find each other. 4 men and 1 pregnant woman survive. The film does a pretty good job of bringing out loneliness, desperation, and even racism in the film. One of the creepiest, but kind of awesome scenes was a day or two after the first two people meet each other, the man tries to convince to woman to have sex since they're the last two on earth until she screams, "I'm having Steven's baby!" This is her husband that she can't find. Anyway, it kind of rocks. Some things of note: a sleazy European man makes an appearance, all corpses are just skeletons with clothes on, and the token black man quotes scripture.

4.

I'll leave you with a photo of Aragorn. Mmmm.

Really Awesome Phrase of the Day

The Phrase: "That was like a declawed, pregnant cat on a porch swing idly swatting at a fly on a lazy Sunday afternoon."
Source: How I Met Your Mother, Season 1, Episode 17: "Life Among the Gorillas"
Context: Marshall is learning how to fit in with his douchey coworkers from Barney. This is Barney's response to Marshall's pathetic high-five.
Why is it so awesome: To quote Marshall: "Wow, that was really specific!" It makes me wish I was better at analogies. And maybe high-fives.

I will also treat you to a gallery of high-five awesomeness starring Neil Patrick Harris as Barney: