I've Seen This Movie Before and I Don't Like It

The Colts lost to the JETS???? The freaking JETS??? You don't lose to the Jets!! I don't care if you have the playoffs wrapped up - I WANT AN UNDEFEATED SEASON!!! DON'T PUT IN YOUR JV BOYS, DAMMIT!!

Okay, okay - the undefeated season would have been nice, especially if they won the Super Bowl (because it's something the Patriots couldn't do - neener neener), but it wasn't a necessity. What I'm pissed about is this: Whenever the Colts clinch the first-round bye in the playoffs, they sit their starters and throw the last two games of the season. Then, they crap out in the playoffs and let the Patriots or the Broncos through, which ticks off the rest of the world ("the rest of the world" meaning me). The only time the Colts won the Super Bowl was when they went into the playoffs as a wild card team and went the distance and beat the Bears. They didn't rest anybody at any time and that, in my educated observations, was the difference.

I'd like to see something really revolutionary: play Manning and the rest of the starters all the way through the regular season to get some winning momentum for the post-season and then see what happens. If nothing changes, then I won't get on their case ever again. But they didn't so I'm ranting about it. And you all have to deal with it. Tough turtles. I'm mad and real life people are being asses about it. After I listen to their rantings and ravings... (that's another story for another day - this is why I have a blog).

Bottom Line: Colts First-round bye + Sitting starters=playoff disaster. Not cool.

The Latest Special Effects Vomit-fest

LJ has been whoring advertising that "Avatar" movie a lot lately. Here's my initial opinion from movie trailers, TV ads and the Wikipedia entry:

I will probably NOT be seeing "Avatar" - in theaters, on Netflix or otherwise. I have an aversion to movies that portray humans as hideously evil, planet-raping, innocent-creature-killing monsters. And James Cameron is not one of my favorite directors (though, he did give us one of the funniest movies to MST3K to). If the little blue creatures were actually the bad guys, I might look into it. But, I have a loyalty to my species (in spite of all their faults), thankyouverymuch. In all fairness, I hate "Fern Gully" and "Bambi" for the same reason.

In the spirit of The Preemptive Critics (a Utah Statesman classic) - I preemptively hate this movie.

I haven't seen "The Blind Side" yet, so that's what I'll probably go see.

PS - From a "real" critic, Jeff Vice of the Deseret Morning News: All special effects, no plot. I thought as much.

PPS - Question: Is it possible to have a good action-fantasy-sci-fi-special-effects movie and STILL have a coherent storyline? Oh wait, that's right - Lord of the Rings did it (though, I sure someone would argue with that... sigh...).

*sniffs* Is Something Burning?

*gasp* - My spinach puffs!! (actually - I think something is wrong with the dishwasher. Because nothing is cooking and the dishwasher is the only thing running right now. Crap...)

Okay - onto the real post!

Breathe? Breathe? Nah - don't need to.

Yet, I finally find myself at home without anyone hollering for me to do anything for them. Took a hour and a half drive with three very obnoxious children (two of which I didn't know I would be carting) yammering in the backseat, plus the weenie dog nesting in the front seat. Did I mention the snowpacked gravel roads? Oh yes, it was a joy... Oy - I remain a firm believer that baby-sitting is the best form of birth control (the second best form is being called to teach the 3-year-olds in church, which explains why my sister and brother-in-law have elected to wait to have kids. Personally, I do not blame them).

Well, I do have some updating to do, which I am going to do while I watch the Giants and the Eagles grapple in the fourth quarter. What Eli was thinking when he slid for a first down and ended up fumbling I will never know.

Let's begin with Wednesday (yes, I am that far behind)

Wednesday was the BIG event - I went to Costco to meet Sarah Palin and have her sign my copy of her book, "Going Rogue." My roommate came with me - she just wanted to shake Sarah's hand. Did I mention I got on TV?

So, Costco people are officially known as "The Fun Police." Or they have joined the infamous group of people who are the Fun Police. First, we get into the door - bear in mind that I bought my book on Amazon for $9 (they had a pre-order special and I wasn't about the pass it up). I wasn't going to fork over any money to Costco on this trip. But we come to the door and the offspring of Satan Costco employees inform us that to even get to say hi to Sarah, we had to fork out $50 for a Costco membership. Well, I was pissed - but my roommate said that she'd get a card because she would probably use it later anyway. She signed up and we worked out a system that she would show her card, get her ticket in line and then pass the card to me so I could pretend it was mine. And... what do you know, it actually worked!

Oh - and another tick in the Fun Police column - there were these insanely funny Tea Party people giving out fliers and telling us about their website (tpartyt.com) and showing us their awesome Tea Party shirts (and even giving them out for free - I got one that shows Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin as "The Refounding Fathers." It was pretty sweet). Well, then the Costco nerds come down the line insisting that we give back the fliers these guys had passed out (I kept one in my Jack Bauer bag - I was being rebellious), citing their Costco BS that "We take care of our members. You'll notice that you don't have fliers sticking to your cars. This is how we provide a pleasant shopping experience..." It was at this point I was distracted by a butterfly going past and I stopped listening (and we found a flier sticking to our car when we got out of the store. It was glorious).

So, Costco = Fun Police. I'm glad I'm not a member. Shoot, I don't even have a Sam's Club card either. So, nyah (the crazy thing - the Secret Service guys that came as part of the entourage were more personable than the Costco employees).

But we had a blast. There were some wonderful ladies that we stood next to in line and we got to talk politics with some very reasonable and fun people. And Rod Decker (aka The Resident Sad Utah Liberal from Channel 2) showed up to sneer at interview people in line and try to talk to Sarah, which, she wasn't giving interviews because the media are a bunch of depraved loons that just paint her in a bad light. Which Rod tried to do to us in line, but we weren't having it. I got to talk to him in front of the camera - and I later found out that I made it on TV (yay!!) I just said that, yeah, Sarah's had family problems, but she's handled herself with dignity and class and she's connected with normal people and she doesn't have to kiss anybody's butt for anything. Then, Rod went along, then he came back to me and tried to bait me into talking about Sarah's daughter's dweeby ex-boyfriend (the wart who got her pregnant). I then replied that he's just trying to ride on Sarah's success and get his 15 minutes of fame and he isn't worth the powder it'd take to blow him to hell (well, I didn't say that part in front of the camera, but if this one lady hadn't been yelling at me what to say, I probably would have said it - sheesh, woman, I'm the one this nerd's talking to...)

And then - WE GOT TO MEET SARAH!! Holy cow - that was AWESOME! The Fun Police kept the line going, so all I got to tell her was my name, that she was awesome and I loved the part in her book when she talks about her daughter, Piper, being her unofficial press ambassador (Piper is made of win ^_^). After we were herded through the line, my roommate and I also got to talk to Sarah's parents and I got my picture taken with Sarah's mom. Really wonderful people (and they weren't constrained by the Fun Police either).

All in all, morons notwithstanding, a really cool experience.

Actually, that's probably all that I haven't posted about. I've just been going a million miles a minute - doing everything I possibly can and getting nothing accomplished. Such is my life. Sarah Palin pictures will be coming. I'm just too lazy to go find my camera cord. Plus, I think I'd rather wait until I get the picture of me actually with Sarah. They had a professional photographer there and you have to order the picture with Sarah. It may be online by now - who knows?

(Dang it - the Giants are losing. That makes me sad...)

For the next few days...

I'm going to be in and out with very little internet access (I can check stuff on my phone, but it's hard to post much unless I'm really, really, REALLY patient - yeah, right. Best I can do is a Facebook status update). I have a good friend whose brother-in-law passed away this morning and I have plenty of family Christmas hoopla to attend to AND I'm working on a business deal with my dad (I'm getting some more legal responsibility with regards to our family business, so this is a wild roller coaster ride that I'll have to fill you in on when it's all done). And, of course, it all had to happen THIS week... -_-'

So, I'm not ignoring internet life - just some things have to take a backseat for now. I was lucky enough to steal a few moments on the aforementioned friend's computer for a bit to post an update. But I'll be back soon (I just found out that my parents have wireless internet - YAY!!) In the meantime, keep fighting the good fight, y'all ^_^

It's the BCS - What Did You Expect?

TCU and Boise State are getting the "Sit down little kid and let the elitist jerks run the show" treatment. Yes folks, the Fiesta Bowl is officially the BCS baby-sitters' bowl - just throw the BCS busters a bone so they'll shut up and let's go to the country club, sip martinis and watch Florida, Ohio State, Texas and Alabama, just like we have since the dawn of time. Laaaaaaaame....

I think Doug Robinson had a column a few years ago that said it best: in college basketball, Cinderella is celebrated and even cheered on. In football, Cinderella is the ugly hag that the BCS wants to hide in the closet.

Memo to the BCS - your story never changes, so the rest of us don't give a flying leap about it. This is why March Madness is more fun. BRING ON THE FRICKIN' PLAYOFF!!

Oh well, I guess the WAC and the MWC are going to get some moola for this. Next year, let's have three BCS busting teams. They can't ignore that and they'll have to give at least one of them a more prestigious bowl spot.

(I blame byu's 1984 team - they didn't have the BCS before then. But because the '84 Zoobies scheduled a bunch of cream puffs to get to the national championship, the football bluebloods went "Oh no - we can't have that, we have to rig it so we win every year." Proof positive that, other than Steve Young, nothing great ever came out of byu football).

We Were Classless When Classless Wasn't Cool

USU-byu basketball game tonight. It was "Adventures in Hardcore Fandom" to the extreme.

First, you have to get in line, which some enterprising individuals started YESTERDAY at 4:30 pm - set up a tent and everything! By 3:00 this afternoon, my roommate called to tell me that the line was around the Spectrum and all the way to the HPER building, so I might want to think about going to stand in line. Also, I was planning on going with some friends who both worked until later, so it would behoove me to go save a place for us.

So, I went. It wasn't too bad - then the sun went down. Holy. Crap. Can you say "Frostbite?" Some people standing next to me in line started playing "Ninja Destruction," a game that should have more movement than it does to keep you warm, but I was still freezing. I texted one of the friends coming with me, asking her to bring a blanket. She texted me back saying she didn't have one, but would I like hot chocolate? She brought the goods - and it was HOT. But I chugged it down like it was Gatorade. It warmed me up for a little while.

THEN - it was finally time to go into the Spectrum. We were dang lucky - I swear they shut the doors right after we swiped our student ID cards. Now a new problem: finding seats. I think some people snuck in without checking their cards, so there were NO SEATS in the student section -_-' We tried to commandeer some season ticket holders' seat - until they showed up :( Then we tried to stand in the aisle without getting caught. But some "nice" people pointed out two empty seats next to them and we took them before security could come clean us out of the aisles (I'll explain why "nice" is in quotations in a moment).

Oh - I made signs for this game. But we were so far up - we were behind the giant American flag in the corner, so if I held up my signs, no one would be able to see them. I compensated by holding them lower - but then the teeny-bopper freshmen behind me (who wouldn't know a basketball from a... never mind...) kept whining that they couldn't see and the "nice" guy next to me kept glaring. But, there were a couple of short Mexican kids in front of me who no savvy loco Americanos and they sat down frequently so I could display my signs without angering the locals.

And this is the best part - a few rows down, another kid had a sign that he kept holding up (it wasn't blocking anything). The "nice" guy next to me yelled for him to put it down, but he didn't hear him (try hearing anything more than six inches away when the Spectrum is in full basketball mode). "Nice" Guy procures an empty water bottle and chucks it at Sign Boy, beaning him on the head. Sign Boy looks around for the culprit - I discreetly jab my thumb in the direction of "nice" guy - Sign Boy sees it and flips "Nice" Guy" off. I felt vindicated. If I couldn't directly annoy byu fans, at least I got the jerk next to me flipped off.

Oh yeah, the game: I will say this - I'm thankful my boys shot poorly in the first half and not in the second half. Every time they let the long bomb go, I wanted to crawl in a hole. I had flashbacks of last Saturday, it was so bad. But we pulled it out and I am happy. The last USU game I attended before I graduated two years ago, we played Idaho and we lost. That was not a happy thing. I'm glad that they won this game, which is the actual last game I got to see as a USU student. The fact that it was byu is icing on the cake.

Even though I didn't get people to see my signs - people in line liked them. Other sign-makers weren't as creative. One doof just wrote "byu isn't very good." I don't want to disparage my fellow Aggies, but what kind of creativity does that take? Another sign said "Cats lick themselves" (WTF?) and one just said "byu swallows." I simply can't believe it - I had at least ten clever ideas and that's the kind of crap you come up with? I think you need to be behind the flag in the nosebleeds.

Though the best one that wasn't mine (face it, mine were pretty good) was "Coach Rose still owes me gas money from last year." There were plenty referencing max hall's idiocy (we even got to chant "Classless" at the few byu dorks that made the trip. I was shocked that they were even there - I thought they could only find Vegas).

All in all - a happy day. Revenge is a dish best served cold (cold here meaning sub-zero temperatures - my thumbs still haven't recovered).

(What kind of name is "Jimmer?" Seriously - what were your parents smoking?)

Pictures!!

First, my signs:






























(This one was a favorite ^_^)

Game Day shirt - the back just says "Beat the Cougars." Lame... Last year's were better. (Ignore my five chins)
















Lining up outside the Spectrum at 4:00 pm. Some of those people waaaaay in the front had been there since yesterday.















More people lined up.















The Winning Team!!















The Losing Team (and their loser fans behind them)

It's a Rivalry Thing. You Wouldn't Understand

It's Game Day - Utah State vs. byu. Oh boy, there is sooo much good material for this. And I'm a little loopy because of the magic marker smell. Yes folks, I made POSTERS for the game tonight!! I don't know if the game is televised, but I'll wave when I hold up my signs. Of course, pictures are a given and will be forthcoming (with game day shirt and everything. Actually, I thought last year's shirts were funnier, but I can't do anything about that. Maybe if they have one at DI...)

Some jokes that didn't make the cut, but should have:

- Beat byu so max hall can hate us too (if I have to explain this, you haven't been paying attention the last few days)

- Glad you could find your way here. Sorry it wasn't Vegas (referencing the fact that the Zoo had to play a "road game" against USU at the EnergySolutions Arena in Salt Lake last year because they couldn't handle coming all the way up to Logan - yet the football team can make it to the Vegas bowl every year)

- Win or lose, you still have to live in Provo (this was on the game day shirts last year, so the novelty has probably worn off)

Oh - for people preaching "tolerance" and "love" and "can't we all just get along and hug each other?", I have one thing to say: It's a rivalry thing. You wouldn't understand. Let us have this one time of the year where all our hate and animosity comes out against our arch-rivals and we'll leave you alone the other 50 weeks in the year. Fair enough.

All That Angst... And The %$#*&! Just Walks Off

"Heroes" tonight - except I was posting mission pictures on Facebook (this is heavily overdue... and I am nowhere near being done), so I didn't pay attention well enough to do a full rehash this week. However, I do have a few comments to make.

***SPOILER WARNING***"The Fifth Stage"***SPOILER WARNING***

Move Over Fonzi, Here Come the Bennets: We seem to be out of the shark-infested waters as far as Gretchen is concerned - but Daddy Bennet finds this Lauren chick. And that extremely low-cut top... doesn't help her case much. No wonder Claire wants to join the circus.

Just Where Are You Shooting Those Nails?: Sadistic!Peter with a nail gun - FTW!! (especially because it's Sylar - but Nathan isn't going to feel too good when he gets out and he's nailed to a table-board-thing)

(ADD Moment - Holy cow, New Orleans is picking the Patriots to pieces here! For tonight, I am a Saints fan ^_^ Hope the Pats don't pull a Peyton and come back in the last minutes.)

I Won't Let Go, Jack! Oh wait, never mind...: Peter and Nathan's little heart-warming moment gets ruined when "Nylar" falls... and just walks off. What the crap is Peter doing letting the %$#*&! walk off???? Dude - you have the ability! Get the... oh wait... we need material in January.

(ADD Moment 2 - WHYYYYYYY???? WHY are the commercials for Real Salt Lake Cat-Herding on ESPN??? The hell I'm buying tickets for your retarded communist plot. I wish the dream would die already... I'm still waiting for an NBA title.)

Montage: The ending bit with Hiro, Ando and Mohinder running through... somewhere. Where are they and when did that happen?

It's official: "Heroes" is less funny without Hiro Nakamura.

By the way - it's wonderful and fitting that Paul Kruger was the one to pick off the Steelers and get Baltimore the win last night (even though I like the Steelers). Kruger probably was having flashbacks to intercepting max hall last night. *snerk*

I Hate Drama

The end. kthx, bye.

I'M LEGAL!!!!

I AM OFFICIALLY ACCEPTED INTO GRADUATE SCHOOL!!!! I must shout it from the rooftops, my happiness!!! I start January 22!!! Let's hear it for the smart peoples!!!! (and the fact that I'm so happy that I've forgotten all about proper grammar)

YAAAAAAAAY!!!!!!

(oh yeah, this is awesome ^_^)

World Class Cat-Herding

It's just my luck. You know, I've cheered for the Utah Jazz and the Utah Utes (football and basketball) all my life. I've seen these teams have success, but never win any championships. They've come close, but never got there, much to my disappointment and many tears (ask me about a Jazz Finals game I went to when I was 13. Heartbreaking...)

So, in order to be more "diverse" Davey Checketts brings Euro-trash - I mean, soccer - to Salt Lake. And wouldn't you know it, they would win their retarded championship. The one pro team in Utah I hate - and they win their championship (after having a losing season, it seems). There is no justice in this world. This idiotic Real Salt Lake team has only been around for - what - five years? The only people who will be celebrating are all the illegal Mexicans. What about us white folk that have been holding out for one of our American teams to bring home a title? This is SO not fair!!

How the crap do you win by tying? What kind of stupid game is this? What kind of stupid name is Real Salt Lake? Can't you at least have a real team name? This isn't Spain - this is the Wasatch Front. We speak English. We're not trying to impress people here. If you want to be accepted in this country, have a name like - Tigers or Bulldogs (or Aggies or Utes). We're not France or England or any other stupid country in Europe. And we're sure as heck not Mexico (contrary to what some people might think).

I hate soccer (or as I like to call it, Cat-Herding). Because it's popular in Europe and the "world" likes it and they tell Americans that we have to like it, I hate it. I could be more tolerant of it if they weren't so snotty about it.

I will say this: at least they don't have "Utah" in their name. I don't have to cheer for them. I don't live in Salt Lake. They have no claim on me and I have no claim on them. Just like I don't live in Provo, so I don't cheer for BYU (there are other reasons, but that's the relevant one right now). If it was Real Utah - I'd move to Nevada.

Now the Jazz need to win the Finals. It's only fair. They've been in town longer and they've been denied for more years. More importantly - I've been denied for longer than soccer's been around. Cough up, NBA, NCAA.

(Barring that, Davey Checketts can fork out some money and give Utah an NFL team. If the Rams still stink it up in St. Louis - they can move to Salt Lake. They wouldn't even have to change their initials. Checketts owes us for this humiliation).

Wolves, Vampires, Humans - Can't We All Just Get Along?

Well, just came from seeing "New Moon" - the first movie I've seen since I've been home that merits a first-run movie review on my blog.

But before I get that far: To the ornery goth Wal-Mart cashier chick that gave me a crusty when I bought my $1 New Moon Sweethearts - I don't give you nasty looks when you go see your indie porno artsy crap. I'm having fun and I'm not bothering you. In fact, I'm probably paying part of your paycheck.

Okay - on to the review! Spoilers are a given - but if you're really the type who cares about being spoiled on New Moon, you have read the book multiple times and have seen the movie at least once by now. But it's a common courtesy I extend.

***SPOILERS BEGIN HERE*** Beware - this is LOOONG. I'd recommend putting a pizza in the oven before you start this. But I have a lot to say. Please read this in it's entirety. There are things that bugged me about this movie and things that I loved. And, being a bit cynical, I have to carp about a few things first.

Overall, I loved "Twilight" as a movie. It was the first movie I watched when I came home from my mission. I parked myself in front of the TV in my parents' room, shut the door and watched it on my own. Maybe the "on my own" part was key because "New Moon" wasn't quite the same. Don't get me wrong, I liked it well enough - it had it's high points. But there were things I missed. Or maybe it was pre-teen giggling that permeated the theater when Jacob took his shirt off. Please - have you never seen a shirtless guy before? Oh wait - most of you are twelve. At least, I assumed most of you are twelve. *trying not to think that maybe some of that twittering was coming from middle-aged moms... oy...*

Also - the music in New Moon didn't quite do it for me. For being based on a book for which the author depended a lot on music for inspiration, the soundtrack wasn't much to write about. Either in the movie or outside. Which brings me to another gripe about movie soundtracks in general: Why in the smell do you make a movie soundtrack that none of the songs on the CD are in the movie? That makes zero sense! I can see not including some of the songs from the movie on the CD, but the one song I do like on the New Moon soundtrack ("Meet Me on the Equinox" by Death Cab for Cutie) didn't make the movie at all! And ALL the music in the exceedingly well-done Twilight soundtrack made the movie, if only in the end credits. Feh...

Anyway - music - you guys had a perfectly good score in "Bella's Lullaby" from the first movie and I never heard any of it in New Moon. There were plenty of places you could have put it and you didn't. Even if you wanted to be symbolic and put a discordant version of it to emphasize that Bella's not doing so hot with the whole Edward leaving thing. Anyway - missed the haunting piano music from the first movie in this one. That, at least, would have tied this movie to the first one (beyond having the same actors and what-not - Harry Potter has proven that you can have the same actors in a series of movies, but they don't all fit together the way they should).

This is a problem with changing directors (Harry Potter has suffered from this as well). Each director does something so different with each movie and they don't even look like each other. I missed Catherine Hardwicke :( Her low-budget style worked so well in Twilight. This series really isn't that sweeping-epic-save-the-world kind of story. It's more personal and intimate and that's how it should be done.

Okay - done griping! There were some things about this movie I did find satisfying. Like the fact that Kristen Stewart's jumpy-Bella is reserved for when Edward is "dazzling" her. That was something about Twilight-Bella that drove me nuts - like she was unable to form complete sentences (or at least, form them in one breath). She finally did loosen up a bit around Jacob, which I can appreciate (and is almost enough to make me jump on the Team Jacob bandwagon. Almost). But Kristen still is a little awkward to watch. Meh - guess I'll get over it.

I've said it before about Harry Potter and I'll say it here: FLASHBACK!!!! MONTAGE!!!! YAY!!!! *does little happy goofy dance* This is how you get the most story in the least amount of time!! (Naw -DUH!) Even better when you use actual scenes lifted from previous movies to do it. I'm sooo stinking glad they got the picture in the Twilight series early (instead of waiting for the fifth or sixth movie like the jokers who are doing Harry Potter did - granted, there are only four Twilight books, but you get my point).

The part where Bella gets on the motorcycle with the psycho-biker guy was a little odd. Um... how did she get him to take her back to the theater? And why was Jessica still just standing there? Shouldn't she have called the police by then or something? Chris Weitz - can you say "plothole?" (crap, I said I was done griping...)

Beyond not calling the authorities when her friend gets captured by menacing biker-bar guys, Jessica's little spiel about there not being any hot guys or kissing in the movie they went to was priceless. Um, honey - you're kind of in a movie with kissing and hot guys. There are so many jokes with that.

Taylor Lautner is awesome! Until he has to be angsty. Then it's kind of embarrassing to watch. Like voyeurism - like it's something you shouldn't be watching. Not sure if that's a good thing. Or maybe I felt that way because I was in a theater full of people and the guy next to me kept slurping his Mountain Dew (to be fair, his girlfriend probably forced him to come. Take notes boys, there are certain women that use the "Twilight" litmus test - if you're willing to sit through the movies, you are worth a second look. If you read the books - it may be time to go ring-shopping). But I'm glad that he can do the whole "hero-don't-mess-with-my-girl" thing. The movie theater scene with Mike Newton was pretty funny.

Also - I was immensely happy that they didn't use the crappy "Bella - I would never, ever hurt you" line that they had in the trailer. For the first time, I was more pleased with the take that made it into the movie rather than the one in the trailer. The movie version wasn't as cheesy - it was sincere and I wasn't inclined to snicker at it. In fact, this helped Jacob's character in that he keeps berating himself for breaking his "promise" (to not hurt Bella), even though it's not his fault. You know that he means it and this is going to make "Eclipse" that much more interesting (don't screw this up, guys).

It's one thing to read the "bloodsucker/dog" banter between the vampires and the wolves in the books. It's something else to see it acted out in a movie. Alice's reactions to Bella being in league with the wolves was wonderful. Ashley Greene and Taylor Lautner deserve mad props for that. It had the potential to be horrible, but they pulled it off. *applause*

I never knew vampires to look so pasty and sick. Edward really let himself go over Bella. It says something for Edward and Bella's love when, after weeks/months of staring at ripped and yummily shirtless wolf-boys, Bella can still run after Edward's pale sickliness. (I never said I didn't appreciate the shirtless-ness; I'm just not a fan of the teeny-boppers' squealy giggliness that gets made fun of on The Jay Leno Show)

Quick Note: Obviously, the vampires have to wear lipstick. My roommate went with me to see the movie and we ended up sitting on the second row and she pointed that out to me (intelligent us didn't leave until 30 minutes before the movie started. I should know better - be at the theater at least an HOUR before the movie starts on opening weekend). Anyway, yeah. Lipstick on vampires. Sorry to ruin the magic for you all.

Oh - yeah, this is a love story - Cedric... I mean, Robert Pattinson pulls off Edward's angst over leaving Bella very nicely. When I read the book, I was ready to kick Edward's teeth in over his "I'm leaving because it's safer" BS. But in the movie, I actually wanted to give the poor guy a hug (which, is why we're in this situation in the first place, so maybe that wouldn't be such a good idea). I could hardly believe Bella believed Edward when he said that he didn't love her anymore - um, chicky-poo - don't you SEE the pain in his face??? sigh... That made the movie good - I can't get into it more without getting overtly mushy and cheesy - but it was great. Made it even better when Bella tackles Edward in Volterra before the nut shows himself in the sun (by the way - the sparkly-vampire effect is greatly improved over the last movie. We are now able to sparkle without wind chimes and without much fanfare, either).

Okay - the big fight with the Volturi at the end. Umm... some things I liked, others I didn't. Edward's face cracking????? Ummm... yeah... vampires are described as being like marble. It's not literal. Sure, they could destroy the Volturi's marble conference room-thing, no problem. But vampires don't crack and then heal. They just don't. That was just weird.

As was the whole fighting and the Volturi letting them all go. The smell??? The Volturi don't let people go! That was something I had a hard time accepting in the book, even without the fight between Edward and Felix (that was Felix, right?) I had to go back and re-read it and realized that Alice promised the Volturi that they'd turn Bella into a vampire. So, the book's version worked out fine, but you don't pick fights with the Volturi. It just doesn't happen.

Oh yeah, I know I said there was something I liked about this scene. Aro was damn good. He's supposed to be that sickly-sweet polite, but still be out and out creepy. When he touched Alice's hand to "see" her vision of Edward and vampire!Bella frolicking in the forest -the contrast between him and little Alice was startling. So, the Volturi themselves were very well-done. Oh - Dakota Fanning - that was typecasting, to say the least. She's always played the little creepy girl and it would have been a shame to not cast her as Jane.

Jasper has a sense of humor! ^_^ That was a happy thing to see at the end of the movie (question - does he have a southern accent too? I mean, he is from Texas). I was glad they had the whole Cullen family back in the house the way they were at the beginning of the movie - I guess that was tapping into the symbolism. Especially since I love Carlisle and Esme. There is simply not enough of those two in the books or movies. I think I like them so much because they don't get as much airtime. I'm curious about them.

I would have like to have seen Charlie's reaction to Edward coming back with Bella after Bella and Alice take off to Italy. Maybe it's in deleted scenes. Maybe they opted for the more tension-filled Edward and Jacob face-off - poor, poor Jake :(

I started to wonder how they were going to end the movie. There are so many things to wrap up, yet keep open for the next movie. But the whole "Marry me" and then end credits - that was brilliant. They didn't have a prom scene to end this movie, so this worked just as well. I can forgive the other crimes in this movie because of that.

All in all, "New Moon" has good points and bad. Kind of like the book - this is my least favorite of the Twilight books, but that's because I HATE it when the main love interest decides to go all "I'm being noble and going to save your life by leaving." Sure, it breeds plenty of angst for an author to work with, but it drives the fans nuts. Especially fans who KNOW that it's supposed to be Bella and Edward (but that's another rant about love triangles and titles and how it is that characters fall in love in stories) BUT - "Eclipse" is my favorite of the books, so they better not botch the movie (*cough* Prisoner of Azkaban Alfonso Cuaron SUCK!!! *cough cough*)

See you in "Eclipse" (which, there was a poster for in the theater lobby when we walked in. *grin*)

Beware the Walking Smiley Faces

Before I really get into it, I don't mind Wal-Mart. Really, I don't. Where else can you get 4 for $5 pizzas and the latest Coldplay CD for $11.88? (Whereas at Borders or Hastings, you have to fork out $15). And they have a nice journal selection. Things are inexpensive and in one place, which I like because I am still trying to get on the other side of being a "poor college student" where I'll one day be able to afford to go to other places - you know, like ShopKo and Target. And if Wal-Mart employees don't like working there, they can quit and get a 9-5 salaried job like the rest of us who have moved up from being minimum wagers.

That being said, I have a rather hilarious story to tell.

I was at the new Wal-Mart in town getting a few things. While I was looking for a composition notebook, I came upon a group of "suits" from corporate Wal-Mart. I knew they were suits because... well, they were wearing suits as well as those cute little red, white and blue name tags. And they were oohing and aahing over a magnetic whiteboard as they walked (wasn't even a high-quality one, as far as I could tell - I was minding my own business, as usual). This would not have merited a mention, except the ringleader looked right at me and in his greatest impression of those yellow Wal-Mart smiley faces, he said *imitate goober falsetto happy voice* "HOW IS YOUR DAY GOING?!!!!!!"

I replied "okay" and continued on - they went on to talk to some "Maurice" that they probably have never met before but only knew his name because he had a Wal-Mart nametag on. Yet, they talked him "Liek - OMG! We're BESTEST BEST FRIENDZZZZ EVAR!!! LOL!!!"

I guess this is a thing with corporate people in general, that when they come to mingle inside the stores (or even restaurants - I've had experience with these in the food service industry as well) that they have to pretend to be the customers long-lost grandmother rather than have this relationship - "You own the store, you're here to make sure things are getting done - I am merely here because you are the only store in town that lets me buy $1 microwave dinners. We don't have to be BFFs, kthx."

Seriously, these guys were creepy. And I have seen enough magical girl anime to know that it's the creepy ones that you have to be the most wary of. (Honestly, if the heroine would just blast the first nit who came along with a terminal illness and/or a lot of money and a hot sports car, they'd be saved a lot of headaches... but the fans wouldn't have a story to enjoy... wait - what was a I talking about?)

Oh, but you want to know the best part of the story? I got up to checkout and I asked the cashier if they were being visited by corporate. She said she'd seen a few suits around. I told her that I saw a few and I knew they who they were because no normal person is that happy on a Monday. She laughed - I think it was a highlight of her day. I think that's a first - a customer "complaining" to a cashier about management. Usually it's the other way around. Really wasn't much of a complaint as it was a comment.

I can't imagine that corporate types are so deluded that they think they have to be sugary-sweet to the everyday customer that walks into the store. The regular employees know why we come in and we know why the employees work there. It is NOT because we're this huge happy Wal-Mart family or any of that other bullcrap that the sociology propaganda videos against Wal-Mart show you. We don't do the gay "Wal-Mart squiggly" cheer when we walk in the door. Most people working at Wal-Mart just need a job and didn't get beyond a high school education (some didn't even get that much). In fact, I suspect the only reason there's such a thing as a "Wal-Mart greeter" is to keep retired people from causing too much trouble being retired. And the customers are just there because we need to pick up a 58 cent 2-liter bottle of pop and a flat-screen TV. We're in, out and gone. End of story and I'll probably never see you again.

I have little patience with this kind of stupidity. And it's not exclusive to Wal-Mart either. Even in the most high-class stores in the mall this happens and would probably be worse if I showed up on a day when corporate came to call. I think stores need to have a sign out front that says "Warning - Corporate Goobs are here inspecting us. Beware of sugary-sweet idiocy and offers to wash your car and kiss your baby or your butt - whatever is bigger. Seriously, these guys are worse than presidential candidates in Iowa - they don't even offer taxpayer money to fund ethanol."

I'm not saying that they should be rude - but you don't have to go overboard to show how much you appreciate my business. You're getting $30 from me and I'm getting a week's worth of groceries from you. Fair exchange.

I'm one of those people that tries to keep salespeople away because I like finding what I need on my own. Funnily enough, I am smart enough for that (Just a thought: are there people who are so stupid they can't find what they need on their own?) And I find that salespeople complicate the process more than it needs to be complicated. If I need help, I will ask for it (and then hell will freeze over).

On the bright side: inspiration for a blog post can't be all bad. I guess these guys do have a function.

I have decided something...

When the Colts play the Patriots, I need to not watch the first half and then the Colts will pound the Patriots well before my blood-pressure goes skyrocketing.

It happened in 2007 - when the Colts played the Pats in the AFC Championship game, I turned off the game at halftime because New England was up a bazillion to 3 and I couldn't stand the Brady bootlicking. Then I turned on to see highlights later... only to find out that the Colts were going to the Super Bowl thanks to some fantastic 2nd half heroics.

It happened in 2009 - just two minutes ago - I turned off the TV partway through the 3rd quarter because Chicken-Neck drooling over the Patriots was making me physically ill. Then Dad called to see if I was watching the game and told me to turn it on because the Colts just might win. Good thing I did because then I could see the wonderful, wonderful-ness of Peyton Manning's last-minute scoring drives.

A few thoughts:

- I hate the Patriots.

- If there was one guy I could count on to screw things up, it's Austin Collie. WAY TO FREAKING GO LASSIE!!! WHY DO YOU DROP A PASS FROM PEYTON MANNING???!!! In the name of all that is good in heaven and earth, WHAT IS WITH THE RETARDED INTERFERENCE CALL???!!! Can't you at least pretend you're making the Utes fans miserable again? The Patriots do have red in their uniforms. I have two words for you: REDEEM YOURSELF!!

- I hate the Patriots.

- I find it hilarious that, during the post-game press conferences, Peyton Manning is dress like he just played a football game (ball cap, t-shirt) and Tom "Backstreet Boy" Brady is dressed for his next GQ shoot. Something that was pointed out during the game was that Brady and Manning are on a lot of magazine covers. And they showed some samples. Most of Brady's appearances were GQ and Esquire while Manning was on Sports Illustrated and ESPN Magazine. Gee - who's the more focused quarterback? (not to mention I think Peyton's a LOT more attractive than Brady).

- Pierre Garcon= LOVE

- Dallas Clark=LOVE!

- Reggie Wayne=DOUBLE LOVE!! (and love for the "Blue Crush" leap a la Lambeau there at the end. Every team needs something like that).

- I hate the Patriots.

- I hate Bill Belichick. I hate Tom Brady. I hate Randy Moss.

- I LOVE the Colts.

- It's interesting that the two 9-0 teams are the Colts and the Saints. For those who are uneducated in NFL history, Peyton's dad, Archie, played for the New Orleans Saints back-in-the-day. They weren't very good then, but obviously they've improved over they years. How would it be if the Colts played the Saints in the Super Bowl? Hm....

- Now Al and Chicken-Neck are talking about the idiocy of Belichick going for it on 4th and 2 - well, it's not hard to figure out. Belichick likes to run the score up on teams. If there's an off-chance he can beat the Colts by more than a touchdown, he'll take it and statistics be damned. Belichick and the Patriots are freaking emotional two-year-olds and they like to win as such. And they're pretty poor losers as well.

- I love how the Colts can win when they have no business winning a game. (see Week 2 vs. Dolphins) How can you not cheer for a team like that?

- I hate the Patriots.

- I LOVE THE COLTS!!

- (Austin Collie has some repenting to do)

- 9-0 SQUEE!!!

Orange Crushed - **HEROES SPOILERS**

I've stumbled upon the perfect solution for my Monday night conflicts. No longer need I choose between watching Monday Night Football and Heroes. I watch Monday Night Countdown on ESPN then the first little bit of the football game. Then, at 7:00, I turn on Heroes for an hour and by the time Heroes is over, it's the second half of the game, which is the most exciting part anyway. And I am no longer dependent on my internet connection for TV.

Before I get to the Heroes Rehash (Spoiler Warning #2), here are my thoughts on the the football game - Broncos vs. Steelers:

There was a lot of talk about "The Broncos lost last week, they have to avoid another loss." You know, when you're just "trying not to lose," you invariably lose. You have to play to win. Cliche, I know. But it's true (thus holding to the rule that a cliche is a cliche because it is true. Duh).

There are a lot of Terrible Towels in Denver. Ha ha-ha ha ha-ha ha (*insert that annoying laugh from that black-haired kid on Dexter's Laboratory. I forget his name). I don't like the Broncos. I don't care if they're the NFL team I live the closest too. Provo is closer to my hometown that anywhere, doesn't change anything there. I'm happy the Steelers won. And Ben Roethlisberger is extremely attractive. With all the good looking guys in football, I wonder why more girls don't watch football.

Speaking of quarterbacks - where did Denver find Kyle "Porn 'stache" Orton?

Troy Polamalu - Just put him in on offense too. He'll get you a touchdown.

I seriously thought they were going to interview Jimmy the Greek in the pregame. I got all excited. Then I remembered he was dead. Sometimes, I just fail at history. -_-'




Okay - on to Heroes:

***Spoilers Begin Here***Blogger Doesn't Let Me Cut***Neither Does Facebook***Punks***

I find Gretchen a little fickle. First she's all gung-ho about Claire's powers, then she bails at the first sign of trouble. I know Claire is trying to find friends and have a normal life, but even in normal life, those who do not stand by you in tough times are not your friends. Good message for everyone.

On the bright side, those sharks are safely penned away. For now.

Ultimately, if the medical career doesn't work out for Emma, she's has a brilliant future in music. Don't think she'll need it ^_^

Question: So... Peter can't see sounds anymore? I didn't think the powers he absorbed had an expiration date or anything. I always thought he got to keep them (that's what I thought in season 1, anyway). I'm still a little confused on how his power works.

Sylar called her "Mama Petrelli." Ha ha ha ha!! That made me giggle.

As did Matt's attempt at being the obstacle in Sylar's way. But, of course, we're talking about Matt "No Good Deed Goes Unpunished" Parkman. Things must go the way of the penguin, it's just the way his life is. As evidenced by next week's teaser where Peter heals him and Sylar/Nathan is standing there ready to cut open his head. And my Matty fangirl alarm goes off (Nooooo!!! Not my Matty!!)

Peter Petrelli is awesome. But I can't help but think that his healing ability is going to do more harm than good.

I also have a hunch that there is more to the story of Becky's dad and Daddy Bennet. Butterfly Man just likes to muddy the waters for Claire-bear (yes, I know his name is Samuel, but he's Butterfly Man. Hiro said so). And you certainly can't trust the sorority girl, either. Even when Noah was perceived as "The Bad Guy" - he's still doing what's in the best interest of the protagonists. Unlike Mama Petrelli, who just likes to screw with people. For this reason, I hope Sylar gets to her before Noah or Matt or Peter get the concrete shoes on him.

So, next week, we'll pick up where Hiro left off because that's the rotation. One week, we get Claire. The next is Hiro. Peter is every week because Milo Ventimiglia is too wonderful to be skipped and Matt gets put in as they can. Yes, I am that perceptive.

Well, I'm off to watch "V." It's finally on Hulu. Took them long enough.

The Price of Romance

I'm here watching Sunday Night Football and I know it's the Christmas buying season because of all the sappy jewelry commercials. And a blog topic occurs to me. No way am I going to let this opportunity slide.

So, I have a question - do diamonds really equate love? I mean, I know commercials are marketing ploys just to get a product's name out there and if you have the most memorable commercial people will buy your product. But honestly, I can't tell one jewelry commercial from the next. They all stinking look the same: guy and girl cuddling all sweetly in a blizzard or in front of a warm fireplace. Maybe she's a little clingier than usual. Guy is the epitome of gentlemanly chivalry - the kind that no living male could hope to be (I'm letting you guys off the hook here, you can thank me later). Using the powers of suave that would put James Bond to shame, he pulls out a black box that contains a diamond necklace or earrings or a ring. Girl expresses surprise - never mind that this has been his Christmas present routine to her the last five-ten years.

I can understand the diamond ring deal if it's an engagement ring (I may be cynical about all this romance crap, but I'm still female and an engagement is a special tradition that even I can't overlook). But I have a pair of earrings from Claire's that are pearl and cubic zirconium that I just love. They look the same as any diamond that any boyfriend could give me, I'm sure. I just don't get what the draw is for a guy to spend zillions of dollars on something that I probably won't wear very often because it's way too nice.

Sure, if you want to spend ten paychecks on something that just sits on my neck or finger or earlobes, I appreciate the gesture. But I'd rather that money be spent on something fun. Shoot, let's take the money and go to a football game together.

Besides, if all you give is nice jewelry, it gets boring. Seriously, how much thought goes into a piece of jewelry? That's the easy way out for a guy. Throw your girl a curveball once in a while - have you ever seen "Beauty and the Beast?" The Beast stresses about a nice present for Belle and he ends up giving her an entire library - something the bookish Belle can truly appreciate. And the Beast gets to save the diamond for another day when he can't think of anything else.

And then I wonder - what's a nice gift that a girl can give to the special guy in her life? The answer isn't quite as easy and it probably depends on what your guy's interests are. She really has to know what he'd like and actually have to put some thought into what she's going to give him. But it's kind of weird - he gives her a "Past, Present, Future" pendant and she gives him "Grand Theft Auto" for the PS3 (well, I guess each couple has their own tastes - maybe I just think it's weird).

Just my musings... these jewelry commercials are stinking boring. And I've never been in any kind of relationship where a guy would feel compelled to buy me something nice, so maybe that's where the cynicism comes from. Meh... take it for what it's worth.

(Man, I keep popping my neck and it feels good. My neck has been giving me grief lately. That would be a gift I could appreciate right now - someone to massage my neck and back.)

*shakes head* Wishful Thinking **SPOILER WARNING**

(x-posted from LiveJournal)

**SPOILER WARNING** If you aren't caught up to speed on the current season of "Heroes," I would suggest going to Hulu.com right now and watching the latest episodes rather than read this post.

sigh... ABC isn't as faithful as NBC or Fox on putting up new episodes. I've heard some good things about this new "V" show. Problem is, I didn't catch the pilot episode. So, I thought I'd just watch it on Hulu... yeah, they're not going to stream it until Saturday - with director's commentary and the like.

Mmmm... don'care... I just want to watch it. Forget all the fluffy frills, just let me watch the darn thing already!!

At least if I miss Heroes or 24, I will be assured of the new ep the next day.

Oh, speaking of Heroes, I have been watching it on Hulu (either my computer or my internet connection - or both - wreak havoc with life, so the quality is pretty jumpy. Or it must be Hulu - because I watch stuff on Veoh and it doesn't have issues). So far, it's pretty good. I should be recapping it on my blogs, just to give me something to write about since topics for gossip have been sparse lately.

Well, I'll just put them here.

***SPOILERS BEGIN HERE!!! THOU HAST HAD WARNING ENOUGH!!!***

Claire going to college - well and good. Gretchen's little crush - eeeesh... I swear, I had flashes of the Fonz on water skis over shark-infested waters. The possibility of the cheerleader going homosexual? My loyal readers know my feelings on this topic in general, so I won't go into to it here, but...puh-leaze - it sounds like something a horrible fan-fiction slash writer would come up with. It's been done, folks and not in a quality way. It's been so overdone that there is no possible way to bring it back from the Plotline Hell that it's been rightly condemned to. Have you guys been so stuck for inspiration that you have to troll FanFiction.net for ideas? Or watch "American Pie"-type movies?

(for the record, I haven't seen any "American Pie" movies - but the homosexual cheerleader is just... it's one of those things that you don't think of as happening in real life, so people have to write it in trash fiction over and over again and... it's worn out. Sounds like something those kinds of movies would depict, anyway.)

Hiro - DYING???!!!! NOT COOL!! Keep in mind, I haven't seen last season and it's obvious I missed quite a bit. I tried to find some stuff on Wikipedia, but it's hard for me to follow. I guess I'll have to splurge and get the third season on DVD (Christmas is coming, after all). Anyway, Hiro dying is not cool (oh yeah, I covered that), but it is incredibly sweet how he is accepting it. But Charlie probably accepted it more three years ago than Hiro is now. Still - just the fact that Hiro's embracing his super-hero role even to the end... sigh... they can't really kill him, can they? *puppy-dog eyes*

Two things that broke my heart:

1. Hiro telling Kimiko that he's dying.
2. Butterfly Man telling Hiro that Charlie is trapped in some time-space whatever. (sorry - I'm bad with new character's names). A sad Hiro is not a happy thing. If you make Hiro sad - you are just a sick and twisted individual and you are going to roast in hell. There, I said it (so it is written, so shall it be done).

But can I get a big hand for Emma? (okay, sign language for "applause!!") Seeing sounds as colors? That is stinking cool! And whatever offensive/defensive properties this has - that's just amazing!

Matt's just always had bad luck. No good deed goes unpunished. And it seems that Noah Bennet is having the same problem. Oy - I'm starting to think it pays to be a bad guy (well, until the season finale, that is... but even then... forget I brought it up...)

Sylar. Sylar, Sylar, Sylar... you're life is just screwed up, man. But I prefer the vulnerable, innocent(ish) amnesia'd version. Much less trouble. Unless your name is Matt Parkman. Then you simply hate life.

...sigh... Oto-san Nakamura's dead - Daddy Bennet is living in the projects, yet we still have Mama Petrelli causing all kinds of heartburn. When can we call in a meteor strike on her house? Or the Haitian? Something! I'm getting tired of her BS. Maybe Peter can put us out of our misery with that wall-cracking rainbow-sound thing he picked up from Emma?

So far, that's all I've got. Or at least all that's stuck so far. More will come later, I'm sure.

Try the Priest - It's Heavenlys

Just came back from Utah State's production of "Sweeney Todd" (I figured all the "Attend the tale..." headlines were old. And that was one of my favorite lyrics).

Well, I've been to USU theater productions before and - dang, they are awesome. This was no exception. These are my initial thoughts:

- Holy cow - Sweeney can sing! There was one note he held for - I swear, two minutes. And - how many guys can sing about "pretty women" and his lovely little daughter while offing people left and right. Kind of felt bad for the guy. Awesome performance (the guy who played Sweeney is in one of my roommate's classes - I wonder if he'd give out autographs - ha ha)

- Mrs. Lovett - is insane. And the girl who played her was amazing. I think it's harder to play crazy, funny characters than serious, dramatic roles for the simple fact that it's hard to ham it up and keep a straight face. I admire people who can do it. Brilliant performance!

- One of my mission companions had seen the Tim Burton version of Sweeney Todd and she had told me how people sit in Sweeney's barber chair and once he kills them, they slide off the chair down into the place where Mrs. Lovett makes her pies. Well, that's all well and good for movies (Tim Burton is a freakin' creative genius), but I was curious how the stage production would pull that off. Basically - not to spoil anything - the "dead" actor just kind of slides off into a trapdoor. It's pretty slick. I wonder how long they had to practice to look dead but still get down the chute without breaking something. Personally, I would probably whap my elbow or land and break my ankle. I'm sure my screaming in pain would break some of the suspension of disbelief for the audience. Just a hunch...

- Mad props go to the... well, prop department (ha ha... heh...) It never ceases to amaze me what they come up with for scenery and stage.

- Toby for the WIN!!! Dang, that kid is a crazed little bugger. And he pulled off creepy like nobody's business (it's always the innocent ones) I thought Mrs. Lovett was a piece of work. I didn't see that one coming - honestly, I thought the kid was dead. But he offs Sweeney? Granted, by that point, Sweeney was a broken shell of a human being, but Toby rubs it in nicely. I'm just sad that he won't get his muffler now... aw...

- And how 'bout Johanna shooting the prison guard? About time she showed some gusto. (Anthony's a wuss... does he ever find out that Sweeney was Johanna's father? Does Johanna find out, for that matter? Just curious...)

All in all - you USU theater peeps did a great job. Hats off to you - 3.5 out of 4 cannibalistic meat pies (razors are extra - just in time for Halloween).

Prayers Are Answered

Okay, so, I've had a pretty crappy few days (no details - that's all you need to know). And not twenty minutes ago, the phone rang and it was one of my friends from Florida, Keshia, calling out of the blue just to see how I was. And we started talking and I told her how I was feeling about things and life. And she just cheered me up with her attitude and personality. Man, I love this woman like she was my older sister - she's seen it all, but it doesn't matter. She doesn't play the victim and expect people to pity her. She goes out and uses her wisdom and experience to help others. And she helped me today, without even really knowing that I was struggling.

I'm so glad I met her! I haven't felt like I could talk to anybody about my problem because they'd think it was stupid or I was being selfish - and to be honest, I do feel a little selfish for feeling this way. But Keshia set me right - I don't have to feel selfish because everyone has something that weighs them down. But you need to walk out that door and thank the Lord for this day because it's a blessing. Stop living in the past, enjoy the present because that's what God gave you (direct quote from Keshia - considering what she's been through in her past, it carries a lot of weight). And everything is going to turn out okay.

I really owe a lot to Keshia - even though I'm supposed to be helping other people on my mission, she helped me a lot with my confidence and... well, to use her words: Before I went to Florida, I was Fluff. Now I'm a Rock. And because of my experiences, I'll be a Rock for my husband and children. And don't doubt because Satan wants you to doubt. But we can kick his sorry behind out of our lives!

(I'm just trying to get this all down before I have to go to work - and I had my blog up before Keshia called, so it was convenient)

She might even be coming up to visit - I felt bad when she asked me when I'd be coming to see her in Florida and I told I didn't know because I just don't have the money. But she said that was okay because she might have it worked out to where she could come up here next year. And to call her anytime, day or night.

It was good to talk to her.

I know Heavenly Father is mindful of us and He answers our prayers in unexpected ways. He answered mine today.

After a Week of Neglect...

(Re-posted from LJ)

It's time for a blog dump! Oh, I went back and back to see how long I've been blogging (not on Blogspot, but other places) and my first blog was posted more than four years ago. Aw... the memories ^_^

Letssee... (ooh ooh - "New Moon" TV spot - pardon the ADD moment... okay, I'm back) ... the actual week was okay - nothing crazy to report. My second job asked if I could post my articles on his blogs, which amounts to some extra hours (yay!!) Then the weekend - I went home because our stake was having big devotional at the Manti Temple (like, in the upper priesthood room; like, a once-in-a-lifetime big deal thing). That was pretty sweet and I enjoyed it.

Also, we had our family Halloween party (apparently, this tradition started while I was on my mission - it's a tradition I can support, though). A few nights before, I decided I was going to go as one of the Twilight vampires (didn't have a particular one in mind, just whoever), so I had to scramble for what I needed. I had makeup (I'm fair-skinned as it is, so I just had to go a little paler) and some cool looking high heeled boots. I went online to see how to be a Twilight vampire and they all said you had to have colored contacts, which I can see. But I already wear prescription contacts and getting colored prescription contacts for one night is pretty stupid (I'm NOT going around with yellow eyes in real life). But - intelligent me, forgot the button-up shirt that I'd found to wear, so I had to turn my Gators shirt inside out (lucky it was black). But it was cool. When I go to the Scream on Friday, at least I won't be leaving parts of my costume other places.

(TV-ADD Moment: Oh jeez, these Redskins stink...)

The party was fun - got to see some cousins that I don't always get to see. Then Saturday, Mom and Dad went to the Utes game and I stayed in Delta with my sisters and the dog.

I have a beef, however - Why is it that Utah State's football team, who aren't exactly headed for any championships anytime soon, can get on ESPN, but the two teams in the state that are ranked in the BCS (Utah and BYU) have to cater to the small fish at Versus and Comcast? We have DirecTV at home and the idiots at Comcast has bought out Versus and said that no one else can carry that channel. Versus was the ONLY chance Mountain West fans had to watch the games on TV because we have to have that insanely retarded mtn. channel - it's not even big league enough to spell anything out, I'd like to point out (hate you, Dave Checketts, HATE YOU!!!) It sucks that I can watch every NFL game that I want, but I can't even get a simple local college team on TV. Sigh... an argument that's been levied for at least three years and probably will be revisited until the rest of forever. It's like universal health care - no one wants it, but they snuck it through and now that we have it, we can't get rid of it.

Oh well - the Utes won. BYU got spanked. Even though they beat BYU, TCU is fast becoming the Patriots of the Mountain West - where the crap did they come from, can we please shut up about them and will the Utes please beat the snot out of them? I just don't want them beating MY team, that's all.

(TV-ADD Moment - I usually love adaptations of "A Christmas Carol," but this Disney 3D version looks like a hack job just so they can have a kiddie 3D Christmas movie. Hm...)

And last night, I got back at 12:30 am - and I'm getting a cold (Zicam, NyQuil and orange juice are on hand), so I am wiped out.

PS - Amazon.com is selling Sarah Palin's new book for $9.oo for pre-order (plus shipping - amounts to about $13.00). Beats the nearly $30 that it will be once it's out. Just a little free promotion for Governor Palin (future President Palin ^_^)

Welcome to the Imagi-Nation!

**This is meant for any of my writer friends or others who considers themselves an intellectual or creative type. Even if you don't think you are, chances are you'll find an application here anyway.**

Wow - had an excellent Institute class today (given - I've never had a non-excellent Institute class. I've long since determined that, like Apparating inside Hogwarts or outrunning Edward Cullen or the Detroit Lions having a winning season, this is impossible). I gained some great insights that apply to me and quite possibly a lot of people and I feel compelled to share them.

Currently, I'm in a class on the Pearl of Great Price. It's a short book, but it's chock full of great doctrine, if you dig deep enough (oh boy, do we ever dig!) Right now, we're talking about the Creation and how science and religion add up, but that's not what intrigued me today. It's something our teacher said. At the beginning of class, he held up a brick and asked us all to list as many uses for a brick as we could in 60 seconds. So, we did - at the end of the time, he asked us to tell us how many things we thought of - the class average was around 15. To illustrate the point, when he would do this exercise as a student, the class would come up with 30-50 uses.

Conclusion: we are less creative and imaginative nowadays. We let other people be creative and we just be entertained by their creativity.

To tie all this into the Creation, he asked us a series of questions: What does God imagine? What kinds of things does God daydream about (inasmuch as He would daydream - just go with me here)? What does the Greatest Creative Genius in the universe imagine in His free time? And how does that show our potential as His children?

He said some things that really struck me that I want to share. Of all God's creations, we are the only ones that have the ability to imagine - to create literature and art, to build a space station, to develop the Internet, to reason, to philosophize. BUT - what does that amount to in each of us?

And this is the one that hit home: Are you letting someone else's imagination stifle yours?

I had to think on that one. I've been working on a novel since high school that has gone through so many incarnations, for better or worse (I hope better). Sometimes, when I find a fellow writer friend, I will share some of my ideas because I am so in love with this story and the characters and I really, really, REALLY want to write it and I want to have a sounding board. But sometimes (not all the time, but now and then) the person I share it with says "Why did you call your town X? That sounds a lot like the town from book Y." Or even - I'll read a new book and there'll be something in the plot that resembles something I've included in mine, and that'll frustrate me because I feel like I'm the last one to the table and I can't do that now because someone else did. For instance: I picked up a book that retells the legend of King Arthur from the perspective of the women in the story and one of the characters had a piece of jewelry that resembled something I had one of my characters own. And I'd never read this book before - it was pure coincidence! (not to mention, English majors are conditioned to be deathly afraid of anything remotely resembling plagiarism. It's like the swine flu of the literary world).

Sadly, I concluded that I do let others' imaginations stifle my own. And it's not solely reserved for my writing, either. I've wanted to pursue a Masters degree since I knew it was something I could do, but I wasn't sure what I wanted to study - I had a boatload of options and Masters degrees in any field of English are highly specialized. You have to pick Medieval Literature or Studies in 20th Century American Folklore or Literary Fiction or Poetry ... the list goes on.

While I was on my mission, I decided that I wanted to do it in Library Science. So, when I got home, I started researching programs, picked one that felt right and began applying. I am in the ending phases of the application process and I am very pleased with myself and there are others who are happy for me. But - there are a few that give me funny looks when I tell them I'm getting my Masters degree to become a librarian. It's like "You'll have spent six years in school just to be a librarian?"

Honestly - it hurts. And I started to second-guess my decision, just like I second-guess my story decisions. Decisions that I have pondered long and hard on (yes, I think LONG and HARD on my story - I've worked on it this long, it's going to be good, gosh dang it!) And I hate second-guessing my decisions - makes me feel like all the work I've done is a waste and I'm no good at anything. And even though the criticism might not really be worth my time or even energy, somehow it gets stuck. It's something I have to deal with - that's when I go to the people whose opinion really does matter - usually a member of my family or a close friend and they put me straight and all is well with the world.

But the lesson in Institute really helped. It's nice to know that part of my purpose is to be creative (shoot, creation is one of God's hobbies, why can't it be one of mine? Maybe not on the plane that He operates, but I can work in my own sphere. "Worlds without end" "My words never cease" - sounds like a pretty creative God to me).

I have a really creative mind, you know (at least, I like to think so). I don't mean to sound prideful or full of myself, but I'm a good writer and it's something I enjoy (and I love books and nothing would thrill me more than to be a professional bookworm ^_^). I just have to stop taking what other people say to heart as much as I do (unless it's warranted - but that's on a case-by-case basis).

That's my story - hope it helped any of you creative-imagination-driven types out there. What do you think? Let me know! (even if it's bad - hey, if I'm ever going to be published, I need to get used to negative feedback).

And I'm going to post this now before it gets any longer. But it's something good to muse about (ha ha - "muse" - no pun intended ^_^)

The Honeymoon is Over

So... I downloaded a boatload of PotterCasts (pretty much everything I missed on my mission) and I downloaded the audiobook for "Harry, a History" by Melissa Anelli (who is also a PotterCaster and the webmistress of The Leaky Cauldron. And calm down - I downloaded it from Audible.com, so it's legal). I've been listening to all these - and, quite honestly, everyone is getting on my nerves. Sue's constant apologetic tone for theories and reporting the news is annoying. Melissa's thinly veiled attempts at political-correctness-and-objectivity-that-really-isn't ticks me off. Even John's jokes have gotten vulgar. Frak is okay - to a point (I guess since I've been introduced to him in post-mission life, I can handle him).

I guess it's time to move on. As I listened to Melissa's book, I realized how little I have to do with that fandom anymore (that I probably never had much to do with the hardcore geekery in the first place). Oh, I'm still excited about the next Harry Potter movie and the possibility of going to The Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park in Orlando - but Leaky has gone too liberal for me (or maybe they always were and I had the excitement of the books to disguise it).

I dunno... between dealing with the "Dumbledore is gay! Hooray!" puke-fest and the socialist HP Alliance, I feel like my fandom's been hijacked by people whose opinions routinely spit in my face and insult me on a personal level constantly.

A note related to Dumbledore's sexual preferences: as part of my playing catchup, I listened to PC's "Harry goes to Comic Con" live show. Here, Melissa and several others were part of a Harry Potter panel. Most of the audience, it seemed, were there for things other than Harry Potter. Someone, not of the HP fandom, brought up the question of what Dumbledore's "outing" had done to the fandom. Someone from either the Sugar Quill or Fiction Alley (neither of which I frequent, seeing as how I am not a fanfiction devotee) responded that it was great because they finally had ammo to throw at all the "hateful" people who requested that fanfiction be kept clean and that homophobia has no place in Harry Potter, so get out you intolerant non-homosexual religious person, you!

That's not exactly how it was said, but that's how I felt after she said what she said. And the fact that people cheered for it just rubbed salt in the wound. It's the first time that a podcast has made me cry. Honestly, I thought all that hullabaloo would die down and life would go back to normal, but I guess it hasn't and it won't.

I don't believe homosexuality is moral or even natural - BUT I don't believe that makes people who have chosen to be homosexual inherently evil. I believe they are human just like the rest of us and, just like the rest of us, they make mistakes that can thankfully be forgiven through the Atonement. The choices they make are between them and their Creator and none of my business.

Don't Harry Potter fans know what it's like to be laughed at and ridiculed for something they treasure? Sorry, but my moral values are a touch more deeply held than my love of Potter and they come first. I never knew that Harry Potter fans could be bullies, but when you get to interview JK Rowling and are on Scholastic and Warner Brothers' speed dial, I guess there comes a point where you become "The Man" that you fought so hard against.

(As an aside, I laughed during the Wizard Rock chapter when the DeGeorge brothers of "Harry and the Potters" fame, who had worked so hard to flourish and not sell out of mainstream rock and "stick it to The Man" suddenly became "The Man" of Wizard Rock when they told Alex Carpenter of "The Remus Lupins" that he couldn't perform unless he was opening for the Potters. Talk about hypocrisy. I was happy when Alex told them - in effect - "screw you" and continued to play. I knew there was a reason I preferred his music over the others.)

Anyway, that's one example of how I suddenly feel disenfranchised by my once-fandom-of-choice. And it doesn't feel like I can do much about it because I'm just one person - one person who's been out of the loop for a year and a half doing something that, quite frankly, I'm sure I would get laughed at if I were to mention it on the boards at Leaky.

Mission life changes you. You see things you once loved in a new light and, sometimes, that stuff has to drop out of your life. I still enjoy the Harry Potter books, but the fandom continues to disappoint. I'm not ready to give it up completely - I promised myself I would finish listening to all these PotterCasts - maybe some kind of redemption is possible, but I doubt it. However, I hear Twilight has a big following - maybe I can find some intellectual grownups over there.

Or, maybe I should just read the books and forget about any kind of fandom interaction. I know I'll listen to my own theories.

(x-posted)

FAIL, NFL. MASSIVE FAIL

Rush Limbaugh is dropped from a group to buy the St. Louis Rams. I will try to keep the capslock to a minimum, but no promises.

This has gotten me so infuriated. Number one: Rush Limbaugh can't buy an NFL team, but Keith Olbermann can flap his gums during analysis on Sunday Night Football? And people say it's not the same thing, but Olbermann is involved with the NFL's public image more than Rush would be because Keith is on TV. Tell me what is wrong with this picture because I'm apparently too stupid to get it.

Honestly? Fans don't care who the team owner is - unless your team stinks (which, the Rams are awful - sorry, it's true). NFL fans knows the name of one, maybe two people who owns any professional sports team (everyone knows who Jerry Jones is because ESPN craps their pants every time someone associated with the Dallas Cowboys bends down to tie their shoe). The players don't care because they get paid as long as they play well - even some who don't play well get paid. To my knowledge, no active NFL players have said anything about his bid for the team (I've heard some vague reference to "players who wouldn't play" for Rush, but none were named. Granted, that came from the players unions, so I don't know how reliable that information is).

BUT... the lovely players unions have to get involved (which, because of the unions, there may be an NFL lockout next year). And Commissioner Roger Goodell... I really respected him because the NFL hasn't had a lot of problems other pro leagues have had largely due to his efforts, but his comments on Rush's ownership of the Rams are hypocritical, especially after he let Michael Vick back into the league (which, great that he's forgiving and what-have-you). Even the owner of my Colts, Jim Irsay, has to give his two cents and that ticked me off (to illustrate my earlier point, this is first I've heard the name of the Indianapolis Colts owner and I've been following them for a good ten-twelve years).

Number two: Rush has been a big fan of the NFL for a long time. He references football quite often on his show and discusses it when it comes up, to the chagrin of some listeners that would rather Rush "stick to the issues." But it's something he enjoys and, honestly - it's fun. After a day of deconstructing liberal idiocy, everyone needs hobby. So, Rush has had success in his career and he wants to use his OWN MONEY to dabble in a hobby of his and they all say "Oh no, you can't do that because you're controversial and we can't have any controversy in sports" (Controversy? Sports? No...) Rush has given the NFL quite a bit of free airtime on his show. It's mostly water-cooler-type talk, but it's still coverage. Next question: Is this how you repay someone who has been a fan for years and years and now has the means to be involved on an executive level? Good grief - you let the morally-image-challenged Fergie buy a share of the Miami Dolphins but nobody's getting their shorts in a wad over that.

99.9% of controversy around Rush comes because the idiot out-of-context media can't quote him right on anything. I've listened to Rush since childhood and I am hard pressed to think of something that was LEGITIMATELY racist (you know, something that wasn't sarcasm or a joke. I guess conservatives aren't allowed to joke. Add that to the list right underneath "like football" - by the way, to any liberals that are lurking around here, I was making a joke.. Go ahead and take me out of context and run me through the mud. I eagerly await a call from Katie Couric - wait, I wouldn't even have that much notice, would I?).

The Rams need help. They are 0-5 (good grief, the Detroit Lions, who were winless last season and are perpetually awful, have a better record than the Rams) and have stunk for a while. I've said it since it was announced Rush was part of the bid to buy the team: Rush knows football and he would certainly be an asset to any organization that wants to win. And I have to point out that (A): Rush wasn't even the head of this operation. Dave Checketts was (which, I'm not a Checketts fan for reasons too numerous and too unrelated to get into here) and (B): The Rams aren't even officially up for sale yet (the organization is only reviewing the team's ownership, which means there's a chance they won't be sold at all - correct me if I'm reading this wrong).

You know, my mom is the biggest fan of the St. Louis Rams and has been since she was a little kid - she was vindicated when they first won the Super Bowl. And I liked them too. And I wished they would do better. But after this nonsense, I hope they pull a Detroit Lions (and they're on the road to it). Apologies to St. Louisians, but this is so ridiculous.

(x-posted)

Well, I've Never Done This Before

You'd all laugh at me - I'm sitting here with a cold washcloth perched on top of my head because I cracked my head on the corner of our very poorly designed kitchen cabinet. And it won't stop bleeding (at least it isn't pooling blood like it was an hour ago - oy, that was scary). So, now I have a goose egg on my head (and I gave it a nice cold-compress nest to sit in. I'm sooo nice).

Just what you all wanted to know, I'm sure.

PS, The Colts won tonight. They basically won in the first half, so we football TV watching-types have to suffer through listening to Chicken Neck try to make a 28-9 game exciting. I almost feel sorry for Tennessee, but it's their fault for not playing better. But my vomit reflexes at all the Austin Collie-love are getting more and more under control. I guess it helps when he scores touchdowns for your team. It would make it easier if they didn't keep referring to the fact he went to Zoobie-land. My flashback reflexes are as good as any (again, I blame Collinsworth. Everything bad that happens is Collinsworth's fault because I can't stand the idiot).

Oh - here's another question that people can't seem to shut up about: According to the NFL Players Union, it's not okay that Rush Limbaugh wants to buy part of the St. Louis Rams. If it's so terrible that a political commentator wants to be involved in professional sports, why in the world is Keith Olbermann doing analysis for Sunday Night Football? I'm more irked that Dave Checketts is connected with the deal - it's his fault I can't watch the Utes on KJZZ anymore - him and his stupid mtn. scheme to fund his retarded soccer team. But that's neither here nor there.

If anyone stands to gain, it's the Rams. They've pretty much sucked the last few years (sorry, Mom, it's true). Rush Limbaugh is a football guru. He's not going to make a bad investment on a team that stinks (notice he's not buying part of the Detroit Lions). Insofar as owners have a bearing on team success, he's going to protect his investment by doing everything in his power (hiring decisions and what-have-you) to help the team do better. So - if players want to win, they can tell the players union to put a sock in it.

I'm pretty skeptical of players unions anyway (actually, unions of any kind are bad news). They're the reason professional seasons get locked out and everybody loses out on watching the games. As far as fans are concerned, players unions are run by Satan himself. Oh for the day when he is bound!!

(That was a long PS)

No More Twitter!!!

I found this video on YouTube. Pretty much describes why I am not - and never will be - on Twitter. Miley Cyrus just won +zillions of points in my book



(Does anyone else have a weird mental image whenever you hear "So-and-so is on Twitter?" It sounds like some kind of drug.)

Why Can't We Be Friends?

I'm listening to PotterCast, playing catch-up from the 18-month hole of my fandom life. I'm to the point where Half-Blood Prince was moved to summer 2009 instead of Thanksgiving 2008, which, I was happy about because it meant I got to see the sixth movie in theaters when I got home, instead of having to settle for waiting for it on DVD. The non-mission fandom was pissed, with good reason. I would have been the same if I was home. But I wasn't and I'm selfish, so I'm glad Warner Brothers made the change. So there *blows raspberry*

But here's another thing that I'm annoyed about: they just keep ragging and ragging on Twilight! And I am very upset by it. In my view, you cannot compare Harry Potter and Twilight in terms of content and story. Harry Potter is a coming-of-age fantasy story about a kid who has to defeat evil. Twilight is a semi-clean romance/fantasy novel geared toward teenage and adult females (and their boyfriends or husbands that want to impress them) about a girl who falls in love with a vampire and they have to find a way to make their relationship work. The only thing HP and Twilight have in common is that they're fantasy. Hell, they don't even take place on the same frickin' continent! (well - "New Moon" goes to Italy for a short stint, but that's about it). I personally think they are both very well-written and geared for their audiences, which are certainly NOT the same. The only reason - and I mean the ONLY reason - they get compared is because they both gained huge fanbases so quickly (and Robert Pattinson was in the fourth Harry Potter movie). I enjoy both for different reasons and there is nothing wrong with it.

This reminds me of the idiotic "competition" between the Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings movies back in 2001-2003. It's so incredibly stupid. You are allowed to like more than one thing - it's not going to kill you. Honestly, you really don't even have to like anything, but give it a rest already! Sheesh.

I have to say this: I was initially impressed by Twilight because it was a fantasy/romance (and I am a hopeless romantic-type, so I tend to gravitate toward those things), it was a vampire novel, which I usually eschew because most vampire stories are all about sex (like, graphic, X-rated porno sex. No. Thank. You.) - but this one WASN'T. And it was good!! It also didn't hurt that Stephenie Meyer is a Mormon - REPRESENT!! I was excited because here was a member of the LDS Church that was having success in a genre related to the one that I want to pursue in my own career and I wasn't sure if I could do it and still keep to my deeply-held values and standards. But Stephenie Meyer did (at least, as far as I know) and that gives me hope in my own goals and ambitions (not saying she hasn't come into her own share of negativity, but you get that with anything).

PC isn't the only place that I've seen HP fans getting their panties in a bunch over Twilight. A well-loved HP icon maker on LiveJournal even is on this tirade (or was a few months ago - I was looking at some of her stuff). And the PotterCast I'm listening to mentioned that one of the wizard rock bands (I forget which one - everyone and their Kneazle has a wizard rock band) made a snide comment about Twilight, saying it was the Hannah Montana of fantasy (idiot - why do you say stuff like that at ComiCon?) And, as far as PotterCast is concerned, I guess it's just John Noe being John Noe (darn Slytherins).

You know, just because the media are a bunch of blowhards that can't make any kind of substantial comparison doesn't mean we fans have to be at each others' throats. Both Twilight and Harry Potter tell good stories that haven't been told before. If one isn't your cup of tea, you don't have to trash it. Until Stephenie Meyer says something snotty about Harry Potter or until JK Rowling says that Twilight is retarded, I want everyone to keep their inane opinions to themselves. If anything, just be happy for one another's success. Good grief, MuggleNet is affiliated with a fansite for Eragon (or they were last I checked) - which, Christopher Paolini isn't exactly Shakespeare. But, hey, there is plenty of fandom love to go around for everybody. I for one am willing to give anything a chance (Exhibit A: Philip Pullman - I finished the entire Golden Compass series before I decided that I didn't like it. And I haven't picked it up since. But I don't go on fansites or whatever and say "OMG U SUCK!" because that is a waste of my time and energy (and there will likely be people that do that to me if my book is ever published).

Seriously, people - get over it.

I know this is old news, but I want to carp about it because I didn't get to when it first happened. And it was all over the place, but that's me and my blogging.

Update - It's Cold. And it Only Gets Colder

It seems that I only update when I watch football and not so much updating on regular-life things. So, this is the quick version from my weekend.

Friday - Drove to Salt Lake for my Emporia interview (for the people that I don't tell things to - which amounts to pretty much everyone - I'm applying to Emporia State University's Masters of Library Science program. They have a distance program that comes to Utah every two years and it's pretty sweet). Interview went great - don't want to jinx myself by saying anything else.

The interview was at 8:00 pm and the genius in me had planned to drive to Delta from Salt Lake that night. It really wasn't that bad. By the time I got to Delta, I was ready to put my feet up and watch a movie or something - if it wasn't midnight already.

Saturday - General Conference weekend - yay!!! Temples announced - double yay!!! (wish one was in Jacksonville - be a nice excuse to go visit... oh well...)

Mom had a Lia Sophia jewelry party. Not much to report there.

Sunday - more General Conference - and TiVo'd football (thanks Dad!) Indianapolis ate Seattle's lunch (why does Seattle have a football team, anyway?) - Mom's hatred of BYU is extending into the NFL. She says I can't cheer for the Colts because Austin Collie plays for them (I'm pretty sure she's being facetious, but sometimes it's hard to tell). As for me, I don't care. Sure, I have painful flashbacks to 2007 when he scored and beat the Utes in the last seconds every time I see him on screen (why-oh-why does he have to wear number 17?) - but as long as he doesn't screw anything up for the Colts, I can get over it. Bear in mind, the first touchdown pass he drops, he's dog food.

Sadly - the internet was down at home, which stunk.

Anyway, I came home after Conference (by the way - Elder Holland is wonderful. On my mission, I wished more than once that I could just play his talks for people as I tracted because he dominates the socks off everyone). It took me four and a half hours in the rain to drive back to Logan. I can't wait until I don't have to drive insanely long distances at the end of a weekend (feh - yeah right). On the other hand, I got a lot of good thinking done and worked out a few plot points for you book fan-types (all two of you).

Okay, dinner's ready and I have to go - yay for homemade chicken soup!!