The Abominable Snowman Meets the Wild Wild West

Today saw the brand new trailer for City Slickers Part 3 Doctor Who Series 7.  Let the rampant speculation begin!



This is serious. Who thought we'd see the day when the Doctor actually wished to face down Daleks?

Lighting the Spark - Review of "The Hunger Games"

SPOILER WARNING for "The Hunger Games" movie. Read at your own risk.  This is your ONE and ONLY warning!

I've made it no secret that I am eternally impressed by "The Hunger Games" book series by Suzanne Collins.  In fact, all of the dystopian fiction I've consumed since reading this trilogy has been held up against the story of Katniss Everdeen and her rise from poor, starving girl from the backwoods of District 12 to inadvertently inciting a rebellion against the Capitol of Panem.  When news came that this series would be made into a movie, my only hope was "Please don't screw it up, Please don't screw it up."  And I am happy to report that they did NOT screw it up.

From the trailer, this movie looks like any flashy, showy, big-time summer blockbuster (even though it was released at the beginning of spring - eh, nit-pickiness there).  Vivid effects, awesome background music, intense voice-overs - the whole enchilada (oh, and that little issue of playing up the love-triangle that every young adult novel MUST have that is truly only secondary in this story).  But the movie opens up with stark white lettering on a black background that briefly describes the point of Panem's Hunger Games.  Then, they cut to a seemingly innocuous interview of Seneca Crane (head Gamemaker) conducted by Caesar Flickerman (oh, Caesar Flickerman - how you amuse me so).  That part's flashy and self-important - all the smugness that the Capitol has to offer and prides itself on.

And then - cut to the absolutely bloodcurdling scream of a young girl.

District 12 - Katniss Everdeen comforts her little sister, Prim, who is about to endure her first Reaping - where her name is entered for the first time as part of the selection of the Tributes for the Hunger Games.  No music, no effects, no flash - just a terrified twelve-year-old girl waking from a nightmare and being reassured by her older sister.  That is where "The Hunger Games" works so well - in the emotional, gut-wrenching punch of the premise.  And they go for it right from the start.

I'm not going to give a play-by-play account of the movie, but that opening scene struck me very hard.  Maybe it's because I have younger sisters and a niece now, but the entire sequence in the lead-up to the actual Reaping was something I won't soon forget.  It was so simple in the storytelling - just showing the humble people of District 12 trying to get by with what they have, with a special focus on Katniss and Prim.  It makes the moment when Effie Trinket draws Prim's name out of the Reaping bowl so much more. Because we love Prim and we know that Katniss loves Prim and we see how much Prim depends on Katniss for physical needs and emotional support and this is not going to be an easy movie to sit through.

Keep in mind - almost no background music in about the first twenty minutes of this movie.  It doesn't need it. At all.

I want to say a few things about the casting of this movie.  First of all - whoever got Donald Sutherland to play President Snow needs a bonus.  In the books, President Snow is the creepiest, freakiest guy ever (and with all the creepy, freaky stuff in the Capitol, that is saying something) and Sutherland plays him to the hilt.  There is a little bit of an attempt at being the kindly grandfather of the Capitol, relishing the festivities surrounding the Games, but underneath that exterior is something cold and menacing - especially toward anyone who mucks about with the Games.  You know how Alan Rickman totally owned the role of Professor Snape? Donald Sutherland does the same thing for President Snow.

I also enjoyed the addition of the scenes between Snow and Seneca Crane where Snow berates Crane for certain things that happen in the Games (mostly things that Katniss does  out of sheer human decency).  Those things didn't happen in the books because the books are 100% told from Katniss' POV, but the movie pulled them off well.

Speaking of additions to the movie - the scene where Haymitch is in the Capitol and sees a boy chasing a girl with a toy sword was wonderful.  Because there's a boy in the Hunger Games arena who has a real sword and uses it to cut down other Tributes (even gets Peeta with it at one point).  So many things in this movie hearken to a line in the book, after Katniss volunteers to take Prim's place.  Speaking of the people of District 12 - "They take the boldest form of dissent they can manage.  Silence. Which says we do not agree. We do not condone.  All of this is wrong." (The Hunger Games, chapter 2, page 21, Nook version).  The Districts may have to take part in the Games, but they don't have to like it.  Many of them wish for another way.

Oh yeah - I was talking about casting.  Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss was absolutely fantastic.  Of course, Katniss carries the story (being as it is her POV most of the time) and Lawrence is certainly able to do that.  She comforts Prim, she stands up to her mother, she mourns Rue (I'll come to that in a minute), and she is certainly a strong person.  I've seen her described as a strong female character, which is true, but I don't see the need to denote her gender in this case.  If Katniss was a male character, but with similar experiences and personality, I don't think the story would be one bit different.  One of my favorite parts was during Katniss' interview - this whole time Katniss is shown as a strong, capable young woman.  She's good with a bow and arrow and she doesn't take anyone's crap if she doesn't want to.  But she has some little slip-up in the interview where she doesn't hear what Caesar Flickerman asks her and she goes "What?" and the Capitol audience laughs.  I loved how that showed that Katniss was still nervous and scared and very unsure of herself, in spite of all the skills she has.  That is a realistic character - male or female.

The rest of the cast was good as well, though I was a little miffed that Gale got so little screentime, yet he was one of the top-billed characters in the marketing (again, lame love-triangle - got to put butts in the seats, I guess).  Good grief, Rue got more screentime and was a much more memorable character.  Granted, Gale will probably have more to do in "Catching Fire," so I can't get too upset.  Though, I'm not entirely sure about Peeta yet.  Although, this may have more to do with the fact that, at this point in the books, Katniss isn't sure about him either (and by extension, neither is the reader).  I did think the cave scenes were done very well, though.

I was going to talk about Rue and her death (yeah, the cute little girl who climbs trees and whistles to mockingjays dies. Sorry).  That scene - holy cow, THAT SCENE. If you haven't seen the fan-created film of this scene, go watch it now and come back. I'll wait (yes, yes - Rue in the YouTube video is white when she should be black. Let's all whine, carp and complain about a fan-made clip).  While I was seeing the scene in the movie, I did have that video in my head and, truly, I started to cry.  Like, actually shaking and sobbing in the movie theater.  I knew it was coming, but it still kicked me in the face.  And the fact that there was no music in the movie version almost made it worse.  Because, let's face it, real life doesn't have a grandiose soundtrack.  This was really like watching someone in the real world mourn the death of another person (and Katniss' near-hysterical breakdown a few scenes later did nothing to stop me crying).  I also loved that they showed District 11 in riots after Rue's death and Katniss' reaction because it helps to set up what's coming in "Catching Fire."  Even though in the book, District 11 thanks Katniss for honoring Rue by sending her bread into the arena and that's one of my favorite scenes from the book, this is a change for the movie that I am okay with.

Few more things:
- It's a good thing I went to a matinee showing and there weren't a whole lot of people in the theater.  Because I screamed a rather loud swearword when the muttations came leaping out of the forest at Katniss and Peeta.  Then again, I'm pretty sure I wasn't the only one.
- I've seen a few articles about how parents aren't sure about taking their young children to see this movie and how it's too violent.  Well, if you're going to take your seven-year-old, what kind of freaky weirdo are you?  Seriously, it's got a PG-13 rating for a reason.  The books themselves are marketed to teenagers, for crying out loud! That being said, the violence was portrayed in a way that I found to be very tasteful, given the circumstances.  Anytime characters get into a fight and die, the movement is so fast that you don't see it.  It's like one big blur and then it's over.  You do see the Tribute lying dead on the ground and there is quite a bit of blood, but it's not gratuitous (this isn't Braveheart, folks).
- With all the viral marketing and what-have-you, something very vital is missing - why isn't anyone selling mockingjay pins?  I have combed the stores and the internet and all I can find are half-assed homemade things  on Etsy that really aren't worth it.  I don't want a pink wig or a skin dye job like those nutty Capitol people - I just want a freaking little pin!

Bottom Line: Books and movies are two different mediums.  What works in one will not do so well in the other.  "The Hunger Games" movie kept to the spirit of the book while still telling one of the most compelling stories for young adults I've read in a long time.  In fact, when I got home I started reading Catching Fire and I actually saw the actors in the movie in the scenes from the book.  I seriously cannot wait to see how the next one turns out.

Bottom-Bottom Line: Book-to-Movie Adaptation: You're Doing It Right.

Now Joining Team TARDIS...

... is Jenna-Louise Coleman!!

The news broke earlier today (or may have been yesterday - I was away from the computer for a substantial amount of time).  And, really, that's all we know about her.  She's been in "Captain America," which is I recognized her from, though I couldn't recall her character (it was just a bit-part).  Here's video of her being interviewed by Lizo Mzimba of the BBC -



Personally, I think she's adorable.  She's evidently got good chemistry with Matt Smith.  If Steven Moffat is excited about her, then that's good enough for me. (Tangentially - HOORAY FOR "DOCTOR WHO" NEWS!!!!)

A quick word - As with many announcements concerning "Doctor Who," this change-up has been met with, shall we say, immaturity, hatred and blatant stupidity.  People, we don't even know the new companion's name, let alone what kind of character she is, how she's being written, her backstory - hell, we don't even know what planet the girl's from!  So, everyone who's getting their G-strings in a knot and carping about how she's going to be horrible for Reasons X, Y and Z, may I respectfully request that you bug off?  If you're upset about how the Moff has hinted that Amy and Rory are going to depart, that's one thing (Spoilers: It doesn't look good for Team Pond - but that could be Moffat messing with our heads. Again).  But don't take it out on the lady that's coming in after them before she's even filmed a single scene!

For a laugh - here's something someone put together a while ago in response to people bemoaning how various changes had "killed" Doctor Who in the past.  I think we're going to be okay.

Bottom Line: Jenna Coleman's excited, Moffat's excited, I'm excited.  Autumn can't come soon enough!

The Preemptive Critic - Snow White Times Two

Back when I was doing my undergrad at Utah State University, I wrote a bi-weekly column for The Utah Statesman (it wasn't anything too special - social commentary on current events.  Kind of boring).  A small group of my colleagues also wrote a column to go in the Entertainment section called "The Preemptive Critics."  This column reviewed movies on the basis of having only seen the trailers, TV spots, posters and other advertising - but without having actually seen the movies or any other kind of reviews.  It was touted as a purely knee-jerk reaction to the movie, but it was a clever (and cheap) way to provide content for the newspaper.

Now, you've probably noticed how anemic my postings have been of late.  In my defense, I'm too broke to go see movies in the theaters (and I have zero time), there are no TV shows worth reviewing (wait - this just in - Doctor Who is still not on) and I'm not delving into politics here (nope, none of those shenanigans, thank you).  But I've had a couple of ideas lately and bringing back "The Preemptive Critic" is one of them (just the one Critic, mind you.  This blog has always been a one-girl operation).  I have a few other ideas, but I will go into them another time.  So, for today, I present

The Preemptive Critic: Snow White and the Huntsman



Okay, so my initial reaction to hearing that Kristen "Bella the Emotionless Sea Cucumber" Stewart was in this movie put me off of ever seeing it.  However, in this trailer she actually came off as being invested in her character and I'm actually willing to give her the benefit of the doubt in this case (in her performance in "Twilight," it could be a case of the original source material being complete and utter crap).  Plus, I have a fondness for classic fairy tale retellings and I think "Snow White" could pull off the Epic Badass Action Fantasy schtick much better than "Alice in Wonderland" did (though why the costume department insists on putting a female action hero in plate armor is anyone's guess.  Maybe it's to appease the militant feminists or something, but I think it looks stupid. She's a princess, for cripes' sake!  They didn't shove Susan and Lucy Pevensie into armor and they went into battle just fine).

Oh, and Chris Hemsworth's in this movie. YES, PLEASE!

I am preemptively intrigued by this movie and will likely see it at the dollar theater.  If I have nothing better to do with myself.

With that said - there is another "Snow White" retelling being released this year (how 'bout that?), so it makes sense to also bring you

The Preemptive Critic: Mirror Mirror



By definition, Julia Roberts is annoying.  And she's never the character she's playing.  She's always Julia Roberts in some fancy get-up playing alongside a bunch of people who are actually in-character.  While this tries to put Snow White into the action girl hero-mode, but whenever you have to explicitly state "I'm not a typical fairy-tale princess because I'm not going to wait around for a prince to save me," you've pulled me out of the story and into some After-School Special Message and I really hate that.  If you really are the lady-action-hero, don't sit around and lecture me about it - GO DO SOMETHING! (argh!)  Oh and the slapstick takes away from any kind of serious credibility I was willing to lend to your story.  "The Princess Bride" and "Shrek" can do fairy tale comedy - but those are original stories taking elements of fairy tales and putting them into a comedy.  Making an already-established fairy tale funny just doesn't work.  Sorry.

I preemptively hate this movie.

(Huh, I favor the movie with the Emotionless Sea Cucumber over the movie with the Established Beautiful Person Who Happens to Be An Actress That Everyone Loves. Go figure.)

Something Cheerful to Brighten Your Day

Now, I'm no licensed professional (re: people who majored in music and drama in college and who have been in cat food commercials since they were in diapers and Who Know Everything There Is To Know About Performing Arts And Their Expertise Must Not Be Questioned By The Unwashed Rabble), but since I found Tiffany Alvord on YouTube, I've made it a point to seek out the rest of her stuff.  One reason is that when I was in high school, I dabbled in music a bit and took voice lessons.  Now, I wasn't as good as those people who were musically inclined from the womb, but I did all right.  But I remember one thing my voice teacher told me - I could not practice a song that was originally sung by a male singer because of octaves and pitch and something else that I don't remember.

My problem with that - most female singers sing songs about romantic mush-crap or about breaking up and killing the guy that broke their heart.  That may be fine for a while, but it gets old. Fast. Plus, the songs I like tend to be things like OneRepublic and Coldplay and The Killers - alternative music that has some pretty unique lyrics and are just fun to sing.  Take "Viva La Vida" by Coldplay - it's about the monarchies of the past (mainly European) becoming obsolete because historical events have made them so.  "Human" by The Killers is about taking off from what you've known all your life and deciding what kind of person you're going to be.  The the second verse is actually quite profound (and the music video has so much pretty in it - pretty kitties, pretty Monument Valley, pretty Brandon Flowers...) Those are just a few examples of songs that I like to sing and it'd be cool to see a female singer or group do something like that.  Tiffany Alvord's starting to do that with her covers of various artists and I like it and I hope she keeps doing it.  Maybe she'll get her own record deal and do original songs. You never know.

Tribute to Andrew Breitbart - Relentless and Brave

The big news today is that Andrew Breitbart has passed away.  To say this was unexpected is an understatement - it took me all day to finally process the news enough to post about it.

In true Andrew Breitbart fashion, here's his CPAC speech from last month.  I know it's going to tweak off the leftists out there and that's why I'm posting it.  And in a way, his experiences are very similar to mine. Enjoy.



Breitbart showed us conservatives that we don't have to put up with the crap some on the left throw at us (and it gets thrown a lot - believe me).  We don't have to stand back and be ~*~nice~*~ while the other side can call us names and attack our beliefs.  We can go on the offensive and call them out on their BS (about time, too).  He was a pitbull when it came to uncovering corruption and double-standards and it was an honor to have him on our side.  My prayers go out to his family, friends and associates.

That's Nice of You to Say - But How Does it Put Gas in my Tank?

I'm such a horrible blogger and I apologize for anyone still hanging around here.  In my defense, I have been tackling other projects that have been patiently waiting for attention for years in some cases (catching up to all thirteen published volumes of The Wheel of Time before book 14, A Memory of Light, comes out next January is no mean feat).  But I come bearing updates, so do enjoy.

As I've mentioned before, I'm working for Salt Lake County Library as a substitute clerk, which is vastly different from working as an actual librarian, though I have the qualifications. You have to get in the door somehow, right?  Since I became a sub last summer, I've been trying to become a merit employee for the county.  See if you can follow me on this for a second - Salt Lake County (herein after known as SLCo) employs two kinds of employees - merit and exempt.  Merit employees are the ones with the set hours, salary and benefits.  Exempt employees are more or less considered temporary and just get the hourly wage.  This is countywide policy - not just for the library.  As a sub, I am counted as an exempt employee.  The library hires a lot of people internally - meaning people already working for the library can apply for these positions.  Sadly, only merit employees are eligible to apply for internal positions.  Which means that, even though I have a master's degree and have all this experience under my belt, it means bupkus because I'm just a sub and can't apply for these positions until they get posted on the external job listings.  But I am okay with that because something has to open up and I can keep working and getting experience.

Last fall, the SLCo announced that they were in a hiring freeze (and I counted my lucky stars I was hired mere months before the freeze was implemented) - however, the library has its own budget and several new positions had already been approved and they're opening two new libraries by summer 2012, so the freeze wasn't likely to adversely affect the library too much.  Even so, I wanted to scream to the heavens because I wanted to work as a librarian and most of the librarian positions I'd seen were only posted on the internal listing that I saw at work (the internal listing board for me is like a parent telling a child that they can look at the cookies, but they can't touch.  It's quite frustrating, but there you go).  There was one librarian position posted externally that I did apply for, but I was told that I didn't have enough experience (even with a degree and an internship behind me - I couldn't even get a blasted interview.  I'm well-aware that there are people with more experience, but couldn't I just get an interview, at least?).

So, my mission lately has been to become a merit employee and just keep working and it seemed my chance had come at the beginning of January when they posted a chance to apply for a general clerk position.  This pool of applicants would be used to fill clerk vacancies throughout the library system over the next six months.  And since I've worked at all the libraries in the system at least once (some considerably more than that), I had a pretty good shot at this, so I applied.  Long story short - I made it through the first round of cuts and actually got a couple of interviews!  It's not for librarian (yet), but it's a step forward.

My first interview was at one of the larger branches in the system and one that I've worked at quite a bit.  I know the staff and supervisors and they know me and I get along with them very well and I would be thrilled beyond reason to work there.  The position they had open was for a 20-hour position, which is about as low as you can start, but - benefits!  People I like!  Place I enjoy!  Yay!  The interview went well and all I had to do was wait to hear back.

About a week or so later, I got a phone call from the head supervisor and I immediately knew I didn't get the job (sadness).  However, the supervisor went on (for about ten minutes) to say that she wanted me to work for them so much and she thought she'd have a 40-hour position to offer me, but that wasn't the case and she was really disappointed she couldn't hire me.  Honestly - I've never had a rejection phone call go on like this.  On one level, I was sad that I didn't get the job (I was certainly prepared to wait the out the initial six-month probation as a merit employee to actually be a card-carrying merit employee and be eligible to apply for internal positions - trust me, it's in The Plan).  On the other hand, I was buoyed up by the fact that this is one supervisor saying this to me and taking the time to say it - how many other supervisors in the system would say the same of me? (hopefully, most of them).

The story doesn't end.  Because the very next day, I was scheduled to work a shift at that branch and I got the chance to speak to the supervisor face-to-face.  And she told me who I lost out to.  And... well, how would any of you take this news?

I lost out to the assistant circulation supervisor from another Library branch. In truth, if that guy hadn't applied for the job, it would have been mine.



It should bolster my confidence, I suppose, that I lost out to someone who's been in the system before and held positions of authority (the reason he's taking a cut in hours, etc. had something to do with school or family reasons, which I can hardly blame him).  Still - it doesn't exactly make it easier to deal with the fact that I came thisclose to another step in my goal and now I'm back to square one.  I still haven't heard back from the other interview (and my hopes for that one grow fainter by the day).  The only other thing I can compare it to is my freshman year of high school when I tried out for the basketball team and made the first cut, then was one of only two girls who were eliminated in the second cut (and I was passed over when several of the other girls had to quit the team because of bad grades and injuries - nope, not bitter. Not at all).

One of the people I've worked with at the library put it this way - Out of all the losers, you were first place.  Which is a nice thought, I guess. But how does that put gas in my tank?

ETA: Just heard from the second interview I had. Apparently, The Powers the Be decided that branch won't be allowed to hire anyone at all!  Which means the supervisors went to all the trouble of interviewing x-amount of people - for nothing!

I'll insert a facepalm .gif here when I get home.

And Now - Some General Silliness

Yes, yes, I haven't been writing.  Haven't had much to blog about (though I have been writing - top secret stuff, very "hush hush").  But since today (this whole week, really) has been sort of "bleah," I went searching for something to cheer me up.  And, what do you know, the incomparable Babelcolour has delivered.  For those not in the know, Babelcolour is a guy on YouTube who does Doctor Who videos and he's quite good at it (to say the least - holy cow, Tribute to Every Doctor Who Story!)  I had not seen "Doolally Who," though, until today.  And it's very funny and silly and just what I needed. And thusly, I share it with you all.



(You know what gave me the most joy? Peter Davison's little cheeky grin about a minute into the video. Definitely from the blooper reel, but frankly I don't care where it came from.)

Smells Like Teen Spirit

It's a new month, which means that updates are in order.  And a bit of an observation I've made ('cause, you know, I don't have anything else productive to do).

I've long thought that January is the Armpit of the Year.  After about four months full of holidays and things to look forward to, the best January can offer is one measly three-day weekend that, traditionally for me, involved some kind of yard/housework.  And it's still stinkingly freezing outside, so everyone is cooped up inside and getting on each other's last nerve (unless you ski, I suppose).  Generally speaking, I hate January.

That being said, January wasn't too bad for me this year.  I think graduation had a lot to do with this and the fact that I have a job that I enjoy and I was pretty much left to my own devices, which is how I best flourish.  So, as far as I can tell, this is one Armpit of the Year that bothered to use deodorant (there was one minor incident, but even that managed to turn out to be a positive thing. Eventually).

But now we're into February, which is just January only with pink (unaffectionately termed by me a the Other Armpit of the Year).  Granted, there is that fabulous day halfway through where chocolate gets marked down to half-price.  And it might be okay if the Super Bowl turns out how I want it to (the Giants pummeling the Patriots' little drama-queen behinds into pulp).  But by and large, I hate February for many of the same reasons I dislike January.

Which serves to make another point - if you must endure something distasteful, get it over with as quickly as possible.  Then you can go on to happier things (like birthdays and months with more substantial holidays).  But while it's still Armpit Time, find a deodorant you like and make the best of things.

EDIT - In the midst of my general "nonproductivity," I forgot to make special mention of the latest installment of "Suburban Utah, Y U A Drama 'Hoor'?" - Evidently a new high school in Draper cannot have the Cougar as its mascot because it's offensive to middle-aged women.



You know, I love my state and all, but I'm glad I'm not from the Wasatch Front.  Those people are crazy.

Review of "Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows"

There are people who follow certain actors and actresses and are fans of a select few and absolutely must see every movie that their favorite person is in, never mind the quality.  That's all fine and good - everyone has things they like.  I am not one of those people.  For instance, I make no secret that I love David Tennant in Doctor Who and I really liked him in Hamlet and one reason for me wanting to see How to Train Your Dragon was so I could play "Blink and You Miss It" for his two measly-yet-credited lines (I have no shame).  However, I did NOT go out of my way to see him in Fright Night because I'm just not a fan of gory horror movies in general.  Honestly, I seek out movies that I know I would like regardless of who's in them.  It's the story that sells me, not necessarily the headlining cast (it is for this reason that I will indeed check out the rebooted Spider-Man with or without Tobey Maguire and Kirsten Dunst).

All that being said, I love Robert Downey, Jr.  He's fantastic in Iron Man and he's rapidly becoming one of my favorite actors, even though I haven't seen him in very much (call me a bandwagon jumper in this if you must.  Like I said, I don't follow a lot of actors).  Though I was a little wary of seeing him as Sherlock Holmes at first - would he be able to pull off the famous literary British detective that we all know and love (and what in the world is with the shirtless boxing? Not that I mind, but it's not something I associate with Holmes).  I didn't need to worry because that first Sherlock Holmes movie was really good - part of that has to do with Downey, Jr.'s chemistry with Jude Law, who plays Dr. John Watson (the straight man to Holmes' lovable eccentricities).  And sequels - Dear Sweet Gallifrey, I do love me a good sequel.

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows capitalizes on what I loves about the first movie.  If you're going to read any Sherlock Holmes story, you have to pay attention.  Even though Holmes explains the ins-and-outs of the conflict resolution by the end of the story, it still takes an alert audience to fully appreciate the intricacies of such things (and by "alert," I mean don't fall asleep before the ending).  The first movie did this very well and the second only intensified the intrigue.  Case in point - I usually have a notebook and take notes during the movie (don't laugh - I'm sure some of you have things I could point at and snort derisively).  But this time, I was too enthralled by the story and characters.  I don't know about Downey, Jr.'s other roles, but he has some spectacular dialogue, not to mention his delivery is a joy to listen to (as is his cadence as Tony Stark in the Iron Man movies - must be a thing he does).  The pacing of the story is really good too.  Not once did I feel like it was going too fast or too slow.  I love the choreography in the fight scenes and, yeah, I can buy Sherlock Holmes going at it mano-a-mano with the bad guys in the streets (and the pre-fight narration and step-by-step "Here's How I'm Going to Kick this Dude's Ass" is a nice touch too).

I've got to mention Professor James Moriarty here - because the first movie didn't have Holmes' arch-nemesis (being more or less an introduction to Sherlock), this movie was a great way to bring the best ever smarty-pants baddie into the franchise (seriously - Lex Luthor wears Professor Moriarty pajamas).  I'd never heard of Jared Harris, who plays Moriarty, but he was excellent and his back-and-forth with Downey, Jr. (I can't really say enough good things about the ending scene.  All they do is talk, but it's as good as any Big Time Explodey Ending you could find elsewhere).

What else?  The music is great, the costuming is fantastic (I love it when Holmes is in disguise and his makeup is just off enough that the audience can tell it's him - like the makeup artists planned that or something. Right?) Oh, and special shout-out to Mary Watson (played by Kelly Reilly) who has a great little badass moment of her own as she and her new husband are off on their honeymoon and it gets interrupted by a bunch of Moriarty's thugs.  Didn't expect it from her, but I guess if you're going to be married to Sherlock Holmes' best buddy, you'd better pick up something along the way.  Oh, and Stephen Fry is in this as Holmes' brother, Mycroft.  Did I forget to mention that?  He calls Sherlock "Sherly," by the way.

I can't say anything bad about this movie.  It's definitely worth seeing in theaters, if only because you really want to pay attention to what's going on (don't wait for the DVD because then the phone will ring or the kids'll want something and you'll have to pause it and you'll get lost).  And there's going to be a third movie which thrills me to no end.

Graduation, Commencement and Paradise

I graduated today! HOORAY! This calls for a blog post and some super-cool Piano Guys tunes!



So, usually you think of graduation ceremonies as being these really pompous and boring ordeals, right? Well, if you just have a small close-knit cohort of Library Science students and you put together your own program instead of relying on alumni donors and crap like that, you can actually have something fun and celebratory to share with your friends.

And that's what my little group of cohorts did.  Heck, my dad enjoyed it (and he's not really into the whole pomp and circumstance sort of thing).  I guess it helps that the people I was graduating are people I actually know and like instead of this huge conglomerate of complete strangers that just happen to attend the same university as I do.

We ended up having five speakers, though two were student speakers that did a tag-team Story Time-style for their speech (not gonna lie - that was pretty hardcore for librarians ^_^)  The faculty speaker actually spoke about how he had to work at in fast food and other crappy jobs even after he got his PhD until he could land a teaching job at a university.  I've been to three graduations before this and I have never heard anyone talk about how most of us are going to have a hard time finding a job even with a degree but stick with it and good things will happen eventually.  Honestly, now that I've been on the job hunt for so long, it's refreshing to hear a heavy dose of reality sprinkled in with the "Hey, Yeah - You Made It You Special, Special Person, You!" stuff.  Not too much that it's depressing and discouraging, but enough that I can look at this professor and think "Yeah, I may have some rough patches, but I can get through them."  So, I appreciated that.

Pictures will be coming (as soon as I can find my camera in all my stuff - I'm sure it's somewhere close by).

For now - I'm a Master of Library Science! Go me!! :)

Deeper Magic From Before the Dawn of Time

Guess what everyone? It's Christmas!  Which means it's time for the Doctor Who Christmas Special!  You know the drill - Spoilers below the video for "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe"


(Not one of my better efforts, but okay in it's own right)

It is well-known that my Geek Cred was initially born from a deep and abiding love of fantasy, not science fiction.  Something I've noticed in the past (and maybe the divide is shrinking to an extent) is that sci-fi geeks and fantasy geeks don't often mix well because one group gravitates towards things that are just outside the realm of possibility for the current time period and the other group gravitates towards things that are so far out there that serious science just laughs at it (I suppose that's the Star Trek vs. Star Wars debate, though I could be tarred and feathered for suggesting Star Wars is light and fluffy fantasy.  Then again, I know comparatively little about Star Trek).

I will be brutally honest - I like to think of places where anything and everything can happen, not just things that are within the realms of real-world science and technology.  Plus, I'm not a big fan of long and involved explanations of how some thingamashootit teleport/light speed/shrink ray device works.  If the story tells me something works, I can accept that it works within the realms of the story and I don't get terribly nit-picky about it.  Besides, the beauty of fantasy stories like Harry Potter is that magic is considered a science - there are rules of what can and cannot be done.  And often in those stories, new things are discovered that make impossible things possible - which is what science (by and large) is really about.

I've come to accept science-fiction, of course.  I'm watching Doctor-freaking-Who, for cripes' sake!  But this Christmas Special embodies something that I've long thought about and accepted for myself - science and fantasy can co-exist in peaceful, lovely, storytelling harmony.  Sometimes, there are talking trees in a fantastical wintertime forest that can only be accessed by a dimensional gateway into Fairyland Androzani Major disguised as a Christmas package.  And sometimes, the fish just like the singing (now shut up!)

I've got to get this out of the way first - Some people got their panties in a wad over Steven Moffat using themes from CS Lewis' Narnia series for this year's special because "OMG - it's a Christian allegory even though Lewis said it wasn't but who cares it's religious and we can't have religion in a SCIENCE fiction show - RAWR! *frothing mouths*" To those ninnies, I raise a dubious eyebrow and snort a derisive "Seriously?"  I wouldn't have brought this up and it actually would take much longer for me to address this to my own satisfaction, but I'll give you the short version - In my own personal beliefs, religion and science mesh quite well together.  There are some things that many mainstream Christians hold to that I don't (the whole deal about the Earth being 6,000 years old is but one of many), but it would take too long for me to delve into it here.  Suffice it to say that science is the way God created the universe and we little humans are learning to figure out even a slice of what He does in His creations. Everything science "discovers" is something God did first.  And that's all that I have to say about that.

Back to Doctor Who -  combining Doctor Who with Narnia is actually quite a genius idea and I'm not just saying that because I am a fan of CS Lewis and the "Narnia" series.  Come on - the TARDIS is basically a sci-fi'd up version of the "Bigger on the Inside" wardrobe in "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe."  It doesn't take it a genius to figure that one out (though this does NOT take away Moffat's "genius" card).  Add in a mystical snowy forest (which doesn't stay mystical for very long) and the souls of trees with some Halo-esque military people to point the way and you've got a pretty solid Doctor Who story.

There has also been talk of how "alien" Matt Smith's Eleventh Doctor is.  I will agree with that from sunup to sunup - but he isn't completely alien.  He understands human emotion, if almost accidentally and by scientific means.  In "The Doctor, the Widow and the Wardrobe" (I'm just going to abbreviate it as DWW for this post - that's a stinkingly long title), he gets Madge to pilot the pseudo-Epcot globe through the Time Vortex by helping her remember her home and her family.  Much the same as he tried to do with Amy in "Cold Blood" when Rory was being erased from time.  Well, that one didn't quite work the way he hoped, but he eventually got it when he rebooted the universe in "The Big Bang."  Another part of that is understanding kids - one thing Eleven gets is kids - from Amelia Pond to young Kazran Sardick to Cyril and Lily.  He connects with kids'  emotions, even if he hasn't cottoned on to why he's done that.  It often takes him a few minutes to figure out that something is wrong with The Big Picture, but it's usually after he's rambled about fish fingers and custard and girls and crisps and remodeling the house with revolving Christmas trees.

Another thing I liked (and it's likely the "Moffat is a Misogynist Pig" crowd is going to be be ape-nuts over this, but they can all go stick their noses in the air about it) is how the "Strong Mother" trope came into play in this story.  Especially a mother who has only recently found out her husband was killed in war and she hasn't told the kids yet because she doesn't want to ruin Christmas, so she is keeping everything together by the skin of her fingernails.  I don't care who you are or what feminist gospel you subscribe to, THAT is true strength and it makes sense that the trees of Androzani Major would choose Madge to pilot their tree souls to wherever they ended up in the end (and I could even overlook the Green Aesop crap in the end).  Beyond biology and the whole "Mama Bear" thing and what-have-you - that is a pretty solid way to resolve the story line.

Of course, this would not be a review from me without a grand List of Things I Liked -

- The Return to Androzani - Even though this is Androzani Major rather than Androzani Minor where the Fifth Doctor bit the dust *sniffle*
- The Doctor: "There's never anything dangerous here." *beat* "There are sentences I should just stay away from"
- Halo Dude - "There's no crying in baseball military engagements!"
- The fact that the sonic screwdriver doesn't work on wood actually became a major plot development!
- Cyril's giant Christmas present was wrapped in TARDIS Blue wrapping paper.  I'm seriously doing that next year!
- Call back to "The End of Time" with the Forest of Cheem ("One of them fancied me.")

And, of course, The Return of the Ponds! Who both know the Doctor isn't dead! Which means the Doctor was staying away from them for no real reason (though that almost became moot in the first five minutes during the Doctor's swan dive to Earth and recreating - rather badly - his own version of an Impossible Astronaut).  And as if to put the exclamation point on the fact that Eleven is indeed conscious of his own humanity, he gets a little misty-eyed as he walks into La Casa de Pond for Christmas dinner.

Bottom Line: Solid Christmas Special for Doctor Who.  Doesn't beat out "A Christmas Carol" for TEH BEST EVAR, but still pretty good.  I liked the fantasy elements in it and didn't mind that science got thrown in there for good measure.  Hopefully it's good enough to tide us over until next fall (holy shiz - that's a long time!)

Year in Review and Christmas Wishes

I'm off to the ranch this week for Family Christmas Fun Time, but I would be sincerely remiss if I didn't put something fun on the blog and just reflect on the Year That Was 2011 and honor my time there, if only to acknowledge it was heads-and-shoulders better than 2010.  Plus, I'm not much of a sender of Christmas cards (why spend so much money sending something nice that's just going to get thrown away - seriously, what do people do with all those nice cards they get in the mail?)  In the spirit of the occasion, I present -

The Top Ten Great Things That Happened to Me In 2011

Well, the ten things I feel are noteworthy at least - 

10. Taking the West Desert Drama Team to Region and Qualifying for State

    I spent the first part of the 2011 calendar year working for West Desert High School and one of the most fun things I did with those kids was coaching them for Drama Competition.  Even though I have no real qualifications to be a Drama coach other than I was the only person in West Desert that had the time and was willing to do it (sometimes, that's all you really can ask for).  Three of my students performed a scene from the dramatized "Pride and Prejudice" - and for three young kids from the sticks going up against kids from small private schools (who, under no circumstances whatsoever, never, ever, ever recruit.  Nope, never), they actually made a damn good showing.  Enough that they qualified for the State competition.  Actually, my entire time at West Desert was so much fun and I actually find myself missing it from time to time.

9. Studying Abroad in Serbia

In conjunction with my Master's Degree (which I will expound upon in a moment), I had the opportunity to travel to Serbia and do some library programming with kids and teens.  It was seriously an eye-opening experience for me, who has never traveled out of the United States and never really had any plans to.  Even with some of the logistical issues we had, I just cannot forget the enthusiasm and love the librarians in Serbia had for the people they served and how much they wanted to help them.  It inspired me to be a better librarian and to really put my heart into the work I want to do now that I have my degree.

8. The Great "Wheel of Time" Re-Read (To Be Epic-ly Concluded in 2012)

I've mentioned on Twitter and Facebook that I've been reading "The Wheel of Time" series by Robert Jordan.  I have to give a bit of background on this - my senior year of high school, I moved to a new town and a new school where I didn't know anyone.  I kept mostly to myself for a while, but I slowly got to know people and make friends.  Part of that "making friends" thing was exchanging books and things that we were all interested in and at some point, a few of my classmates unearthed "The Wheel of Time" from our tiny school library and they were all reading them like crazy.  Since this was the era of the "Lord of the Rings" movies and I was all nuttied-out for Harry Potter, I was ready and eager for any new fantasy series to catch my attention.  Well, those classmates handed me "The Eye of the World" (book 1 in WoT) and I ate that up like nobody's business.  I proceeded through the series (as much as the school library had) and basically decided that it was Amazing (by extension, my new friends were Amazing for handing it to me).  Sadly, I graduated about the time I was finishing up "The Fires of Heaven" (book 5) and I had to turn my attention to going to college and all the fun that comes with that.  I did manage to finish up to "A Crown of Swords" (book 7) during the summer, but then I had to quit because school life was not conducive to reading a Doorstopper Fantasy series (sad day).  Even after finishing college, I had moved on to other pursuits and never got around to picking it up again.

Fast forward to working for Salt Lake County Library in 2011 - one day, someone checked in the audiobook of "The Eye of the World" and my little fangirl brain got to thinking "Hey, I have a long commute and an iPod - this could work!" I snapped up that audiobook and discovered (to my utter delight) that the library had the rest of the series on CD as well (seeing as how local author Brandon Sanderson is finishing the series since Robert Jordan passed away in 2007, of course Salt Lake County would have tons of copies available).  I started up in October and haven't looked back.  And yes, it is just as fun and Amazing as I remember it.  The only reason it isn't higher up on the list is because I'm still in the middle of where I left off before - next year when "A Memory of Light" (book 14 - Holy Shiz!) comes out and I get to finish, this might be #4 or so.  We'll see.

Honestly, though - this is more than revisiting a book series that I loved Back in the Day.  Starting "The Wheel of Time" again also reminds me of all those wonderful kids I knew in high school who befriended the New Girl at a time of life that everyone is gearing up to take off into the lone and dreary world.  And that is something I'll always appreciate (yes, I am a sentimental fool from time to time. Why is no one surprised by this?)

7. The Advent of "Traveling the Vortex" and Friday Night Who

Continuing in the fandom vein for a moment (I'll get to the Personal Story stuff soon) - 2011 marked the year of the Myrka jokes, feedback and Number 1 Fans.  Yes, folks - this year, I was introduced to Glenn and Shaun and their marvelous adventures introducing their friend Keith to "Doctor Who."  I originally reviewed their podcast back in February when it was first starting up and I enjoyed it so much (not to mention the fact it's a great way for me to be introduced to much of Classic Who without having to go through all from "An Unearthly Child" to the end. People, that 26 seasons of stuff - not to mention how many missing episodes had to be reconstructed? Oy...).  Not to mention Friday Night Who has become the highlight of my week.  It's the closest I can get right now to watching Doctor Who with a bunch of like-minded fans from all over (instead of those fair-weather "Oh, this is something you like - sure I'll watch it with you, I have nothing better to do" types - not that I don't appreciate you all!) and just have a grand old time.

For being one of the highlights of my week and my year, Traveling the Vortex gets a well-deserved spot on my Year in Review list.

6. Watching "Doctor Who" Series 6 as it Broadcasts



Yeah, I guess there's something to be said for "mainlining" a series (meaning you wait until you have all the episodes and watching them all in one go) - but there was nothing that I appreciated more than my first year of delving into "Doctor Who" on a week-by-week basis and getting to digest each episode over the course of a week (and sometimes longer than that).  It intensified the conversation, make me think harder about this stuff and increased my enjoyment of the show.  Not to mention, I got to savor the experience a lot more than when I was barreling through the David Tennant era in the course of a month.  The whole of Series 6 was a fantastic experience and, with a few minor exceptions, I loved every minute of it.

Of course, since I'm getting the boxed set for Christmas, I will also look forward to watching the entire season in the course of a week or so :)

5. Getting a Job at the Library

I don't know where other people would put this one, but since I actually got a job in a library and that's the field I want to work in - I'm pretty stoked about this.  Especially since it's in the library system I REALLY wanted to work for.  I'm still "just a substitute" - but everyone's got to pay their dues somehow.  Salt Lake County Library is a great place to work and the people are friendly and they do an amazing job with everything.  I'm still hoping to get on as a permanent hire (preferable as a children or young adult librarian - but I'll take what I can get) - but I do love my job and I am darn lucky to have it :)

4. SEAL Team Six Taking Out Osama bin Laden

No matter your politics or opinions or whatever - that was an awesome day.  God bless our troops.

3. Finishing my Master of Library Science degree

Awww, yeaaaah! Look how cool that is?

What - did you want an overly-sentimental treatise on how happy I about finishing my MLS and being done with school?  Okay - I might post a video of people singing and dancing happily.  Like this one -



Yeah, I'm just a little bit happy about this :)

2. Mark Coming Home



I took a LOT of video the day my brother came home from serving his mission in Argentina for two years.  None of it has been posted until today (I had grand schemes of editing together a video of that happy occasion, then I lost the SD cards - then I found them again, so that may still be a possibility).  Personally, I hadn't seen Mark in three years since he left while I was serving my own mission in Florida, so I was just as thrilled as anyone to have him back home.

(And if my brother has a problem with this video being posted - just remember that I'm the one sounding like a brainless moron about to burst into tears).

1. I'm an Aunt!

For the top of the list - what honestly could compete with this - the birth of my niece, Jaylee Elizabeth, beats everything else out.  Enough said.

That's only a smattering of pics of the lovable little peanut - and there will be more in the future, trust me.  Being an aunt is awesome!

There you have it - 2011 rocked in so many ways.  I have so much to be grateful for and happy about.  And I truly, truly hope 2012 capitalizes on the good things that happened here and continues to just be awesome and - now I'm rambling...

Everyone, have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

It's a Trailer, Precioussssss

How long have we waited for this movie to materialize? And now - WE HAVE A TRAILER FOR "THE HOBBIT!" YAAAAAAAAAY!!!



LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

The Lovers, The Dreamers and Me - Review of "The Muppets"

When I was little - this is before I even went to kindergarten - my family was dirt poor. To be fair, I was born a little over a year after my parents got married so they were still in that "poor, young, dumb, newlywed" stage of life.  As a result, we didn't have the shiniest, bestest toys.  But one thing we did have was an old dial TV (a hand-me-down from my grandparents) with a VCR my parents got from their wedding.  We didn't buy a lot of movies and this was way before we even thought about cable.  But we did have blank VHS tapes.  So, Mom and Dad taped movies from TV for my sister and I to watch after "Sesame Street" and "Mister Roger's Neighborhood" was over and all there was to watch was crappy soap operas and Mom wanted to clean the house.

We had many things recorded on those tapes - anything shown on Magical World of Disney counted, as well as innumerable Mickey Mouse and Goofy short cartoons (I have a picture of my three-year-old self zonked out on my dad's easy chair because I insisted on watching Goofy cartoons before bedtime and I didn't make it through the whole tape).  There was "The Chipmunk Adventure" and "Pete's Dragon" - and there was "The Muppet Movie."

I certainly didn't understand anything about time periods or how things got "dated" over time.  For all I knew, "The Muppet Movie" was brand spanking new in 1988.  I didn't really recognize the celebrity cameos and I truly didn't care.  I just wanted to watch Kermit, Fozzie, Gonzo and Miss Piggy (okay, I admit that I did care about the Big Bird cameo).

So here I am in 2011 - legally I'm a grown-up (though I will deny that I have any kind of boring, grown-up qualities in my personality).  I understand that "The Muppet Show" was sort of a big deal back in the day, but I didn't experience it (weep silently for me).  But I did get to experience "Muppets Tonight" on TGIF in the late 90s.  And I maintain that the very best version of A Christmas Carol is "The Muppet Christmas Carol."

The point of all this sentimentality? I love it when something from my childhood gets to come back and be made new and relevant again.  I went into "The Muppets" expecting a Muppet movie like "Muppets Take Manhattan" or "Muppets in Space" where the Muppets are just part of the scenery along with their human actors.  But "The Muppets" is actually about revisiting old times and realizing that they are still good and important and deserve to be passed down in our culture.  It's like finding that one book or that one toy that you loved as a kid, but you haven't used it in years.  Not because you were deliberately neglectful, but just because life gets in the way (see also - "Toy Story 3").  Thank goodness for the creators of "The Muppets" for reminding the rest of us who loved the Muppets as kids that we still love the Muppets, even though we're older now.

And kudos for staying faithful to the spirit of the material!  There's a scene in "The Muppets" where Kermit and the gang go to ask Mr. Richman if they can just have the old studio back.  Richman has this little song-and-dance number that basically plays to idea that the world is cynical and the goofy Muppets stuff just doesn't cut it anymore.  Then he unveils the Moopets, which is basically the Muppets if Jim Henson was from the south side of LA.  This reminded me of the "edgy-fication" of certain well-beloved characters.  It works with some (like Batman) but for others (like the Looney Tunes) eh... not so much.  There are just some things that you don't do that with.  The original formula works fora  reason - because it resonates.  People want to have the good and silly stuff that's just - fun.  Everything isn't all doom and gloom and gritty realism.  There's still a place for absolute silliness.


"The Muppets" stuck with the old formula and it works like a charm.  Even lampshading that they're gathering up the old gang in a montage and driving to Paris by way of a map in the glove box - that's what the Muppets do and that's who they are.  I did get a little nervous when Fozzie pulled out the fart shoes (because the Muppets do NOT have to resort to bathroom humor) but Kermit and everyone told him to give it a rest and everyone kept it classy.  The addition of Walter was cute - I especially loved the song with him and his (human) brother Gary singing about being men and Muppets (and what about Jim Parsons as the human Walter? I nearly busted a gut when I saw that!)

And no, I did not get all weepy and crap when they all came out to sing "The Rainbow Connection" there at the end.  Nope, not at all *sniff* (aw hell... anyone got a tissue?)

Bottom Line: "The Muppets" is a fun and heartstring-tugging way to bring my childhood back into my adult life.  It has me hoping and wishing for a a rebirth of "The Muppet Show" because that was one thing I sort of missed out on, but I would love to have it back.

Seriously - who doesn't love the Muppets?

I'd Like to Thank The Academy...

Today, I presented my Capstone portfolio for Master of Library Science program.  After two years of blood, sweat and tears (oh, heaven help me, there were tears), I am a professional librarian (as soon as the final grades get put in, of course).

It's a really weird feeling.  I don't have homework anymore, I don't have to go to classes and I don't have to do group projects or stress out about presentations.  But something about this final weekend with my classmates has made me a little sentimental (read: weepy).  Ten minutes of a Capstone presentation wasn't enough time to really thank everyone and reflect properly on what this entire program has meant to me and I'm not that good of a public speaker to really say it.  And I feel more sincere when I'm in an informal setting.  Since blogging is what I do best, I am putting my thanks and appreciation here for everyone to read and refer to often.  I'll just use first names and initials, since I know I'm picky about my own privacy and I figure others are too.

First of all, I have to give a HUGE thank you to Adriane, our wonderful and indispensable advisor.  Even when I thought there was some giant catastrophe with financial aid or registration, she was always calm and collected and ready to reassure me that it wasn't that big of a deal (even though my brain kept telling my otherwise).  I often wonder if she even sleeps at all because she does so much and is so wonderful at it.  One of the first things I tell people asking about the Emporia State program in Salt Lake City is that Adriane is a total and complete sweetheart and is the one of the best things about the program.  Even when I first met her for my application interview, she was so warm and welcoming to me.  Even before I met her and we were just communicating via email - her demeanor made me want to be in this program.

While we're talking mentors and such - another HUGE thank you to Susan, LuCinda, Donnae, Mindy, Bret and Eddie at the West Jordan Library where I did my practicum.  I don't know how the managers and librarians are at other libraries in the Salt Lake County system (with me only being a substitute clerk and not a librarian), but these guys and gals were the best group of mentors a girl could ask for.  Susan especially, being my official practicum supervisor, welcomed all my questions about children's and teen services, collection development, reference questions and even cheering my quest to find that "perfect job."  When I'm in the neighborhood, I try to stop by West Jordan Library and say hi to this amazing group of people that I wouldn't mind actually working with for realsies (hint,hint, HR).  All of them helped me in ways that I can't really express here, but I am grateful beyond words.

I had some stellar professors, but the one that really stood out in my mind was Cheryl from two summers ago.  Cheryl taught our reference services class during our second semester, which was a time that I was still getting my feet under me.  She is also the associate director of the Utah State Library, which means she's a pretty important person in the Grand Scheme of Things.  We had a group presentation assignment in that class and my group did a PowerPoint about technology in libraries.  I was in charge of putting the presentation together and I also made a video for it.  After our presentation, Cheryl asked me if she could use the video I made for the trainings she did for librarians all over the state!  Also, when I saw Cheryl at the ULA conference in May, she remembered who I was and even bragged to some of the other people there that I did a rather clever presentation in for her class.  For a hayseed farm girl from the sticks, that's a pretty big deal.

On to my cohorts.  All of them have contributed something to my education and influenced my experiences, but some stand out from the group.

Next, I have to thank Heather N.  For one thing, putting me up for the week of the ULA Conference.  For another, being my "other mom" during the Serbia study abroad trip (more on that in a minute).  And for all her confidence and expertise (which she'll deny to the end of time, but she is one of the most capable people I've known at any level of academics I've been in) never, not once, did she make me or anyone else feel inferior.  On the contrary, she always had a desire for all of us to be our best and succeed.  As far as she was concerned, one person's victory was a victory for everyone.

Speaking of Serbia, I could not have survived that trip without Ginger and Brienne as well.  I've mentioned how I had never traveled outside the country before, but Ginger and Brienne had and were more than willing to take this "international greenie" under their wings (Ginger was my other "other mom" on this trip).  I loved being with the entire group, including the ladies from the other Emporia cohorts - Kristy, Amy, Ericka and Mary - but my classmates hold a special place in my heart.  The entire Serbia trip was a wonderful thing for me to do, even though a part of me wished the entire time I could go home.  It was in Serbia that I realized that I had enough knowledge and confidence to stand my ground even with the most experienced librarians - that I have just as much to contribute to the conversation as someone who's been at it for twenty years.

Angie.  Angie, without whom I would not have had the guts to even apply for Serbia.  For the implications of that, see the previous paragraph.  Angie - thanks.

Back in Utah, I have to acknowledge Brenda, who was my seatmate for most of our classes together.  Somehow, we managed to sit next to each other for nearly every class and we had a blast when the lectures got a little dry (sorry folks, it happens sometimes).  We found things to talk about, both in and out of library-related topics, and I consider her a good friend.

I also have to mention Lisa G. - one of the most dynamic and excited-to-be-here children's librarians I've ever met.  I can only hope to reflect a fraction of her enthusiasm for the profession.  I keep thinking I ought to go watch her do a story time at her library because it would be one of the most gratifying things I could see.  She is someone I also look up to and I have to thank her for her example.  Along those lines, Jessica gets a special mention for her equal excitement about teen librarianship.

Other people that I found joy working with - Katie, Jon, Dale, Josh, Kellie, Emily (who was also one of the best lunch buddies I've had), Amy C. and the other Amy C., Trisha, Heather B. (who helped me find a place for the books I weeded out of West Desert High School's library) and Catherine - all of you made the entire Emporia experience for me.

I would remiss if I didn't mention the people outside of the Emporia program who supported me.  Mom and Dad - for the money, verbal support and a place to live while I did my work.  Kathryn for letting me stay with her during class weekends (and who continues to give me friendship and emotional support).  Ed for giving me a job at West Desert, letting me have time off for class and the ULA conference, allowing me run of the West Desert Library.  Also, my students last year who were willing to be my guinea pigs for some of my class projects (I showed off some of your excellent work in Serbia, you guys!)  Not to mention the West Desert Community for letting me show them off for my Strategic Plan Project in LI 805 (another video - you all have no idea how much fun I have putting videos together).

This has been something I will always treasure.  It sounds trite and a little cliche, but this was one of the best things I've ever done for myself.  I have learned and grown so much from it and I wouldn't exchange it for anything else I could have done with these last two years (in spite of all the times I got on here and pissed and moaned about this professor doing that or that classmate doing this.  Don't worry guys, I never used names).  I'm not quite sure what to do with myself until I get a job (please Job Fairy, find me something good!), but I am glad to have known everybody and I hope I have done something good for the rest of you as well.

There's not much else to say - except *hug*



I love you all.

The End Is Near!

My MLS Capstone is tomorrow.  Two years of the hard slog in grad school comes down to this - putting together a 10 minute presentation showcasing what I learned in those two years and praying that I learned the right things (as far as my professors are concerned, at least).  So, in honor of the occasion, I have a couple of theme tunes floating around in my head.  The joy of having a blog is that I get to annoy share them with you all.

1. Theme from "Rocky"

2. "My Way" by Frank Sinatra



Dear Sweet Gallifrey, this whole thing is making me loopy.

Winner! Winner!

So, I just won NaNoWriMo!  Go me!  I successfully wrote a 50,000 word novel in less than 30 days!  Hooray!

The catch?  I'm still not done with my story.  I may have - oh, let's see... carry the one... another 25% of plot to complete.  Then I will go on a massive editing spree and make everything mesh and sound coherent (which may take the rest of my life or something) and then - I might be open to having people read it and critique, which will result in more edits and meshing and blood, sweat and tears.

But dudes - I WROTE A NOVEL!! And it is an awesome feeling!

For now, WE DANCE!



(I'd like to give a special thanks to my supervisors at work for turning the other way when I was writing in my little blue notebook during down times so I could meet the 50K mark by November 30.  And with this thanks, I ask that you continue to look the other way when I start in on the climax of the story - 'cause it's gonna get GOOOOD!!  I hope...)

Happy Doctor Who Day!

There's been plenty of chatter about the impending 50th Anniversary (and rightly so), but we all would be remiss not to observe the anniversaries between now and then.  Because today, everyone's favorite Time Lord celebrates his 48 anniversary!

I Don't Want to Live On This Planet Anymore

Since I graduated from college, I've noticed that I haven't been calling out instances of general annoyance in my day-to-day doings as much as I used to.  But something happened this week that I just have to point out.  Besides, the world has gotten away with its stupid shenanigans for way too long.

A bit of background before I launch - last Sunday, I was visiting with my family over football games and cooing over the baby niece.  Somebody (or several somebodies) brought up the "Why Are You Not Dating or Married Yet?" tirade.  I let this go on because people need their hobbies and I can't get them to shut up about it anyway.

Fast forward to Thursday - I am at work (you know, that thing where big kids go and do certain tasks and get paid money for doing them?) and the guys who bring in deliveries from other libraries came in.  They were engrossed in conversation and they were quite loud about it so it was hard to ignore.  They were more or less my age (maybe a little older - no older than early 30s).  I didn't care that they were talking.  But their conversation was a stunning example of why I just don't date.  They were discussing such wonders - like how the new Beavis and Butthead made fun of Jersey Shore (Pot, meet Kettle).  Oh - and the different nuances in how Letterman and Leno deliver their opening monologues.  Not to mention what the heck happened to Conan's show?

If that is the best my generation can offer in terms of datable material, then I will gladly take self-imposed vows of celibacy.

Now, I know what some of you will say (in the most nasally voice you can manage) - "Well, we sit through all your Doctor Who crap so why shouldn't you sit through our Beavis and Butthead stuff?"  Because, Dear Readers, this is my blog and I will write whatever I choose.  Including commentary on how stupid and inane my generation is.  When silly nonsense like 30 Rock and Glee is considered high quality entertainment, there is something wrong with the world (besides, I like Doctor Who).

Honestly, I almost want to apologize to the world for the abject stupidity of my generation.  When the braindead fools on MTV and Comedy Central can tell you what to think and how to believe, it's no wonder that marriage rates are dropping and people are actually worried about it.  There are other factors involved, but a big part of it is that both guys and girls hang out with each other, they put on this stupid brainless act that they see acted out on TV in front of each other and everyone says "I don't want to marry him/her - he/she is an idiot."

Like I said, intelligence is only one factor involved but for me, it's a biggie.  A guy had better have something more substantial to say to me than whatever asinine drivel Letterman flapped about in his monologue last night.  Until then, I'm taking my ball and going home.