For the Benefit and Enjoyment of the People

On Thursday we went to a sneak preview of the new Ken Burns' documentary about the National Parks. There's an article about it in today's NYTimes. It was really wonderful. Not, like, accompanied by a performance by Allison Krauss and Counting Crows, but still really nice. The theater had good microbrews and popcorn. We were perhaps 15 years younger than most anyone else there (except the kids who got dragged along with their parents.) I am excited for the series because of I think what Burns says in his interview, the "who are we?" of the Parks is pretty compelling. There's a lot of emphasis on democracy and equality in the Parks, which I am not sure is completely true, but obviously I like the idea of quite a bit. (A side note in the ny times story is that I used to work with Burns' daughter, when she was in the mentioned "internship" where she/they got interested in the Central Park jogger case.) In the parts we saw there is also the story of the evolution of the parks, showing that the first struggle is to get everyone on the same page that we want these at all... but it doesn't end there, there is an evolution of people thinking about how we want to run them. Parks existed completely for peoples' amusement for a long time and it took another kind of revolution in thought that not only do we want parks, but we want them to be faithful to the needs of the environment. There are some natural parallels, I think, to some of other hot debates of democracy today. I am also saddened to see the NYTimes predict the public option is dead today, as well. I'm not sure, but am thinking along the lines of the story of the parks, that perhaps doing it at all is the first step and then we can work towards doing it right.

Summer Blockbusters!

I've seen a lot of movies lately. For me, at least. We've been going to Sundance 608 for Tuesday night 2-for-1 student tickets the past few weeks. Plus I have gotten serious about Netflix again. So, here we go, the movies and my mini-review:

27 Dresses. You know you want to see it. Katherine Heigl, like a non-annoying Anne Hathaway.

He's Just Not That Into You. Weirdly the opposite lesson as the book. Their Bennifer (Aniston and Affleck) is something I've been talking about a lot when drinking lately.

Man on Fire. We didn't finish it yet. Charlie mentioned the best part of the second half is going to be that Dakota Fanning isn't in it. Because, you know, she's been kidnapped.

Inside Man. Really good in the Denzel caper genre. A Spike Lee Joint, so had a 50% chance of being good. Delivered!

UP. Supercute. In 3D. Balloons most impressive?

The Hangover. Funny. I liked, but I think I already said that.

Rudo Y Cursi. Sweet and cute and I love Gael. Not predictable either, really.

Vicky Cristina Barcelona. Like Spike, Woody has about a 50% success rate. Not sure I'd put this with the winners. Gosh, ScarJo is pretty and grating. Also, "Vicky" and "Cristina" are two different characters, not Penelope Cruz's name... this is apparently a common misconception. At least at our house.

Uggles McFugly

Can someone explain this Susan Boyle phenomenon to me? Why are we so moved and surprised? We don't expect ugly people to be able to sing? Because we watch shows like that where they make fun of people for being old, fat and/or ugly and then it's a shocking internet surge when someone who is those things contributes something worthwhile?

Or am I misreading it and there' some really affirming social message here?

Lost? LOST!

You know what, LOST? I've been following you for a few years now. I've put up with a lot of shenanigans from you... but this season... well, I have no effing idea what is going on. And here's the thing. You're on ABC. If I don't understand something on ABC, it's not (please I have to believe) because it's over my head. No, it's because it's weird and doesn't make any sense and it like the television version of some of my law school peers who use big words incorrectly to try to trick the listener into thinking they're saying something interesting. This shit is not deep. It's confusing. And I'm going to stand by that.
It's just starting to piss me off, because LOST used to be a guilty pleasure. I could catch up with that and shows like 24 during school breaks or on a lazy weekend. This year has been in many ways less busy than the first two, so I've even been able to watch them semi-regularly on tv (or at least stay up-ish-to-date via the internet.) And now it's all weird and crazy and trying to make me feel stupid. It won't work, LOST! I see through you!


And that's today's rant about television.

A Couple of Things Since the Election

1. Saturday I took the Multistate Professional Responsibility Exam. It sucked. Here's hoping I passed so that I don't have to do anything that sucky until the Bar. I think I am plenty ethical. Plus, you pass in any state if you're like 2/3 ethical, I can totally do that.

2. I applied for an application with www.change.gov. It's like fate or kismet... I need a job. And my country needs me. And I love Barack Obama. Here's hoping I am ethical enough to work for him.

3. My newest hobby is surfing youtube for things to make me cry.
Recently:



Less Recently, but have watched it no less than 12 times and gotten misty each time. Also sing it in the car:


And then of course:


Lauren likes to get all mushy, too. She has a lot of these over there, as well.

Cable Thoughts

In this weird new temporary life, I have some things I don't have in real life. Like a pool and cable. Here are some things about the cable:

-Cox cable apparently has a monopoly here (I got a pedicure today after first appearances and the ladies in the chairs next to me were complaining about it. At first appearances I met a man who lost a leg in a construction accident. He told me supports himself by doing surveys on the internet. Me: Wow, that's amazing. Him: Yeah, well... it's a lot of of surveys. What did I say about every thing that happens being bizarre and interesting...?) and they play an ad where there is someone checking out at the grocery. The clerk scans bread, $1.50. Milk, $1.60. Coffee, $4.69, etc. And then the clerk says, "ok, that'll be $23.50." And the customer just walks away. So the clerk turns to the next person and says, "ok, that will be $23.50 extra." The point is supposed to be that if one person steals cable, everyone else's bill goes up. I guess we are supposed to start reporting our neighbors or something. Since I am not paying for my cable (not stolen, just comes with the place) all I do is marvel at how cheap all the food is. I paid almost $4 for a loaf of bread today!

-The Real World: Hollywood is now 4 women and 3 men. More interestingly, there are three white people and three black people. This seems unprecedented in RW history. There's nothing really more to that, but it's interesting.

-Why do they play 3 Law and Orders at a time all week and barely any on the weekend? Seriously, what am I supposed to watch. Apparently the answer to that is "Just Friends."

UMMMMMM...

I am not sure if the public knows about this (how could they, since I just discovered it!)

BUT, about 30 episodes each of Beverly Hills 90210, Melrose Place and Family Ties (and even shit like Star Wars, The Love Boat, Twin Peaks and McGyver) are available on CBS.com, gratis. Click here and enjoy your past.

Last night I watched teh 90210 pilot. You know, when Brandon, Brenda and Brandon's mullet move from Minneapolis to Beverly Hills. I have to say, the Walshes looked A LOT cooler in third grade.

Addictive Personality

So last night I stayed up until 5am watching Law & Order. Now, understand, that the 2 discs I watched during the day were not enough... and so I went to the video store and rented two discs of Criminal Intent. And then I watched them... all. And today, as mentioned below, bought Season 6 of 24. And now am on disc 3. Yum, yum, Jack Bauer. I don't think there is anything wrong with this, really, I mean, I also did some shopping (everyone is getting cheese this year, no joke) and OH YEAH, placed almost 200 law students in legal services in New Orleans the week of Jan. 7. Saving the world while Jack saves the world? Yes, thank you.

Also, thank goodness I don't live somewhere warm, then I might feel bad about watching tv for literally days. This is my kind of vacation.

I hope you can understand my profound disappointment...

... when a new disc of Law and Order: SVU arrived in the mail today, I told myself if I got the paper done tonight, I could watch as many episodes as I could stay awake for. Well, I finished the paper (!!!!) and threw in some Olivia and Elliot to lull me to sleep... and discovered I have seen 4 of the episodes on this disc. This is why the Bravo Thanksgiving marathon might not have been the miracle it appeared to be. Nevertheless, I will preservere and will not be daunted by this challenge. Just as I was able to to turn out a crappy paper, I will be able to stay awake until 4am watching tv shows I have already seen.

Update, 10 minutes later: I feel much better. The dude who plays Cutty on the Wire is playing the Prison warden on this episode of L&O:SVU. And you know how I love cross-pollination among my shows.

According to Netflix

December 2007 appears to be a banner month. The Wire Season 4 AND Law & Order:SVU Season 4 on DVD? Well, we know what I'll be doing during--I mean after--finals.

I really enjoyed this.

My New Favorite Thing

Is TV on the internet. It used to be just missed episodes of LOST once I caught up via DVD, but I since I had crap internet at home, I had to watch them in the library at school. Which obviously sucks. But now, NOW! I have my own internet and I am totally caught up with LOST, and I can watch the new episodes... you know.... whenevs... I have expanded my repertoire to other ABC shows-- notably Ugly Betty and Brothers and Sisters. I really like B & S, even though when it came as a recommendation from my mom (complete with a play-by-play of the pilot)... I thought it sounded whack. But mostly I like watching anything from bed or bath. I think my favorite part is the freedom. I am American, afterall.

I knew I don't watch Grey's for a reason...

... and maybe this isn't MY reason, but it's a pretty good one.


"People complain that hip-hop stars use obscene lyrics and lewd music videos to demean women. Sometimes, so do even the most bourgeois women’s television shows."

from...

And yes I recognize the irony/hypocritical nature of being an editor of a law journal about gender, making my first foray to Hooters yesterday and abstaining from a hit tv show really because I think it's silly but claiming it's for empowerment reasons... ok?

iLife

Ok, I love apple. I love apple sooooo much. I instinctively trust whatever they do, much like Google. You may doubt it at first, then you see that what they've come up with is a better, sexier, cooler way to live your life. But. This seems a step too far. Let me get this straight-- you have itunes, you pay Apple to download tv shows (that would be free if you watched them on tv...) in mp4 format, which you can't burn onto a DVD to play in a DVD player. So, instead, now you pay Apple $300 to wirelessly synch your computer to your TV and play said iTV Shows through the television.

Sign me up??

Another day, another couple hundred dollars at 8% interest...

Day 1 of Second Semester... done. It really was only one class from 11-12, now I am home watching the West Wing. Aside from the impending feeling of dread and mental impotence... sometimes being in school is o-k.

Anyway, I have been thinking recently about cycles of things. Obviously, the seasons and things like that, but as I've been alive for longer, I have started to see larger cycles. Most in interpersonal interaction. If I had the time and the will, I would start writing them out, trying to find a pattern. Now that I reread that idea, it seems maybe I should have said, "If I go Rainman, I will start writing them out, trying to find a pattern." But it oftens seems like good and bad things, in my life and others, come in waves. It may be a little like reading tea leaves, but it seems that at this time of year, there are always big changes-- or there was that period from February to April or last year when it seemed everyone was breaking up. Or a couple of years ago when everyone's grandparent died. I wonder if there are studies/a religion based on this type of thing, I would be interested in more information.

In related news, we're in "oooh, hi, how was your break?"-time and since that is probably my 4th least favorite type of interaction (this isn't anyone else's fault, it's custom and I do it, too...), I am kind of wondering how bad it would be if I didn't go to school for the first two weeks.

Good idea/bad idea?

Home Alone, or, Props to Zoe.

I'm Home Alone. Which is kind of funny, since I live alone and am therefore always home alone unless I am lucky enough to have guests. This time is a little different, though, because I have no obligations and the town has emptied out. My actions might not be any different, but my state of mind certainly is...

And now onto Props to Zoe. My now-15-yr-old-sister and I had argument about a year and a half ago about which is better, Dirty Dancing or Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights. Since she hadn't seen the original (starring Jennifer Grey-- also coincidentally the name of the flight attendant who abandoned me at ten yrs old in O'Hare. And also, hopefully, the name of an unemployed flight attendant...) and I hadn't seen Havana Nights, the argument was limited to "is not" "is so" "is not." But now, now my friends, I have seen Havana Nights. And while I would not say it is "better" than the original... it's pretty good. Diego Luna is dreamy. The soundtrack includes the extent of my knowledge of Cuban hip hop, and before-the-remix of "Hips Don't Lie." Proving, once again, that Wyclef needs Shakira. And vice versa.
I also appreciated the more-or-less historically accurate representation of the Revolution.
Basically, the movie FINALLY combines "Nobody puts Baby in a corner" with "Hasta la Victoria Siempre." And I couldn't be happier.




p.s. I NEVER REALIZED THAT BRADLEY WHITFORD WAS IN ADVENTURES IN BABYSITTING UNTIL I STARTED WATCHING IT RIGHT NOW AND OH MY GOD. Or that Thor is Vincent D'Onofrio in a terrible blond wig? My world has been rocked. Rewatching the movie also explains why I am still so scared of those underground parking things in downtown Chicago.

Oh yeah...

24, Season 5. Awesome as ever. I'll concede that some of the plotlines are getting repetitive, but gall darn, that Jack Bauer is one hell of an American and its as compelling as ever.

A few points:

I like that the same actors have been on so many of my favorite tv shows. Making the jump between LOST and 24, we have Desmond/Theo. Then, completing the ultimate circuit between LOST, 24, West Wing and the OC... Caleb Nichol/Charles/Jim/Mitch. Wow. A truly enviable career in network television, do Emmys have lifetime achievement awards and how do I nominate Alan Dale?

I love Jack Bauer.

Much as I cannot watch Law & Order now that I live alone on the first floor, because I get scared of rapists and murderers... when I get really into 24 I become a little paranoid about terrorism, espionage and getting grabbed by the neck until I pass out.

And, again, I love Jack Bauer.

The other implicit benefit in watching 24 on dvd... no matter how long you're watching, you always feel like you're beating the clock. An hour in 42 minutes? That's the kind of bargain I love,

And one more time, I love Jack Bauer.

Two things I've learned recently:

One from studying/finally reading Crim, one from TV.

1. One of the 19 yr olds I drove back to Madison from Minneapolis was right! His $350 ticket for underage intoxication is not a crime! Because it carries no jail time, only a fine. I still feel better that Madison Police have nothing better to do than ticket drunk kids waiting for the bus.

2. TNT is DANGEROUS, man! Between Dr. Arzt's unfortunate liquification on LOST and Elliot's untimely head wound this evening on SVU... jeez, louise. I am staying away from that stuff.