Saturday Seven

1. I know all my faithful readers were disappointed that I didn't write a Friday Five post last week or yesterday. I wrote this yesterday, I just forgot to publish it. Last week, I was busy all morning at work and then I headed to Austin and did not access the Internet until I returned on Sunday. What was I doing in Austin? Planting a garden! I'll post pictures soon to prove I actually gardened. I returned with three green pepper plants and one jalapeno plant. We'll see if I can grow produce. I also hung out with two of my high school friends, the true purpose of the visit.
   
   
2. Rain, rain and more rain! It looks like the sky might open any moment and flood us. Wednesday night it hailed. Sunday we had tornadoes and heavy rain. Parts of the city are still flooded. Hopefully it lets up enough for me to mow this weekend. The height of our grass is embarrassing, especially the weeds.
   
   
3. I haven't read since I wrote all those posts about reading. I guess I've moved past the all-I-want-do-do-is-read wave. Non-fiction will do that to you. And this weekend I've got three Netflix movies to watch and ship back, so I won't be doing a lot of reading.
   
   
4. I have to fill out a self evaluation for work today. I recently offended my boss, so I'm not excited about the timing of this eval. He's accepted my apology, told me it's not a problem, but I still feel guilty. I doubt it will affect my eval, but I still don't want something negative looming over our recent interactions.
   
   
5. I have conflicted feelings about Wednesday's episode of LOST. I thought it was a good overall episode, if you factor out all the issues relating to Nikki and Paulo. I trust the writers and producers of this show, but I don't know why they introduced these characters earlier this season, tried to pretend they'd been on the island the whole time, and then "killed" them. Fans were upset at their presence and Wednesday's episode didn't do anything to change that. I'd heard that this episode would be a "game changer" and these characters would become legends in the LOST-verse. Not sure this episode achieved either of those goals. Yes, two people were buried alive, but there weren't characters we cared about or were emotionally invested in. I hear rumors that next season LOST will follow 24's path, and start the season in January and run all-new episodes through May. I'm behind that idea 100 percent. It's worked for 24. And did you notice how the premier of 24 was such an event? You couldn't read any TV-related blogs or news sources without reading about 24 and Keifer Sutherland.
   
   
6. I mowed my front yard this morning. I don't think I have mowed since high school. And due to all the rain and lack of a personal lawn mower, the grass and weeds were high. The mower stalled out too many times to count and didn't restart easily at all. I'm not sure I'll be able to move my right arm tomorrow. I didn't even get to the back yard. However, I'm borrowing a more powerful mower tomorrow, so hopefully I won't pull my shoulder out of socket.
   
   
7. It's Final Four weekend! I'm babysitting tonight, but I'll have the games on in the background. I should get going. I don't want to be late.
   

My Library

You might notice a new feature on the sidebar of my blog. I discovered the website LibraryThing today. It hasn't been a busy day at work, my boss is out of town, it's rainy and I'm just not motivated to work. I was reading the Arts & Entertainment section of The Guardian when I came upon an article about this website.

LibraryThing is essentially an online book catalog, complete with recommendations and a social networking capabilities. It's free and there is no registration, so I thought I would try it out. I started adding books I've read this year. I have to keep a list anyway or I'll forget what I've read, so why not do it online and share it with others. You can connect with people that have similar interests and even leave comments. I don't expect to leave comments with strangers, but my friend and I are about to read a book together, and if she sets up a LibraryThing account, we can comment back and forth. The ability to express a response to a book as it comes to me instead of hoping I remember it for when we talk about the book might come in handy for forgetful ol' me. You can also export your data to Excel or even your cell phone for access anywhere. You can review books as well. I haven't done that yet. You can even see how many LibraryThing users have your books in their libraries. I'm sure there are more features I haven't discovered yet.

That might not sound interesting to you, but if it does, check out my library from the link on the sidebar and set up your own account. Then send me the link!

Books

Like most of you readers out there, I'm always reading something or about to start a new book. I've always loved to read, ever since I was a kid, as mentioned in a previous post. My reading habits come in waves. I'll go a few months where I read instead of eating or sneak in a read during lunch or anytime I have a spare five minutes and stay up late reading. I finish a book and immediately start another one. Immediately. At other times, I read once or twice a week, and then when I finish a book, it takes me a few weeks to start a new one.

Right now all I want to do is read. I read three books in four days over spring break, and when I came back home I finished a library book I accidentally left behind. I chose to finish reading that book instead of watching Grey's Anatomy with my roommate. (By now you should know I'm a TV junkie as well.) As soon as I finished that book I jumped into another one and read it in two days. Yesterday I went to Barnes & Noble and bought two books with my birthday gift card. I came home, started to read, and finished the book three-ish hours later. And then I picked up the second book I bought. All I want to do right now is read. I always ride this wave as long as it lasts because the day will inevitably come when I won't want to pick up a book for a week or more.

So are the rest of you readers manic like me or do you read more consistently throughout the year?

Friday Five: Spring Break

It does not feel like a Friday. Here are five things I did on my spring break.

1. Visited friends in Mt. Pleasant. Highlights: delicious southwest chicken quiche and cheesecake at local places, fruit pizza and playing games.
   
   
2. Read three books in four days. It was so nice to relax and not worry about time for a week. The books: These Three Remain, the third book in the Fitzwilliam Darcy, Gentleman series; Bridge to Terabithia, one of my favorite books as a child, as indicated in a previous post; and Under the Tuscan Sun, an impromptu read because it was the only book on my mom's bookshelf I was interested in. She is an avid reader as well, but we have completely different tastes.
   
   
3. Stuffed myself at Simply Fondue. I ate with a few of my DFW friends for my birthday last night. We spent three hours at the restaurant and it was delicious! My favorite part of the evening was when the waitress asked everyone to put a marshmallows on their skier, and then light the chocolate fondue on fire so we could roast marshmallows. One of our chocolate flavors was S'mores, so it was perfect.
   
   
4. Played tennis! Janie and I always play tennis when I'm in the area. We played for an hour and played pretty well. The cute guys playing next to us were checking us out for sure.
   
   
5. Went shopping. I didn't actually get the essentials I set out for, but I did pick up a pair of flip-flops with green straps and a $45 pair of pants for $15. I found a lamp that met all my criteria at Kirkland's but I decided to shop around before I bought it. When I got around to going back, the lamp was gone. But I found the lamp at the Kirkland's at the Parks mall, so I bought that. And I picked up another spice "rack" at the Container Store. I also brought home a bubble bath ball and shampoo bar at Lush. Love that store!
   

Tonight I'm going to see Cirque Dreams. I don't know that much about it, but I am excited.

Music and Lyrics

Does it drive anyone else crazy when you hear a popular song on the radio with bad grammar? The new Nelly Furtado song came on - "Say it Right" - and when it got to the chorus, I just rolled my eyes. This is why:

Oh you don't mean nothing at all to me
No you don't mean nothing at all to me
Do you got what it takes to set me free

It's much harder to notice bad grammar in music because we don't give the lyrics our full attention.
But it's out there and people sing along and then repeat the grammar mistake in their own
conversations. I don't want to hear any more double negatives in conversation than I have to.

On a different subject, I read the book Bridge to Terabithia last night. This was one of my favorite
books in elementary school. I think I read it in fifth grade, but I'm not really sure. We read it
out loud as a class. I generally borrow books from the library, but occasionally I'll decide a book is
worth a purchase. Books you loved as a child belong in that category. Outside of school, I think my
favorite book was The Girl with the Silver Eyes. Anyone else read that as a child. I need to own
that book. I read it again in high school when my senior English teacher suggested I discover why
I loved it so much. The main character was different from her peers and never fully belonged. She
had silver eyes and paranormal abilities. In the end she finds out there are people like her and she
finally feels like she belongs. I was always a shy kid and could relate to not fitting in with the masses.

What books did you love as a kid and why? 

Friday Five: Saturday Edition

I was actually busy at work on Friday and then I headed out of town, so no time to blog. But here is the list of five things I am looking forward to this week.

1. Spring Break! It's great to get this paid vacation as a working adult. After 28 years, I can only remember one instance of having to go to school or work on my birthday due to the timing of SB, and that was in seventh grade, when I took the TAAS test instead. My birthday must have fallen on a Monday or Friday.
   
   
2. Road trip to Mt. Pleasant to visit friends I made in my current city of residence.
   
   
3. Using my own computer to access the Internet at my parents' house. They finally have a home network. Their old computer ran Windows 98, so you can just guess how slow it was.
   
   
4. Shopping! I have a list of essential spring clothing items that I haven't been able to find, and I figure if I can't find them in DFW, I must be the only one that considers them essential. Well, essential at an affordable price.
   
   
5. Fondue. I've never eating at a fondue place before, but I'm going there for my birthday. Yay!

That's all. Time to hit the road. Enjoy your spring breaks or work weeks!

Tagged

1. Grab the book closest to you.
2. Open to page 123, go down to the fourth sentence
3. Post the text of the following three sentences.
4. Name the author and book title.
5. Tag three other people to do the same
Dialogue with a supporter - be that face to face or through other routes - should be based on an understanding of the motivation of that individual supporter.
- The Zen of Fundraising by Ken Burnett

I was just handed the new book for our book study at work, so I thought I'd respond to this tag of Christina and Elisa. When I first read Christina's blog, I picked up the book I was reading and the fourth sentence was a paragraph long. I didn't feel like typing it up.

I can't get blogger to un-italicize this post. Annoying!

That's all I got!

Friday Five

I've had a hard time deciding what to blog about today. But I can't break my streak of Friday Five posts, so here goes.

1. If you read Rachel's blog you know I had a fun trip Fort Worth last weekend. We love our St. Patrick's Day!
   
2. My friend and I are still working out during lunch on Wednesdays, and I still love it! The woman in charge of the fitness center where I work if offering a toning class during lunch on Mondays that I am going to try next week. It's only 40 minutes and on campus, so the time I take for lunch shouldn't overflow like on Wednesdays. We'll see.
3. Does anyone else go through phases when you are extremely sloppy? For no reason whatsoever, you never get around to hanging up your laundry or unloading the dishwasher or organizing your desk or making your bed? I'm in that rut right now. My goal is to get out of it this weekend. I'm driving myself crazy.
4. Next week I'm participating in a wellness screening. I did it two years ago and was super healthy. But I'd been very consistent with exercise and healthy eating for three months leading up to. I'm worried that when I compare my wellness screenings, I am going to be less healthy. Not a lot, but I've been in a fast food-eating rut as well. My ruts are all connected. At least I've been exercising regularly.
5. I haven't been able to get into the last couple of books I've read. I gave up on the last one because the characters didn't draw me in. I'm forcing myself to finish the one I'm reading right now. Up next is Children of Men. I saw that movie, and can't usually go backwards, but I am going to give it a try. I actually want to finish this book so I can start Children of Men.

Friday Five: Random Thoughts

1. I went to men's and women's college basketball games last night, and more people attended the women's game. This made me happy because they are the better team. I appreciate that I live in a town where people show up for the better girls and not the guys just because they are guys. The next best thing about this evening was that it was totally free. I walked to the games, so I didn't use any gas. I tried to buy a coke and hot dog, but they didn't take cards, so the guy behind the counter gave them to me for free (it pays to know the right people) and then I had a free slice of pizza and a pretzel as part of the promo to get people to the game. Free fun evenings are the best!
   
   
2. I thought Grey's Anatomy pulled off the conclusion to it's three-episode arc. I think two episodes would have made it better, but I think overall it still worked. Obviously they weren't going to kill off the title character, but this episode in particular, made the payoff worth it. I'm used to watching Jack Bauer escape impossible situations and that show still works. This episode was effective mainly because we saw how all the characters dealt with Meredith's possible death. In general though, I wish they hadn't gone this direction with the show. Too ER-y for me.
   
   
3. I have a friend living in Ireland right now and someone else that will be attending grad school in Scotland in the fall. Thinking about them always makes me think about my experiences in London in Ireland. I specifically remember the first time it hit me that I lived in London, that for the rest of my life I would always consider London one of my homes. It was somewhere in the second half of my trip. I had gotten off work, grabbed some cheap dinner in Leicester Square, and was eating in Trafalgar Square, just killing time before a play started. I looked around me, and realized everyone around me was a tourist, everyone but me. And it him me: London is my home. Most people would only spend a few days in the city, maybe a week, but even if you spent a month, it wasn't the same as living there. I had a neighborhood grocery store. I had a library membership. I bought a morning bagel from a lady that confirmed my order as I walked in the door. I had a job. I never went anywhere without a book in my purse so I could read on the Tube. I knew a foreign city, a top tourist destination, intimately, in a way most people never would. And the longer I was in London, the more this sunk in, like when a tourist stopped and asked me for directions near the Tate Modern because I looked like I belonged. Or when, on my last full day in London, a cab driver asked me directions to a playhouse in my neighborhood and I told him how to get there. I thought about all that this morning, and how I was excited that my friend would go through something similar.
   
   
4. The Oscars are Sunday! I've seen all the best picture nominees except Letters from Iwo Jima. I still want to see it, but it is a long shot to win. If you want to say you've seen the Best Picture, rent Babel or the Departed. My affection for LMS is well known, but I don't think it should be best picture. It has won a lot of guild awards, so it could still win. I liked the Departed, but it had obvious flaws. Babel was better than I expected, but some of it's connected story lines were a little too contrived and didn't make sense in the bigger picture. Let's hope there are a few deserved upsets, just to make the ceremony exciting.
   
   
5. I have a celebrity crush on Mark Whalberg. I always forget about him though. And I'm totally OK with Marky Mark being nominated for an Oscar, and I would love for him to be one of the deserving upsets in the supporting actor category. He stole every scene he was in. Not likely, but you never know. I'd be happy if Ryan Gosling won best actor, but that won't happen either.

Addendum: I don't want to spoil anything for anyone, but word on the net is that ABC is making a Grey's spin-off staring Kate Walsh, aka Addison. New rumors suggest Taye Diggs might also be in the spin-off. I'm totally for that casting decision if it holds up. Interesting spin-off decision because most viewers like the character of Addision on Grey's. But with it being apparent that Derek and Addison are over, over, over, I guess it's logical that she would leave the hospital. Does that mean McSteamy is that far behind? That's just Jamie talking and is not based on anything I've read.

Friday Five: Why I Didn't Blog This Week

I'm sure the entire blog world is waiting anxiously for my Friday Five post. Today I thought I'd give you five reasons why I haven't blogged all week.

1. Monday was so long ago, I have no idea what happened that day. I missed both my lunch workout and my backup evening workout due to work-related activities.
2. I woke up at 5:45 Tuesday morning and drove seven students to Abilene in a 15-passenger van, where we met up with students from four other universities and loaded a charter bus and headed to Austin.
3. Wednesday I woke up at 6 a.m. and spent the morning helping students lobby legislators to increase grant funding at private colleges and universities and then headed back to Abilene. Wednesday evening I drove from Abilene to Lubbock with a van full of college students in the dark while it was snowing. Can't think of the last time I was so stressed.
4. Thursday flew by before I knew what was happening. I was in meetings from 11:45-4:30 and then collecting money for the Children's Miracle Network until the work day was over.
5. The Children's Miracle Network took over my work life this morning and I collected and counted money until I couldn't count anymore. It was all worth it when I received a call informing me that my business won the Change Bandits contest and I get to be a guest coach at a women's basketball game tomorrow. Whoo-hoo!

This is of me looking official at the Capitol. We were hanging out in the Speaker's Committee Room waiting to take a picture with one of our representatives when this picture was taken. I'd post more pictures, but they all have students in them. Except one.


Yeah, that's a man in a grapefruit costume on the floor of the House chamber. And yes, that is the Speaker of the House and the representatives from Mission conducting official House business by eating grapefruit pie. Doesn't it make you feel good to know our tax dollars are funding things like this. Mr. Grapefruit also made an appearance in the Senate gallery.

My dad is passing through town tonight, and I have to pick a fancy restaurant for him to take me for dinner.

Friday Five: Weekend

This is what I'm doing this weekend.

1. Attend/work a Sing Song-like performance Friday at noon.
2. Attend/work a Sing Song-like performance Friday evening.
3. Got to TGI Friday's, a tradition after these Sing Song-like performances.
4. Attend/work a Sing Song-like performance Saturday afternoon.
5. Attend/work a Sing Song-like performance Saturday evening.

A little redundant don't you think?

I learned some interesting stuff about the postal system in my area. I don't live in a sprawling metropolis, but I don't live in a city with only one traffic light either. In fact, I live in one of the larger cities in my region. I just recently moved, within the same zip code and about five blocks away, or two traffic lights. I found out yesterday that when, say, my Texas Monthly magazine arrives with my previous address on it magazines take 3-4 months to change your address), it it shipped to the nearest distribution center in Fort Worth to be labeled with my forwarding address and then mailed to me. Crazy! I also found out that if I put a letter in the mail to a friend in the same city as me on the weekend, it it shipped to Amarillo and mailed from there. Do we live in the dark ages of the United States Post Office? This can't be the most efficient way to do business.

In other news, last night I ate homemade ice cream outside in the cold evening air and listened to a band play "I Like Sex and Candy" at a student event at a christian university. The Dean and I were walking away when that song came on, and we just kept walking. Quite a different response than our friends at Harding experienced recently. My campus is abuzz with that story. The admissions office received a call from a mother specifically asking about dancing policy.

Have a good weekend.

Happy Monday

I went shopping over the weekend, and it was a good experience. Everything I bought was on sale, and I had to keep going back for a smaller size. That hasn't happened in forever! Hopefully I can keep it up. The class I went to today during lunch was a mix of cardio and toning. It used one of those bosu things, the half exercise ball that is flat on one end. I'm not so good with the balancing.

On to other subjects. Enjoy the getting-to-know-you thing, courtesy of Wendy and Rachel.

1. I’ve come to realize that my ex-(boyfriend) --- was a good guy.
2. I am listening to --- the TV.
3. I talk --- easily among friends.
4. I love --- tennis season.
5. My best friends --- are all goofy and silly.
6. I lost --- a black shirt.
7. I hate it when people ---are rude or disrespectful.
8. Love is --- like a box of chocolates (I know it's cheesy).
9. Marriage is --- nothing I know anything about.
10. Somewhere, someone is thinking --- about the Super Bowl.
11. I’ll always be --- a happy list writer.
12. I have a crush on --- Jack Bauer.
13. The last time I cried was because --- I can't remember the last time I cried real tears. I usually tear up during Ugly Betty though.
14. My cell phone --- turns off when I close it - annoying!
15. When I wake up in the morning --- I put on chapstick and then roll out of bed.
16. Before I go to sleep at night --- I put on chapstick.
17. Right now I am thinking about --- CSI.
18. Babies are --- adorable, but I'm glad I don't have one.
19. I get on MySpace --- to read Janie's blog.
20. Today I --- went to work, collected money for the Children's Miracle Network, exercised during lunch, tried to buy water guns at Wal-Mart only to find out they aren't in stock yet, walked around campus delivering supplies until my feet almost fell off, came home, planned a menu for the week, ate dinner and got online.
21. Tonight I will --- watch How I Met Your Mother and 24, buy groceries and try to get some reading in.

Friday Five: Happy List

Here are five things that made me happy this week.

1. Free lunch three out of four work days.
2. Working out during lunch.
3. SNOW!!!
4. Seasonal candy, specifically cherry-filled Hershey Kisses
5. Running into someone you went to college with, even if you can't place exactly how you know them.

We got snow last night! I awoke to a white world. Every since the weathermen forecast 11 inches of snow and we got two, I've ignored everything they've said. And the last two times they predicted snow, we've got a dusting or nothing at all, so I didn't think it would actually snow. It's pure snow, too. The best kind. It started snowing again this morning. Love it!

Does anyone out there work out during lunch? A colleague and I went to an aerobics class on Wednesday. We were nervous about the whole experience. Will we like it? Will we feel rushed? Will we take too long? It's almost the perfect time to exercise, if you work in a laid-back environment where taking an almost two-hour lunch is acceptable. You don't have to worry about heading to the gym when you get off work, but you don't have to get up early either. Also, it's a nice break in the middle of the day and energizes you. On the downside, I didn't eat lunch until 2 p.m. and was starving. And showering in a locker room isn't ideal. It reminded me of showering in the dorm. We are going to try it again next Monday and Wednesday and then decide if it's something we want to continue. Another great thing about working out during lunch instead of after work is not having to fight traffic on game nights during basketball season. The Rec Center is adjacent to the sports arena.

Sorry my blog has been so boring lately. I got out of the habit of writing around the holidays and the movie and haven't got back into the groove again. Oh, yeah, I also live a boring life. No trips or old men asking me out to keep you entertained.

Friday Five: Laughter

In the spirit of expanding my blog to subjects outside of media, these are five things that always make me laugh.

1. Playing in the snow
2. NBC's Thursday night lineup: My Name is Earl, The Office, Scrubs, 30 Rock
   
3. Tabooisms - remembering old ones or creating new ones during a game of Taboo
4. Jon Stewart's Bush impersonation, specifically the chuckle
5. Brandon's giggle. Very few of you know him, but he has this loud, high pitched and unique giggle for a laugh.

I watched the movie The Illusionist last night. Skip it! Jaime fell asleep while we were watching it, and I wanted to turn it off. I kept hoping it would get better. Edward Norton is in it. The story wasn't good, and if it was supposed to be suspenseful and shocking, they failed miserably. And if it that wasn't the point, then why make the movie? If you want to watch a magician movie, choose The Prestige and watch Wolverine and Batman fight it out.

Oscar Shockers

The Oscar nominations were announced today, and there were some shockers! By now you've guessed that I love movies, so I'm going to comment on the main categories.

1. Best Picture: “Babel,” “The Departed,” “Letters From Iwo Jima,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” “The Queen.”

SHOCKER: Omission of Dreamgirls. I haven't gotten around the seeing this, but if you read Rachel's blog, she loved Dreamgirls. She's into movies and the Oscars as much as me. Dreamgirls was "the movie to beat" before it was even released, and that probably contributed to it's "downfall." Many of the critics raved about it, but there was a lot of negative written about it, mainly that it's all show and no heart, hallow beneath all the beauty. Haven't seen it myself.

2. Actor: Leonardo DiCaprio, “Blood Diamond”; Ryan Gosling, “Half Nelson”; Peter O’Toole, “Venus”; Will Smith, “The Pursuit of Happyness”; Forest Whitaker, “The Last King of Scotland.” Whitaker has been winning everything.

SHOCKER. None. This field shaped up as expected. No one knew if Leo would get nominated for Diamond or the Departed. He was great in the Departed, and I guess better in Diamond. I am so excited Ryan Gosling was nominated! He received critical acclaim before, but this is his first nomination. He was great in Half Nelson. Most of you know him from The Notebook.

3. Actress: Penelope Cruz, “Volver”; Judi Dench, “Notes on a Scandal”; Helen Mirren, “The Queen”; Meryl Streep, “The Devil Wears Prada”; Kate Winslet, “Little Children.”

SHOCKER. None. This field has been locked for a while. Helen Mirren has been winning everything in sight, and it will be a HUGE upset if she loses.

4. Supporting Actor: Alan Arkin, “Little Miss Sunshine”; Jackie Earle Haley, “Little Children”; Djimon Hounsou, “Blood Diamond”; Eddie Murphy, “Dreamgirls”; Mark Wahlberg, “The Departed.”

SHOCKER. Where's Jack Nicholson? Mark Wahlberg stole every scene he was in in the Departed, but everyone expected Jack to get a nom. A lot of critics thought he went over the top as the movie progressed, and I agree with them, but he's still Jack.

5. Supporting Actress: Adriana Barraza, “Babel”; Cate Blanchett, “Notes on a Scandal”; Abigail Breslin, “Little Miss Sunshine”; Jennifer Hudson, “Dreamgirls”; Rinko Kikuchi, “Babel.”

SHOCKER. None. Glad Abigail was nominated. She was the heart of LMS. This is Jennifer Hudson's to lose.

6. Directing: Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu, “Babel”; Martin Scorsese, “The Departed”; Clint Eastwood,H “Letters From Iwo Jima”; Stephen Frears, “The Queen”; Paul Greengrass, “United 93.”

SHOCKER. Paul Greengrass! United 93 has been showing up on all the critics lists, and won many awards from critic groups, but hasn't received any award love. I did not want to watch this movie, but I did and it was good, although chilling and difficult to watch. The decision to make it like a documentary using mostly unknown actors and some of the real people involved was the right choice. Paul directed Bloody Sunday and the Bourne Supremacy.

7. Foreign Language Film: “After the Wedding,” Denmark; “Days of Glory (Indigenes),” Algeria; “The Lives of Others,” Germany; “Pan’s Labyrinth,” Mexico; “Water,” Canada.

SHOCKER. Volver by Pedro didn't make the cut! He has won this category before and has won Best Original Screenplay as well, and Penelope Cruz was a best actress nom for his movie, so this is a surprise. Pan's Labrynth is one of the best reviewed films of the year, so go see it.

10. Animated Feature Film: “Cars,” “Happy Feet,” “Monster House.”

SHOCKER. I guess you could include Monster House as the surprise nom, but it's the only one I've seen and I liked it. Cars or Happy Feet are going to win anyway. Monster House had an interesting backstory (something about Spielberg giving a nobody director right out of college the job or something like that) and Maggie Gyllenhaal voiced a character, so it was a no-brainer for me.

So that is what I think about the big Oscar categories. The Dreamgirs omission is still shocking. It was a victim of it's own hype. And Letters from Iwo Jima got a lot of love, pitting Scorsese against Eastwood, again. Everyone thought this would be Scorsese's year. Leading up to the nominations, Eastwood hasn't won or been nominated for much. But the Academy loves him. I would like to see Iwo Jima because I found fault with the Departed, even though I liked it very much. I need to see that and the Queen to see all five Best Picture nominees. Right now the Queen isn't playing here but should get a wider release.

One of these days I'll write a more personal post, you know, with information about my life.

Friday Five

My goal is to post a Friday Five list every week. Today I'm starting with the five best documentaries I saw in 2006. If you don't watch documentaries, you are missing some of the best movies every year. I just recently started watching documentaries on a regular basis, and I wish I had started sooner. It was hard to trim my list to just five, but here goes.

1. Grizzly Man. Fascinating is the best word to describe this movie. It's about a man that devoted his life to studying bears, believing that they are misunderstood by the human world. He lives with the bears every summer and this movie uses his own footage to chronicle his life until he is mauled to death. Fascinating.
2. Devil's Playground. I wrote a whole post about this movie and how it examines the period in the lives of Amish teenagers when they leave Amish customs behind and behave like normal teenagers.
3. Murder on a Sunday Morning. This doc won the 2001 Oscar for it's portrayal of a murder case involving racial profiling and ridiculous police brutality and corruption.
4. Murderball. Rugby-playing quadriplegics compete for Gold in the Paralympic Games in Athens. Really, that should be enough. Add double crossing coaches and other conflict, and you've got yourself an interesting movie.
5. Mad Hot Ballroom. Competitive ballroom dancing in the New York public schools. Awesome! Watching these kids dance the rumba, tango, foxtrot, etc. is super entertaining. And pretty darn impressive.

That's my list. Grizzly Bear is by far the best documentary I saw last year, probably one of the best movies. But I bet you would enjoy any of these docs if you gave them a chance. They are all on Netflix. Grizzly Bear has aired on cable as well. I always think I'll be bored by a documentary, but that has never happened, even though I have been bored by a feature film. If you've only see March of the Penguins, Super Size Me, Fahrenheit 911, try one of these less mainstream, but equally good and usually better documentaries.

2006: Books in Review

These are the best books I read last year, in no particular order. As many of you know, I don't remember many details about the books I read, but I'll try to give a brief description of the book and why I liked it.

• Kite Runner by Khaled Hossein - Set in Afghanistan after Taliban rule, this book tells the story of the friendship between two boys. Simple description that doesn't do the book justice. I hear it's being made into a movie directed by Marc Forster (Finding Neverland, Stranger than Fiction). This was the first book I read in 2006, and though I don't remember much about it, I really liked it.
  
  
• Girl Meets God by Lauren Winner - I kept hearing all these references to Lauren Winner in Christian circles, so when I traveled to Denver for work via car, I took this book along. It's a memoir about the spiritual journey of a girl that became an Orthodox Jew, but was drawn to Christianity and eventually converted. I remember reading this book and thinking how nice it was to read something by someone who talks like me or whose language I can relate to.
  
  
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova - This is a story about Dracula that weaves together three different story lines. It was suspenseful and interesting and built up to the discovery of Dracula, which was kind of anti climatic. I still loved the book.
  
  
• Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller - I can't believe I'd never read this book. Another spiritual journey story. I remember talking to a student from Tech that was a Leadership Camps counselor about her experience as a Christian on a state campus. Her experiences were completely different than mine, where faith and spirituality were all around. Miller's college experience was similar to hers, but more extreme.
  
  
• Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosse - I wrote a whole post about this book, so I won't say much else. But any book that makes you want to change your behavior, even if it doesn't happen easily, is a good book.

Sorry if these best-of lists are boring for you. I've been reading so many of them lately, it's like I think in lists. I'll make a movie best-of list later.

2006: Year in Review

Like all the newspapers, magazines, etc, I am going to write a series of posts with my Bests Lists. I am going to start with the Six Best TV Moments. For those of you that may not know, I have a horrible memory. These moments came to me without research or the use of memory devices. When I get to listing movies, books, song/albums, etc, I will be using my Netflix Rental History, Date Added on iTunes and the list I keep of Books Read. Why six instead of five? I refuse to feel constrained by numbers.

SPOILER ALERT. If you aren't up-to-date on LOST, 24 or The Office, don't read my list.

6. NBC Thursdays: This isn't a moment, but the first Thursday that NBC aired My Name is Early, The Office, Scrubs and 30 Rock was genius. I love that all of these shows are non-traditional, no-laugh track, high-quality comedies. I didn't watch 30 Rock until it moved to Thursdays, but it has moments of brilliance. And yea for Scrubs returning before January!

5. Stephen Colbert's rant at the end of his Midterm Midtacular broadcast. Colbert is so funny! I thought about just putting his show in general on the list, but this rant showcases everything great about his show. Here is the text. "Tomorrow you're all going to wake up in a Brave New World, a world where the constitution gets trampled by an army of terrorist clones created in a stem cell research lab run by homosexual doctors who sterilize their instruments over burning American flags. Where Tax and Spend Democrats take all your hard-earned money and use it to buy electric cars for National Public Radio and teach evolution to illegal immigrants. Oh, and everybody's high! Whoo!"

4. The Grey's Anatomy Super Bowl episodes. Who knew this show could be suspenseful?

3. Jim tells Pam that he loves her on The Office. Everything from this point on in the episode was fantastic, and kudos to the writers, because most viewers just expected Jim to tell Pam he was taking a job in another office.

2. Michael kills Anna-Lucia and Libby on LOST! This was jaw dropping! The episode was progressing slowly, and then - BAM - everything changed in an instant.

1. They killed President Palmer on 24! The promos hyped the premier of S5 of 24 by saying, "The first 10 minutes of 24 will change everything," and it did. They killed off another main character, left one in a coma (or in critical condition) and had another one running for her life. I did not see the assassination of President Palmer coming, another jaw-dropping moment on television. Anytime I see All State commercials with Dennis Haysbert, I mourn President Palmer's death on 24.

What are your favorite moments from television? I purposefully omitted sporting events from my list. I haven't decided if I'm going to do a sports list or not. I'll be back with my Top 10 (+ or -) Combined Media List (books, TV, movies, songs/albums) when I get back to my memory devises. (I'll try to think of catchier title.)

Merry Christmas!

Paint and Snow

I've been painting my "new" bedroom every night this week. Painting red is not fun because it takes so many layers. And I can only paint one layer a day because I can only work at night. It's a slow process. (In case you didn't read Jaime's blog, we are renting a house together starting Jan. 1.) Our nice landlords let us in early to paint and move stuff in, but we don't start paying rent until Jan. 1. I lived in this house for two years when I first moved to town, so it already feels like home. I'll have the same bedroom and everything.

A cold front came in on Monday, and we got a little snow last night. I love snow, even in small quantities. I don't love ice that presents like another layer of paint on your car. Hard to even scrape off. But soon I'll have a garage and won't have to worry about that.

Tomorrow is my last day of work until Jan. 2. Working in higher education has it perks.

The radio stations started playing Christmas songs more frequently once the temperature dropped. I'll admit that I would have thought it strange to hear a Christmas song on Saturday when it was 82 degrees. Wise decision.

The Cowboys are in the playoffs and Tony Romo is in the Pro Bowl!

Search Kindly

I don't know how many of you out there are like me, but I Google everything. Is Grey's Anatomy new tonight? Google. How do I renew my driver's license online? Google. Where do I want to stay when I visit New York City. Google. And magically, Google answers.

Let me introduce you to Search Kindly. The whole point of Search Kindly is to take something that you'd be doing anyway, like surfing the Internet, and turn it into a really meaningful action. All the money generated by Search Kindly is donated to charity. For November and December, all the money they make is going to Invisible Children, an organization committed to ending the war in Northern Uganda where children are forced to fight as soldiers. For fear of being hunted by the LRA (Lord’s Resistance Army), these children commute on foot every night to find safe places to sleep in their town centers.

I've started using Search Kindly for all my search needs. Google provides the search engine for Search Kindly, so it's like nothing has changed, except that with each search, I'm making a small difference. (They aren't making a lot of money, so spread the word!) You can even add Search Kindly to the search bar in Firefox and IE7 to make it your default search engine.

Give it a try!

"If you're going to search, why not Search Kindly?"