I'm in Colorado

So after work on Friday, I high-tailed it to Los Angeles International Airport and my parents and I flew (direct) to Colorado Springs Airport where we were greeted by my smiling little brother, who drove us to his house in Monument, CO. I've been here the last three days and I have to say that the weather is, unexpectedly, fabulous. Yesterday I spent most of the day cooking: I made goose and stuffing and butternut squash. (My goose giblet gravy turned out especially nice, I thought.) Today we went down to this Park called Garden of the Gods where they have these fantastic red rock formations. We saw a bit of it on horseback and then walked around some more after that.

I'm taking a break from cooking today because on Christmas Eve at about 10:00p, I sliced the end of my left middle finger off. It bled like nothing I've seen in a while. So stupid, too. I've never cut myself cooking and I didn't even do it with a knife. I wounded myself with a goddamned vegetable peeler. And I was supposed to cook the rest of the trip, but I don't know. I just don't feel much like it anymore. I mean, I did Christmas dinner yesterday, but today I needed a break. I think we're having frozen lasagne.

No movies in Colorado Springs, either. It's a little weird. The only things playing here that I haven't seen are Cheaper by the Dozen 2 and Munich. I guess I'll probably be seeing the Spielberg after all. You couldn't pay me to sit through CbtD2.

Merry Christmas all! I'll be back in California on Thursday night.

2002 In Review

LOVED
~ ~
1. The Hours
2. Gangs of New York
3. Ararat
4. City of God
5. Y Tu Mamá También
6. The Last Kiss
7. Talk to Her
8. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind
9. Bloody Sunday
10. Far from Heaven
11. Spirited Away
12. Punch-drunk Love
13. Adaptation.
14. About a Boy

REALLY LIKED
~ ~
15. Russian Ark
16. Chicago
17. 8 Women
18. The Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys
19. The Quiet American
20. The Pianist
21. The Lord of the Rings: the Two Towers
22. Behind the Sun
23. Merci pour le Chocolat
24. Tadpole
25. Panic Room
Minority Report
Read My Lips
Late Marriage
Zus & Zo
His Secret Life
Lan Yu
Rabbit-proof Fence

LIKED
~ ~
Children of the Century
The Crime of Father Amaro
About Schmidt
Lilo & Stitch
Treasure Planet
Frida
Road to Perdition
Antwone Fisher
Unfaithful
Catch Me If You Can
Intacto
Solaris
The Bourne Identity
The Cherry Orchard
Divine Secrets of the Ya-ya Sisterhood
Austin Powers in Goldmember

LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
The Isle

BARELY LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
The Time Machine

DIDN'T LIKE
~ ~
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
Secretary
My Big Fat Greek Wedding
The Man from Elysian Fields
Sunshine State
Possession
Reign of Fire
The Piano Teacher
The Importance of Being Earnest
Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron
The Wild Thornberrys Movie
Lovely & Amazing
The Man Without a Past
8 Mile
Full Frontal
Signs
The Good Girl

HATED
~ ~
The Rules of Attraction
Ice Age
The Count of Monte Cristo

COMPLETE AND TOTAL WASTE OF TIME
~ ~
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones
Queen of the Damned

2003 In Review

LOVED
~ ~
1. In America
2. Master and Commander: the Far Side of the World
3. The Son
4. The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King
5. Dirty Pretty Things
6. Cold Mountain
7. House of Sand and Fog
8. All the Real Girls
9. American Splendor
10. Whale Rider
11. Finding Nemo
12. The Barbarian Invasions
13. The Station Agent
14. Kill Bill: Vol. 1
15. Raising Victor Vargas
16. Elephant
17. 21 Grams
18. Gerry

REALLY LIKED
~ ~
19. 28 Days Later...
20. Better Luck Tomorrow 21. Big Fish
22. The Last Samurai
23. I Capture the Castle
24. The Missing
25. Mystic River
The Matrix: Reloaded
Seabiscuit
Peter Pan
The School of Rock
Something's Gotta Give
Die Mommie Die!
A Mighty Wind
Identity
The Italian Job
Pirates of the Caribbean: the Curse of the Black Pearl
Le Divorce
Once upon a Time in Mexico
X2
Girl with a Pearl Earring
Sylvia

LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
Yossi & Jagger
Swimming Pool
Lost in Translation
The Company
In the Cut
Camp
Japanese Story

BARELY LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
The Cooler
Brother Bear
Laurel Canyon
The Triplets of Belleville

DISLIKED
~ ~
Down with Love
Intolerable Cruelty
Shattered Glass
Monster
Love Actually
Bad Boys II
Casa de los Babys
Pieces of April
Thirteen

HATED
~ ~
Mambo Italiano
Cold Creek Manor
Matchstick Men
The Matrix: Revolutions

COMPLETE AND TOTAL WASTE OF TIME
~ ~
The Haunted Mansion

2004 In Review

LOVED
~ ~
1. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter ...and Spring
2. Garden State
3. The Sea Inside
4. The Return
5. The Door in the Floor
6. Million Dollar Baby
7. Dogville
8. The Motorcycle Diaries
9. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
10. Kill Bill: Vol. 2
11. A Very Long Engagement
12. I'm Not Scared
13. The Twilight Samurai
14. We Don't Live Here Anymore
15. Collateral
16. The Incredibles
17. Before Sunset
18. I ♥ Huckabees
19. Last Life in the Universe

REALLY LIKED
~ ~
20. Primer
21. Želary
22. The Bourne Supremacy
23. Tarnation
24. Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
25. Bad Education
Being Julia
Vanity Fair
Bon Voyage
Good Bye Lenin!
Vera Drake
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Blind Shaft
Ray
Les Choristes
Kinsey
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
Son Frère
Mean Girls
Mean Creek

LIKED
~ ~
Maria Full of Grace
Finding Neverland
Closer
Sideways
The Aviator
Hotel Rwanda
Facing Windows
Shrek 2
Latter Days
The Village
The Merchant of Venice
Hellboy
 

LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
Brother to Brother

BARELY LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED
~ ~
House of Flying Daggers
The Machinist
The Phantom of the Opera
The Manchurian Candidate
The Ladykillers
Win a Date with Tad Hamilton!
Good Bye Dragon Inn

DISLIKED
~ ~
Undertow
The Terminal
Troy
I, Robot
Carandiru
Saved!
Home on the Range
Coffee and Cigarettes
Birth
Twentynine Palms
The Butterfly Effect
Secret Window

HATED
~ ~
I'll Sleep When I'm Dead
Spider-man 2
The Mother
Alexander
The Passion of the Christ

COMPLETE AND TOTAL WASTE OF TIME
~ ~
Shark Tale
Nicotina
A Home at the End of the World
The Dreamers
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement
Dirty Dancing: Havana Nights

2005 In Review

LOVED
~ ~
1. The New World
2. Brokeback Mountain

3. Good Night, and Good Luck.

4. Pride & Prejudice

5. Me and You and Everyone We Know

6. A History of Violence

7. Caché

8. Junebug

9. Capote

10. Tony Takitani

11. The Constant Gardener

12. Nine Lives

13. Match Point

14. Kingdom of Heaven

15. Thumbsucker

REALLY LIKED

~ ~

16. Mrs Henderson Presents

17. Jarhead

18. Downfall

19. The Beautiful Country

20. The Family Stone

21. Yesterday

22. Kontroll

23. Syriana

24. The Beat That My Heart Skipped

25. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Howl's Moving Castle

Good Morning, Night

Saving Face

The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Batman Begins

Millions

The Ballad of Jack and Rose

The Upside of Anger

Cinderella Man

Antarctic Journal
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Happy Endings

Head-on

LIKED

~ ~

Brothers

Walk the Line

In Her Shoes

3-iron

Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit

Hustle & Flow

Bee Season

Shopgirl

Casanova

My Summer of Love

King Kong

Kung Fu Hustle

War of the Worlds

Wedding Crashers

The White Countess

Kings & Queen

Yes

Melinda and Melinda

The Squid and the Whale

2046

Walk on Water 

LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED

~ ~

Saraband

BARELY LIKED MORE THAN I DISLIKED

~ ~

The Dying Gaul

Mysterious Skin

Tim Burton's Corpse Bride

Heights

The World

The 40 Year Old Virgin

Tropical Malady

DISLIKED

~ ~

Paradise Now

Love in Thoughts

Broken Flowers

Crash

Last Days

Proof

Prime

North Country

Monster-in-law

Memoirs of a Geisha

Sin City

The Edukators

HATED

~ ~

Munich

Ma Mère

Ladies in Lavender.

The Chumscrubber

The Libertine

Transamerica

Steamboy

COMPLETE AND TOTAL WASTE OF TIME

~ ~

Chicken Little

Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

Summing Up 2005

1. What did you do in 2005 that you'd never done before? Interviewed for a Master's program, bought tires, went on an on-line date.
2. Did you keep your new years' resolutions, and will you make more for next year? I didn't make any. I think I will for 2006, though. On Chinese New Year at the very latest.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth? My dear co-worker Leslie gave birth to little Ty just last week! So exciting!
4. Did anyone close to you die? No.
5. What countries did you visit? Las Vegas.
6. What would you like to have in 2006 that you lacked in 2005? A college that I'm attending.
7. What dates from 2005 will remain etched upon your memory, and why? On 9/11 this year my car got broken into and vandalized.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year? Directing Hard Times (I still don't know how I did that); applying to ten grad programs.
9. What was your biggest failure? I haven't achieved the kind of patience and generosity with others I would like to have.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury? Nope: safe and sound.
11. What was the best thing you bought? So many things: all furniture. I bought this fabulous wine cabinet and I finally decorated over the fireplace.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration? Jaime Rohrer, a personal hero, and all of my friends who are trying to work in Hollywood. Props to you guys!
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed? President Bush as usual. Vice-president Cheney more than usual. Governor Schwarzeneggar. Judith Miller.
14. Where did most of your money go? Driving back and forth from CSUP. Okay not really. Really it all went to my mortgage, but it sure felt like it all went to gas.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about? Trips to Vegas with my friends. The Academy Award Nominations.
16. What song will always remind you of 2004? The Killers - "All These Things That I Have Done"
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
a) happier or sadder? Happier.
b) thinner or fatter? Thinner.
c) richer or poorer? Richer.
18. What do you wish you'd done more of? Kissing boys I like. Yoga. Gossiping. Singing.
19. What do you wish you'd done less of? Working at the airport. Feeling sorry for myself.
20. How will you be spending Christmas? In Colorado with my brother, sister, mother, father and my father's family.
21. Did you fall in love in 2005? Nope.
22. How many one-night stands? Zip.
23. What was your favorite TV program? The only TV I watched last year was the annual Academy Awards telecast.
24. Do you hate anyone now that you didn't hate this time last year? Probably not.
25. What was the best book you read? The Line of Beauty by Allan Hollinghurst. it is so very good!
26. What was your greatest musical discovery? Frou Frou. Rilo Kiley. Ben Folds (I never knew!). The Killers. Regina Spektor. Antony & the Johnsons
27. What did you want and get? All of the new furniture in my house.
28. What did you want and not get? A baby. My biological clock is ticking, folks.
29. What was your favorite film of this year? Brokeback Mountain, Good Night, and Good Luck., Pride & Prejudice. There are still more to see, but these are my faves right now.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you? For my 24th birthday, my friends came over to Pasadena, we got slightly drunk and then rode the Gold Line down to Olvera street for more liquor and some Mexican food. I got more plastered than I can remember getting in a long time and we had a blast!
31.What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying? I hate this question. My life would be more satisfying if I were more contented, if I had a permanent teaching job, if I would stop falling in love with straight guys. The list could go on forever.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2005? White, Gray and Black no longer matter.
33. What kept you sane? Eating sushi with Elizabeth. The Thai restaurant down the street.
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most? Takeshi Kaneshiro. Jake Gyllenhaal.
35. What political issue stirred you the most? The aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
36. Who did you miss? Jill. Jaime.
37. Who was the best new person you met? Linda & Matt's friends Michael & Jim
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2004: Things are not nearly as scary as I build them up to be in my head. If I go out on a limb and do what I dread so much, generally, I find that my fear of the thing is bigger than the thing itself.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year: "I search for a piece of kindness and I find Hitler in my heart."

Triple Feature

I jammed in three movies this weekend.
On Friday, Wahima and I saw Brokeback Mountain, which, as I have stated previously, was fucking great.

On Saturday, before heading over to my friends' fourth annual holiday soirée, I caught a matinee of Memoirs of a Geisha at my local multiplex. Snore. This movie is pretty bad, to be quite honest. It's all about prostitutes one-upping one another and is very difficult to take seriously. The costumes are beautiful, stunning even, but the movie is just a snore. There's no one to root for and for all its Asian mystique, the film unfortunately feels very American. Too bad. This is a definite failure for Rob Marshall. I guess he didn't realize that the States' obsession with Japan peaked in 2003 and that feels like eons ago.

On Sunday, Tito and I saw The Family Stone, which is definitely worth the price of admission, hardly ever sentimental, and boasts an excellent ensemble with Diane Keaton as its standout. If I had to compare it to a film, I would say it's similar to Love Actually, sort of, but good. Way better than Love Actually and truly touching and affecting without being cloying. Props to Claire Danes (I love her lately and she is simply gorgeous in this film), Sarah Jessica Parker, Ty Giordano, Dermot Mulroney, Rachel MacAdams, Luke Wilson and Craig T. Nelson as well. This movie is an excellent and loving portrait of a support system and all of its quirks and idiosyncracies. I ate it up.

Ang Lee's Newest

So Brokeback Mountain is killer, of course. If you haven't seen it, it's the absolute must-see of the year and could sincerely eke out winning the Oscar for Best Picture.

Heath Ledger is completely new and different; he's totally believable and gives the performance of his life. (I kind of can't wait to see Casanova because of him: that might be the first positive thing I've said about a Lasse Hallström film since My Life as a Dog.) But Heath Ledger... reviewers are throwing the word "revelation" around and I think that's a bit much of a mantle to place on his shoulders, but I kind of believe it.

Jake Gyllenhaal is great too. You all know I love that boy and I can't really get enough of him but he's just so damned good looking. He's excellent in the film as well, and expect both Mr. Ledger and Mr. Gyllenhaal to get Oscar nominations come January. Expect additional nominations for Picture, Screenplay, Director (he might even win), Cinematography, Editing, Art Direction, Original Score (this one's a little shaky: the music branch is so insular), and Best Supporting Actress.

Adventures on a Sick Day

I'm so much more afraid of things than I ought to be. Like, I've been putting of beurocratic-type things that I need to do. Some of them for months!

My father and I pulled a switcheroo on our cars. My dad sold my Camaro and then he gave me his 1997 Honda Accord. This was back in July of 2004. Do you think I've gone to the DMV to transfer ownership? No. And mostly because I just didn't feel like it. The AAA office is uncharted territory for me and I don't like to be in new situations that I don't fully grasp. So I've put it off and put it off... for eighteen months.

Ditto replacing my front two tires. They've been pretty near bald for about four months and why haven't I replaced them? Sheer laziness. Honestly I can think of no other reason except that perhaps when I get to the tire place they'll ask me question to which I won't know the answers or I'll need an appointment or there'll be a long wait. All problems that really aren't that big of a deal and function more as excuses than anything else. And so I keep putting it off. I almost put it off again today and then thought: "no, go fucking do it."

So I went to AAA and paid my $30 ownership transfer fee (including penalties for not doing it sooner--oops) and then I went to this tire shop within walking distance of my house and got my new tires put on in all of fifteen minutes. And it was cheap. And if I injure one of the tires on the road they replace it for free. And I knew the answers to all of their little questions. It was good.

God Helps Those Who Get Paid Sick Leave

That lack of sleep did me in. I called in sick to work today. Yuck. I don't feel very good right now. Perhaps later, though, I will have a resurgence of energy and be ready for a night an early night on the town.

KONG

I missed Brokeback Mountain last night. Justin, Elizabeth and I went to see it at The Grove (the only place it was playing last night) but it was sold out at 8:00, sold out at 9:00 and sold out at 10:00. It was playing at 11:10, but we opted to leave and go play tranny tourists down on Hollywood Boulevard.

Tonight, I got ditched by my friend. I was really tired--I've been exhausted lately... not sure what that's about: probably from staying out late Monday night. That shit can snowball through your whole week. But I went to see King Kong anyway. It's awesome, I guess. And I don't mean that it's really great or anything I just mean that it's sort of wondrous. It's definitely wondrous. The imagination of Peter Jackson is incredible and so much in this film is superb, excellent, innovative and fascinating. And yet so much about the movie is so... well, boring. Naomi Watts is unbelievably good and gives a strong, earnest movie star performance. Adrien Brody is good, but mostly he's just gorgeous. To wit:

I can't say I particularly liked the film. I guess I feel about King Kong the same way I feel about The Lord of the Rings: the Return of the King. I feel like shrugging my shoulders. I mean, it's enormous and it demands respect because of its sheer monstrosity, and it's engaging and fun (for the most part) but I never really care and the end feels inevitable. Eh. Shrug of the shoulders. Peter Jackson just doesn't do it for me, I guess.

So If I Have a Chance Would You Let Me Know?

I know posts with lyrics in them suck, but I'm going to do it anyway. I never really listened to the lyrics in this song before tonight and it's so funny because this song says exactly what I'm feeling right now about someone.

And if the answer is no
Can I change your mind

We're all the same
And love is blind
The sun is gone
Before it shines

And I said if the answer is no
Can I change your mind
If the answer is no
Can I change your mind?

I am so sentimental and maudlin lately. It's pathetic, really. I need help.

Oh yeah,
Kirsten, have you listened to the new Fiona Apple album?

Everyone's hopping about Brokeback Mountain. The Los Angeles Film Critic's Association named it Best Picture on Saturday and the Boston Society of Film Critics followed suit today. Brokeback came out this weekend in Los Angeles (Is there a pun in that sentence? I'm turning into my father) and yet I did not see it.
I caught three movies, though: Narnia, Mrs Henderson Presents, and tonight, finally: The Squid and the Whale. I wasn't too crazy about it, but I have to say that I liked Laura Linney in a movie for the first time in a very long time. And my GOD were her outfits horrible in the film! HORRIBLE, I tell you.

In application-to-grad-school news I completed eight of my applications on Saturday. You read that correctly. I only have two applications left to do. It was a good, productive weekend, and though I'm surprised I got as many movies in as I did, I'm glad I did.

Updated List for 2005: Recent Viewings in Boldface

1. Good Night, and Good Luck.
2. Pride & Prejudice
3. Me and You and Everyone We Know
4. A History of Violence
5. Junebug
6. The Constant Gardener
7. Capote
8. Kingdom of Heaven
9. Thumbsucker
10. Mrs Henderson Presents
11. Jarhead
12. Downfall
13. The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
14. Syriana
15. The Beat That My Heart Skipped
16. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
17. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
18. Batman Begins
19. Millions
20. The Upside of Anger
21. Cinderella Man
22. Walk the Line
23. In Her Shoes
24. 3-iron
25. Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit
26. Bee Season
27. Shopgirl
28. Kung Fu Hustle
29. Wedding Crashers
30. Melinda and Melinda
31. The Squid and the Whale
32. 2046
33. Walk on Water
34. The Dying Gaul
35. Mysterious Skin
36. Tim Burton's Corpse Bride
37. Broken Flowers
38. Heights
39. Last Days
40. Proof
41. Prime
42. North Country
43. Monster-in-law
44. Sin City
45. Ma Mère
46. Ladies in Lavender.
47. Steamboy
48. Chicken Little
49. Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith

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Movie Frustration

Applied to two more schools: Arizona State & U of Oregon. I should go to sleep But. I. Just. Don't. Feel. Like. It.

I'm having movie withdrawl y'all. It's been, like, since Sunday. And Sunday's movie was a crap one: Ma Mère, anyone? Plus Friday's movie (Syriana) left me a little numb, too. Mostly my frustration comes from the fact that Brothers, The Ballad of Jack and Rose, The World of Apu, Aparajito and Morgan! are sitting on top of my DVD player and currently in theatres awaiting me are Breakfast on Pluto, The Squid and the Whale, Rent, and TransAmerica. That isn't even mentioning that Friday's releases are The Chronicles of Narnia, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Memoirs of a Geisha and the long-awaited (at least by me) Brokeback Mountain. I need to finish this grad school shit and get to the cinema!!!

Right now I'm listening to the soon-to-be-Oscar-nominated song "Love That Will Never Grow Old" or something like that from Emmylou Harris. It's alright, but it's nowhere near as good as Teddy Thompson & Rufus Wainwright's cover of "King of the Road" on the same album. That song rocks.

Application Update

Cal Poly sucks ass at getting transcripts out. The 5-day turnaround I don't mind so much but it's absolutely impossible to get the information to these people. I have to fill out the addresses of my schools manually and they only give me 4 lines per school. Then I'm supposed to fax or mail these address labels in, but there's nowhere for me to write how many transcripts go with each address. It's so stupid. It should all be online, anyway, but of course it couldn't be that easy. I know it's a public school but Jesus Christ!

I finished applications for Cornell & Florida State today. Paid the fees, hit send. Everything.

Eight schools to go. And I still have to figure out how to do a fancy-looking curriculum vitae. Fun. Have I mentioned I hate this. I need someone to give me a hug and tell me this is all going to work out whether I get in or not.

I made macaroni & cheese again tonight. Actually, I had just finished the roux and I was on the phone with my girlfriend Jill when I realized I had no milk in the house. Oops. Off to the grocery. The roux kept just fine and the macaroni turned out lovely.

Much love,
Aaron

Progress, a Play, and Baked Goods

Today I read a play and baked some brownies and sent out my requests for official GRE scores for my ten schools. After this is all over I will have to blog about how much this is all costing me. The GRE scores are $15 per school (!). Tomorrow: requests for official transcripts and maybe even an application or two.

The play I read is called Our Lady of 21st Street by Stephen Adley Giurgis. It was okay. Good with language, but very light on character and plot. Hopefully the next is better. It's called Jesus Hopped the A Train. Good title, anyway.

I also watched a little of My Beautiful Laundrette. I must've seen it when I was too young to get a lot of different stuff. I had forgotten that Saeed Jaffrey was even in it. I don't know who I thought that was if not Saeed Jaffrey, but anyway... It's a good movie. I will have to sit down and watch the whole thing again someday soon.

Weekend Round-up

Where did this weekend go and why can't all weekends be like last weekend (i.e. four days long)?

Every weekend from now until January I will have a holiday party to attend. Ah! The curse of popularity! This weekend I got a last-minute invite to a party in Aliso Viejo. I attended the soirée with my dear friends Matt & Linda (they drove; God bless them). This party was great: awesome food, good wine, excellent company, and four Christmas trees (one twelve-foot and three nine-foot) decorated like you would not believe. There was a nautical tree, a wine tree, a mardi gras tree, and--my favorite--a Ketel One tree. It was unbelievably fabulous. I want to be those people when I grow up... except for the Orange County part.

I spent most of yesterday (the sober part) finalizing all of my recommendation requests for grad school. I'm applying to ten schools.

(in no particular order)
Cornell University
Arizona State University
Ohio State University
University of Colorado at Boulder
University of Texas at Austin
Florida State University
Brown University
Northwestern University
University of California at Irvine
University of Oregon

So I put together a packet for the four people who will send in recommendations for me: you know--stamped envelopes, little questionnaires that each school wants filled out, etc. Everything having to do with grad school takes forever! Then I wrote them thank-you cards and hand-delivered two of the packets. (Connie is delivering the other two tomorrow. Thanks, Connie!)

This morning I watched Christophe Honoré's Ma Mère with Isabelle Huppert and Louis Garrel. Snore... I mean, I like the performers a lot. I love Isabelle Huppert and I think Louis Garrel is very hot in a greasy, unkempt kind of way, but damn, this movie was about nothing. Well, no, it was about incestuous feelings between a mother and son and some other abberant sexual behavior. I don't know. It was really boring and not the least bit profound, unfortunately.

Today I bought paint. I'm going to paint my bathroom. The color is called Spanish Moss and I bought it at my friend Matthew's place of employ: Restoration Hardware. Shit is expensive there. I mean, I got 20% off and that was great, but shit is expensive. There's also no where to park in Pasadena this time of year. Just try.

I feel like I'm going on and on. There must be more that I need to talk about... I can never go to sleep on Sunday nights.

Oh. If you scroll down a bit, you'll see my list of movies for 2005. Are there any suggestions you'd like to make: not in ratings, but films missing from the list that you've seen that you think I ought to see for the year? Leave me a comment if there's something I just need to catch. I have Brothers in my Netflix queue, but what else?

SYRIANA (Whatever THAT Means)

Well, Syriana won't be my favorite film of the year, but it may be the year's best-made film. It's really fucking powerful. It reminded me of The Constant Gardener, but with less hope. The plot is a tad murky, but that didn't really worry me. There are excellent performances from all: the cast is headlined by George Clooney, Matt Damon & Jeffrey Wright, but also includes Chris Cooper, William Hurt, Alexander Siddig, Christopher Plummer, Amanda Peet, Max Minghella and Tim Blake Nelson.
It's just so horrific and appalling, this big bad world we live in. Syriana raises so many questions and gives us so many answers: but then it shows us how each of those answers is--simply put--impossible. ...Until by the end of the film I had given up on the future. This film makes me feel as though my country has failed me and will continue to do so and that there is no hope whatsoever for lasting peace in the Middle East region. This film is the angriest most depressing feature I've seen in a long time and I'm not really even sure what to think of it. I mean, it's obviously the work of an immensely talented, unspeakably angry director and I totally applaud Stephen Gaghan, but I'm just a little bit terrified.

Sorry this post is a downer, but I've just seen a doozy of a film and I'm reeling a bit still. Syriana is really, really good and I enjoyed it, but it left me cold and angry and I feel defeated.