Moulin Rouge!

If you’ve never seen Moulin Rouge before, stop whatever you’re doing, go rent it and watch it RIGHT now. On the biggest television you can find. Turn off the lights, don’t let anyone distract you. Immerse yourself in the spectacle that is this movie. It’s BEAUTIFUL.

Thank God I’ve seen it before, because watching it on this tiny tv in my dorm does not do it justice at all. But I’m still getting totally affected by it. I’m not even really drawing to pay attention but it’s totally drawing me in. It is so stunning! Visually. Musically. Emotionally.

Next time the Alamo Drafthouse does a Moulin Rouge Sing-Along, I am so there. I don’t care where in the world I am, I’m jumping on a plane and making it to that screening.

Guess what guys? I finished my essay! Sort of. I need to do a lot more editing. But I got it written down at least. Now I’ve gotta study Arabic, but first I think a television break is in order.

Procrastination time.

This blog is turning into an awesome procrastinating tool. I have an 8 page paper to write on energy use this weekend for my Peace and Justice Studies class, but I can’t force myself to keep working on it.  The main problem is that it’s only early Saturday afternoon and the weather is soo nice outside, and I’m really feeling like it’s already Thanksgiving Break.

It doesn’t help that I know I’ll get it done eventually, so I can’t make myself focus on it now, but the longer I wait the smaller this ambiguous ‘eventually’ window gets. I don’t know why I’m even explaining this, as far as I can tell this is a universal problem faced by all of humanity, Except those rare go-getters and super organized people. Sometimes I can fake my way into that elusive category, but then my brain reminds me that I like to read magazines, and watch television, and blog. And I’m back in my current predicament.

Anyway, last night, me and some friends were feeling in the mood for a good romantic comedy. We went to the library and rented When Harry Met Sally. Renting dvd’s from libraries is one of life’s best kept secrets. I mean, I don’t find it that much of a secret, but I tell people about it sometimes and they’re all surprised. Anyway, back home I occasionally rented dvds from the public library. It’s the best way to catch up on huge tv series. Renting single dvd’s from blockbuster online takes forever when you’re trying to race through 7 seasons of something as fast as possible. (Or in the case of Alias, 4 seasons in 3 days. That’s currently my television marathon record. In case any of y’all were wondering.)

I’m getting off track, the point of this post was to tell you all that the Tisch, the library here at Tufts, also has movies available for rent. They have a pretty awesome collection of old and new releases. (Although, they don’t have Fast and Furious. Someone should get on that.) The student working there was really nice and my friend and I ended up talking to her for several minutes and gushing about our favorites. Actually, she and my friend discussed Fred Astaire movies and I stood there not having a clue what was happening. (I consider myself a huge movie buff, but I have very little interest in much before the 80s.) Still, it was fun. I definitely need to activate my library card because I’m pretty sure I’ll be getting addicted to this ability to satisfy my random movie moods pretty fast.

Going to the movies.

Now that I’ve decided that I have no shame when it comes to embarrassing myself on the internet, I’m here to tell all of you that tonight I will be attending the midnight premiere of New Moon.

Judge me if you must. But hear me out before you stop reading this blog because you just lost any respect you might have for me.

First, say what you will about the Twilight phenomenon. That they’re horribly written, the characters are two dimensional (at best), it centers on an abusive relationship, it reads like badly written fanfic. That it freaks you out that Robert Pattinson would rather style his hair with natural body oils than use shampoo. I certainly have said and thought all these things. But! On the other hand, it is getting a whole lot of kids reading when they otherwise wouldn’t be. Also, you can’t really deny that they’re pretty entertaining as you’re reading them. Or maybe you can. But I know I’m not the only one who was totally enthralled in the books only to have my eyes opened at a certain point. (I could make a joke about being dazzled, but then even I would lose respect for myself.)

Whatever. The main point is that when my friends asked if I wanted to go I was at a crossroads. On one hand, I’m morally obligated to accept any and every invitation to go to a movie theater. I don’t think it’s possible to convey how much I love being in movie theaters. Small indie ones, big megaplexes. Cheesy bathroom styling, popcorn and soda all over the floor. It doesn’t even matter. It’s all part of the experience and I love it soooo much. Seriously.When asked what their favorite place is most people would say something about a beautiful city or the beach or something. There’s a significant chance I’d name a movie theater. Actually, anyone who know me, would tell you there is a 100% chance I’d name the Alamo Drafthouse. Best movie theater in the country. Hands down. If you’re ever in Texas, go check it out.

Also, there are very few things I hate more than a pretentious movie fan. Some of the movies I love the most have no respect. Fast and Furious, Transformers, Repo the Genetic Opera. And being a Firefly fan and Joss Whedon aficionado has put me on the receiving end of the equation, like any group that’s passionate for anything that strays from the mainstream. We’ve had to ensure our fair share of criticism and jokes from the media and blogosphere. So I get it, and respect Twilight fans for loving the story even if it’s not the cool thing to do.

On the other hand, I swore to more than one person I would not pay to see this movie. I hate that I’m contributing to allowing it to break the record for ticket presales. Beating out Dark Knight, Harry Potter, and Star Wars. I’m a big fan of movies getting the attention (and money) they deserve. New Moon does not deserve this record and it hurts me. And now that my eyes are opened to all of its failures, I can’t really take it seriously.

Either way, I was sacrificing my values. In the end I decided that friends, and fun new experiences of getting back from movie theaters at 2:30 in the morning, beat a pretentious and self-centered desire to distance myself from something just because people consider it a little odd.

Worst case scenario, I get to explore a new movie theater and spend time with friends. And who knows, I might just end up enjoying the movie.

on happiness

Okay, so normally when I update this blog I try to make my writing somewhat decent. But if you happen to be curious about my natural writing style, as in the way I write when I’m keeping in touch with friends back home, then you’ll maybe find the following post entertaining. Or it might just be dumb. I don’t know.  I wrote this post when I was punch drunk last night from all my essay writing. Then I polled the Twitter world about whether I should post it here. The one person who responded said yes, so here you go. Don’t judge me too much:

I’m so content with my life right now it’s a little ridic. (ulous. I’m not sure I have the street cred to pull off that abbreviation. And by street cred I mean attitude…or something.)

I know I complain about Arabic all the time, and occasionally about philosophy, but neither of those things really get me down. It’s weird, back home I never had this stable of a mood. And I certainly didn’t when I first got here.

But just in general, I’m really really happy with life. Even with my Arabic grade in a way. Like, it sucks. But I’m so happy with how hard I’m working. Life is boring without a struggle.

As far as the socializing front goes, that’s coming together too. Slower than it does for many people, but that’s always been my way. But I’m starting to find people who are into the same things I am (last week I watched the pilot episode of the West Wing twice. With two different groups of people.) I think Friday I’m going to go explore Boston with a friend. I’m at the point where I have enough friends that I can pretty much always find things to do on the weekend. And I’m super excited about this Another Option group that’s forming for people who aren’t into the party scene.

I think I’m just finally adjusted. But like, better adjusted than I was back in high school. I don’t know if my hormones are settling. (I’m developing this theory that as a teenager, instead of having crazy relationship/sex hormones like television tells me is supposed to happen, I think I just had crazy worry hormones over reacting in my brain as I grew…) Or maybe I’m so happy because I’m finally settling into what my brain has been telling me for the last 8 years college might be like. But I’m not stressed despite the fact that I usually have a lot of things I could be stressing over. I think this is how normal people feel.

Don’t worry though. I haven’t really changed as a person. I’ve still got enough quirks and personality issues to maintain my individuality. It’s just like these past couple weeks I’ve added another green bar or two above my head…if I were a character in the Sims…(It’s odd how often I use that description to describe my mood.)

personal growth and pizza places

While on the bus yesterday I had this awesome moment that I don’t quite  know how to describe. It was like a feeling of serenity? Tranquility? Contentment? I can’t find the perfect word, but basically, while listening to my ipod and watching Medford and Boston pass by outside the window, I was so happy with the fact that I chose to go to a school so far from home. I’m not the kind of person that wanted to escape life back in Texas. I love Austin and can’t wait to go back and visit my friends. But in today’s world there are so many forms of communication that it’s really not difficult to keep in touch with people. I’ve become an expert at Skype and I’m possibly running out of cell phone minutes for the first time ever. I thought going to an out of state school would force me to grow more and have a variety of experiences that I couldn’t back in Austin. I was correct in that assumption and it makes me happy to think about everything I’ve done, even in the short time I’ve been on campus. I’m proud of the fact that I’m doing this. I’ve become so much more self-sufficient since coming here. (Although, I’ll admit that public transportation still intimidates me. I find the T to be way more confusing that pretty much anyone I know.)

On a completely unrelated note, there was a sitcom way back in 1998, called Two Guys, a Girl, and a Pizza Place. (Or To Guys, and a Girl depending on who you’re talking to.) It lasted four seasons and I watched at least some of it when it originally aired. For years my dad and I have been talking about rewatching it, so the other day I was in the mood for a nice light-hearted sitcom and decided to finally start. So I’m watching the episodes and discover that it’s set in Boston which makes me a little curious about the background of this show. I IMDBed it and found out that the Pizza Place in the show is based on a place called Theo’s Pizza in Teele Square (which is really close to campus) and that the creator of the show, Kenny Schwartz is a Tufts alum. He worked at this pizza place while attending Tufts and must have created the show loosely based on his experiences. After discovering this knowledge, I’ve started seeing references to Tufts all over the place. There’s a big Tufts banner hanging on the wall in the pizza place, the characters sometimes wear Tufts sweatshirts. It’s possible that I’m the only person that cares about this, but I think it’s really exciting. I love seeing my school show up in television.

For anyone who’s curious, the show starred Ryan Reynolds before he became big. Nathan Fillion was also in three of the seasons. It’s hilarious and you should all check it out.

Look! An update!

You know how I said I would be blogging more frequently and then disappeared for like 18 days? I have an excuse! I was totally planning on sitting down and blogging a couple weeks ago, but then we lost power for 19 hours. And I would’ve updated sometime during the rest of that weekend, but I started feeling sick. I think I just had a really bad head cold of something, but I pretty much spent both of those days in bed and doing homework. Then I had a crazy amount of Arabic work and then I was busy studying for my Art History midterm. After that I spent a few days at the Naval Academy attending the ALLIES Roundtable conference, and then the Arabic midterm came. Basically I’ve been super busy and I’m still only a college freshman trying to figure out how to manage my time.

The biggest thing I have to say about the last couple of weeks is that I’m finally settling into a rhythm. I’ve taken some midterms and gotten some papers back and have realized that I’m going to be okay. I feel like I can now confidently say that I can handle this whole college thing. I was definitely a little intimidated before coming here. I basically  over analyze everything and was worried, not just about adjusting to college life, but also how I would fit in academically. So I’m happy to report that I finally feel confident that I wasn’t admitted by mistake. The college life adjustment is working out fine too. I’ve found that most of my worrying is pretty pointless. Whenever I start getting a little unhappy about my lack of plans for the weekend, a ton of events start popping up and I suddenly have too much to do.

On a semi-related note, I’ve discovered that one of my favorite things to do in college is attend lectures given by various professional and leaders in their field. I’ve attended a lecture by a forensic geologist, one by a freelance journalist, and another by a former ambassador. I’m starting to learn that at Tufts there is no shortage of interesting people coming to campus all the time. It’s more than just interesting though. These people have had such amazing and dynamic lives. They’ve lived through and experienced so much. I make an effort to go to as many of them as I can because I find them so inspiring. I think they’re a great compliment to what I’m learning in my classes because hearing these people speak gives me the motivation I need to focus on my academics. It makes me want to do well in school so I have opportunities like theirs in the future.

Now I have to get to class so I can’t wrap this post up as well as I’d wanted. But I’m updating! And will continue to update in the future. I promise. (And this is not some boy who cried wolf thing, my time management skills have improved since mid-October.)

why I can’t stop blasting power ballads while walking to class

I’ve come to the realization that there is no way I’d be able to survive the weather here if it wasn’t for Journey. Seriously. Every time I know I have to go back outside I start to dread it, but the minute I turn on my ipod and Journey starts playing I start smiling. You wouldn’t think it was such a big deal, but when it’s 41 degrees outside (in the middle of October!) and I’m trying to beat the rain back to my dorm, it really does make a difference.

I know 41 may not be that cold to some of you, but I come from Texas.

In other news, sorry for the lack of updates. I had my first major college assignments due last week. But I’ve turned in all my essays! I don’t have anything to worry about until my Art History midterm in a couple weeks, and I’ve stored up plenty of things to say, so you’ll probably be seeing a lot of activity in this little part of the internet soon. I’m excited. I hope you are to. (I’m also very caffeinated currently, and I can’t get Don’t Stop Believing out of my head.)

Random question. Would it be totally weird if I ended all my posts with ’so it goes…’ The way Vonnegut often did? It probably would because I just wikipediad (I know this is not a real verb, but how do I spell it?) it and found out he used the phrase when referencing death. I’m kind of surprised I never made that connection when studying him in English last year.

After my last post, I got all nostalgic and looked through pictures of last year’s festival. I like this one a lot. Its got the festival (or part of it at least) and the skyline of my favorite city behind it. So I posted it in case any one was curious.

3 days, 8 stages, 130 bands

The Austin City Limits music festival is officially underway and I’m not there. Ever since I’ve gotten to campus, I’ve been telling everyone that will listen about ACL. I’m not even a huge music fan, but for some reason my attendance at last year’s festival made a huge impact on me. I still bring up random memories of the weekend with my friends all the time and find myself thinking about it quite often. It was honestly kind of a factor in the college process. Well, not really. But the whole time I was acutely aware of the fact that coming to Tufts would make attending ACL nearly impossible. It’s okay though, Tufts was worth it. And also, it’s a testament to how amazing this event is that I can still be so pumped about it even though I’m 2,000 miles away. I’m a tiny bit jealous, but mostly I’m just really excited for all my friends there. I’m looking forward to their videos and pictures (and phone calls during certain bands.) I’m glad the weather is nice, and that there’s grass to sit on instead of dirt! (Even though I don’t think it will last long.) I’m even happy for the tens of thousands of people I don’t even know who will get the chance to have such a fantastic weekend.

Plus, Hulu is streaming the festival live for the first time ever! Which according to twitter, might be annoying some of the people there. I guess they don’t appreciate having a long-arm camera waving around inches from their heads. But for me it’s great! I plan on watching it as much as possible this weekend. So me and the people in my wing (I finally set up my computer speakers and concerts are supposed to experienced loudly) will be able to feel a little like we’re there. Dr. Dog is on currently, they’re pretty good. And I like their stage design a lot.

I hate to get on the soapbox here, but for all of you high school seniors (or juniors or whoever) reading this, if I could give you one piece of advice it would be to take time to enjoy your lives. I know you may be stressed with college apps and school work, I remember how difficult it was to give up an entire weekend for this festival last year, but honestly, the memories you make at events like these are going to be so worth it. I personally believe that everyone should attend at least one music festival in their lives because it’s just such a unique experience, but that’s beside the point. If this isn’t your thing, find other events, shows, games, and performances to go to with your friends and make as many memories as possible before high school is over.