some oscar thoughts

7:50pm Despite how hot I find Hugh Jackman, I kinda wish Tina Fey and Steve Martin were co-hosting tonight.

8:03pm I need a great deal more Jack Black in my life or in other words his presentation with Jennifer Aniston may be enough to make me want to watch Kung Fu Panda.

8:07pm Waaaaaaaalllllleeeee, okay not exactly a surprise but oh so deserved and I loved the story about the producer being cast as Barnaby in Hello Dolly.

8:08pm I think Jennifer Aniston needs to do more comedy, perhaps with Jack Black?

8:10pm A presenter who was running out of English words, ended his speech with “Domo arigato Mr. Roboto” therefore making me love him just a little bit more.

Commercial Break

How we entertain ourselves during commercial breaks, I kiss raspberries and Erini eats saltines

8:16pm I am actually surprised by how much I like Sarah Jessica Parker’s dress, but that may have something to do with the really impressive arm candy she has (i.e. Daniel Craig)

8:20pm Jess and I both blew our costume design predictions, I was going with Australia and she thought Benjamin Button, who would have thought the Dutchess?

8:24pm Apparently what both costume design and make-up have in common, other than being the categories that most people don’t give a flying rip about, is that their winners tend to have the least interesting thank you speeches.

8:26pm I love movie montages, they are like endless previews!

8:28pm After watching all the most romantic moments of 2008 movies, it is clear to me that WALL-E was the best love story of the year.

Commercial Break

This is how Jess dresses for the oscars!

8:34pm Ben Stiller is better at being Joaquin Phoenix that pretty much everyone, including the man himself.

8:35pm I think the theme of the evening is obviously going to be The Curious Case of Slumdog Millionare.

8:38pm Rini steal’s Abby’s computer!  … and will never see it alive…  unless she wear’s Jessica Beal’s Oscar dress for the next week.

Commercial Break

Becca contemplates Abby wearing Jessica Beal's dress for a whole week.... that or she has caramel apple in her teeth...

8:43pm I like this version of Dancing Queen so much better than ABBA’s…  (still Rini)

8:45pm I actually know someone who allowed people to staple money to his face… high school was… eh… but this short… freaking awesome… just like Abby’s pouty-fit for not being about to open the bag of chips… HOLY CRAP THESE BOYS CLEAN UP NICE!!!

8:47pm Note to Winner’s Card Writer: type things out phonetically.  kthx bye!

8:50pm Our thoughts on Coke:
Abby – on coke being one of the largest beverage recycling companies worldwide, “That’s kinda gross when you think they’re not talking about bottles…
Rini – Coke.  Killer of souls.  .. And small Columbian children… OK. That was harsh.

8:52pm Oh Hugh…. Why hide our love?  We should just let the world know.. it’s just easier.

8:54pm GIRL GET YOUR HANDS OFF MY WOLVERINE!!!

8:55pm High School Musical?! Seriously? Wait… what?!  What’s going on?!  Life… WHAT!!! DRUMLINES?!!?  FREAKING SWEET!!!

8:57pm Abby: “He’s hot.” (pointing to Dominick Cooper) Too bad Abs.  Dominick is mine.  Dibs.

9:00pm Okay this is Abby again and just for the record, Rini can have Dominick, but she better not be taking my dancing singing wolverine away from me!

Commercial Break

We's fighting it out over Wolverine

9:03pm I love all of these men, and this format of honoring each actor individually and specifically. It makes the whole thing more interesting and more meaningful.

9:06pm Rini again… just want to say, it should be in Christopher Walkin’s contract that he must be dancing.  (I seriously want him in my family, no matter what role.) K.  Back to Abby.

9:07pm Not unexpected, but so well deserved, Heath gets the Oscar and the ubiquitous standing ovation. Heath’s family keeps it classy and manages to be moving and eloquent without rambling.

9:11pm I definitely haven’t seen enough documentaries this year.

9:15pm Rini and I agree to put aside our differences and watch Man on Wire.  Also the redheaded winner for that film was the best thing that has happened to thank you speeches in quite a while.

Commercial Break

Reacting to the rather amusing preview of the Jimmy Kimmel Show staring a vengeful Tom Cruise.

9:23pm My main thought during the action clip montage is that I still think I actually want to see Hancock despite its probably suckage and I am still quite confused by how many versions of Hulk have been made in the past 5 years.

9:25pm Will Smith gets to ride the trapdoor and totally diss drama movies at the same time.

9:50pm Taking a coloring break —-

9:51pm Rini again… and can I say… pretty tuba… rotary valves… ahhhh…..

9:56pm preeeettttyyy….. I really do love Indian music.  (and Pakastani music too)  … maybe I should just say I love music, but have a fondness for music from different cultures…

9:58pm Abby pouring sparkling juice “Anyone want some of this?” Me: “yeaaah…” Abby: “Does that mean you want me to get you a cup?” Me: “yeaaah…” Abby: “Well you’re going to have to wait because I want to watch this.”  Then why did you offer!

9:59pm I love this.  I want to dance… or maybe I just want one of those dancers… or both… maybe I just want one of the female dancer’s pink outfits… but where would I wear it?  Out with Abs when she’s wearing J. Beal’s dress?

10:05pm scramble to your seats!

10:08pm What’s this send off song??  Anyone know???  ‘Cause I started dancing in my seat…

10:08pm Abby “Actually, I think you guys are going to have to get your own cups.”  Me: “Lovely roommate?”  THANK BECCA!!!!!

10:10pm “Some goat and some heroin? That’s what everyone needs. … Heroin’s an upper, right?”  Abby….

10:12pm Actors… just people.  Frail like the reast of us.  It’s surreal when anyone leaves us.  You cling on to those memories.  Some of us aren’t as fortunate enough to have them documented on film.  We remember them the best as we can.  And hold them close to our hearts, grasping on to all that we can.  And I’m posting this in honor, and memory, of Mary H. and Karen S — Abby’s grandmother and my stepmother.

10:13pm Abby: “Seaquest died this year”

10:20pm Abby’s predicting that since Danny Boyle won for Best Director, Slum Dog will win for Best Movie…

Commercial Break.  … there’s been a few of those… and I tend to forget about them.  I’ve been distracted by the banter going on here.  Either about the JC Penny commercials (Abby says they’re trying to hard), about the speed of the wheels’ turning on the car commercials (Becca says they’re too slow)… and well, Jess is still coloring… and I’m just being awesome, like always.

10:26pm Abby’s given up on blogging for tonight… at least that’s what she’s claiming.  So it looks like you’re stuck with me.  haha.  You love it.  Don’t deny it.

10:26pm K. So.  Where’s my big pretty dress?

10:27pm Weiss has suggested that I see Rachel Getting Married. Says it’ll break my preconceived notions about Anne Hatheway’s roles — how she’s typically in these princess or Jane Austin roles…  Weiss doesn’t steer me wrong very often.

10:32pm OMG I was just surrounded by giddy, cheering, gushing, fangirls… wow.  My roommates sort of get into this stuff.  A LOT.

10:34pm Aw.  That was cute. Yay for dad’s. 

10:36pm “He has no genitalia and he’s holding a sword.”  Haha.  Awesome.

10:40pm  ahhhh… Adrian Brody.  I can deal with your longer hair and the fact that you’re embarrassing embracing Februhairy.  (Let it be known, I’m not turned off by facial hair.)  I’d google you… oh yeah, I’d google you… (What?)

10:40pm Abby disagrees with my view on Adrian Brody.  That’s fine.  I had dibs on him too.

10:42pm VAMPIRE!  AH!  LOOK OUT!  (Dude, serious, tan just a bit… you’re getting into this role WAY too much.)

10:42pm Abby: “You can keep your dibs and go make out with your grimy little hairball.”  Harsh.  Just harsh.

10:43pm “You commie homo-loving son’s of guns.”  win.

10:46pm EQUAL RIGHTS!! WOOT!!  Seriously though.  Yes, this needs to happen.

10:50pm This is not the best montage.  Bravehart next to Milk??

10:52pm Abby: “We can go to bed soon.  Yay.”

10:52pm  Abby called it.  30 minutes ago.  (If you don’t remember… just scroll up.)

10:55pm That was nice.  OK Hugh, I’ll leave the light on for you, just come on in.

Update Monday Morning – Thanks to Rini (aka Wench) for the lovely help with live-blogging.  As you can see we both take blogging very seriously and try our best to only post the deepest and most eloquent of thoughts.  Also thanks goes should go to my housemates for putting up with our ruckus apprecaitation of men in tuxedos, to the cats Kush and Bert for their occasional presence and of course Jess and Becca for providing additional commentary and putting up with Rini and I’s blogging obsession.

another nonlinear post, because that is the way I roll

Speaking of money and such, this picture is from that one trip where I saved up lots of money and took a ridiculously long trip. It was worth every penny!

Recently I have been rather concerned about money.  I try to be careful with my money and prefer not to be too concerned about when pay day comes (i.e. have a healthy balance in the ole’ checking account).  However these past two paychecks have been just a little too welcome for me and I was beginning to get a little concerned.  Was I overspending?  Still recovering from the holidays? Living beyond my means?  Until I remembered that in the month of January I paid an almost 1,000 dollar tuition bill (a small fraction of the total due, thank you student loans!), bought a car for $425 and paid over $200 bucks in registration fees.  So maybe that was why my budget was feeling just a little bit tight!

Sometimes I don't wear trousers, I wear jeans and sometimes I go on walks around Evanston with my friends instead of going to work and sometimes I miss those things (p.s. photo credit goes to the amazing Erini!)

Yesterday I wore my pin stripe light grey trousers, old favorites, only to discover that the lining of my right front pocket had actually developed a hole.  Not a ripped on a desk type, but more a gradual disintegration caused by long use and the wearing of my keys over many days of work.  The repair shouldn’t be too much trouble, just replacing that part of the lining, or even patching it, but the annoying factor was I had to spend the entire day with my keys in my left pocket.  Not a huge issue, except apparently I am a person of routine and the incomprehensible idea that my keys wouldn’t be in my right pocket continued to cause me puzzlement for most of the day.  Alternately when returning them to my pocket I would often be jolted from my automatic behavior with the odd sensation of keys falling down inside my pants to the floor. All of this lead into attempts to determine how long I have owned these trousers and my best estimate is since  early college, back when I decided that I might one day actually need to look semi-professional.

This past weekend my parents and younger brother Jonathan came up to Chicago for a visit. I took Friday off so we could hang out, which inadvertently gave me a 4 day weekend,unfortunately Charletta couldn’t be with us because she was in Florida with her parents. But we did our best to not begrudge her the sun and beach she was undoubtedly enjoying

This has nothing to do with my family's visit this past weekend, but I realized that probably most of you had missed the many great expressions in this photo taken by Tim mere seconds after Dad received a rather large pair of bright red undies from Tim and Charletta two Christmases ago

Highlights of the weekend include a tour of my school.  I showed my parents and brother all the various parts of the large and rambling school I work in.  I have to admit it was a bit odd to have my family in a place that feels so entirely separate from that world.   But I guess whenever some of the spheres of ones’ life overlap it can easily feel a bit surreal.  We also played a game of Tichu, visited the L.L Bean store, went ice skating at Millennium Park (or in reality Jonathan and Dad went skiing (um I think I meant skating) while Mom and I watched and Tim took a bazillion pictures (which he needs to put on flickr!)), made and ate together cheese and chocolate fondue, learned a new board game called Evo which was actually pretty fun (but in typical fashion I had my first time playing frustrations), and visited the Museum of Science and Industry.

This also has nothing to do with my family's visit, but here is Jonathan on another visit practicing his duplication techniques

There my Mom and I went to see an IMAX called Wild Oceans, which was pretty spectacular.  I think it had been a while since I had seen an IMAX because I was amazed to realize that the picture actually took up the entire oversize screen, making the many scenes of flying over ocean cliffs and swimming with dolphins all the more incredible.  All in all it was a total blast and a lovely way to celebrate a weekend that often gets focused only on couples.

oh boy! another list, how original

1.  Next April 29th, Wench and I will be seated in the 5th row of the Flight of the Conchords concert in Chicago.  Which probably means I will be restraining Wench from flinging herself on the stage, while simultaneously laughing my head off.  Or maybe I will drink the kool-aid and attempt to persuade them to take me back to New Zealand with them.

2.  NPR has this photo of the day thing, which I subscribe too, and today’s link was this.  As a one generation removed farmer, I found the different ways agriculture adapts around the world pretty fascinating.  For example you can see the effect of tiny Middle Ages plots on German farmland and the way the need for irrigation shapes Kansas farms.

3.  A few weeks ago I re-watched Groundhog day for the first time in years and surprisingly, I liked it much more the second time around.  The first time I watched it, I was just annoyed that the seeming answer to Bill Murray’s character’s predicament was to sleep with the pretty girl.  But the second time around I realized that it was really much more about him learning a new way of looking at life, not just faking being good in order to seduce someone.  Then just a few days ago I stumbled across this article which talks about all the deeper meaning of the film.

4.  I am realizing that my fascination with photography is just getting more intense.  So when I saw this set of interviews, I was completely captivated.  Basically Errol Morris got three different photographers to select their favorite 10 images of George W. Bush and then explain why the selected that image.  The article is fascinating, both on a photographic level (I can’t imagine what it would be like to make a living from taking these types of pictures) and a political level.

5.  As someone who tends to the slightly cynical side of romance and dating, I found this collection of hilarious personal ads from the London Review of Books, brilliant and just one more reason I need to marry a British man.  Here are two examples :

OMG! This magazine is the shizz. Seriously, dudes. Awesome! LOL! Classics lecturer (M, 48). Possibly out of his depth with today’s youth. KTHX! Box no. 2680.

All humans are 99.9% genetically identical, so don’t even think of ending any potential relationship begun here with ‘I just don’t think we have enough in common’. Science has long since proven that I am the man for you (41, likes to be referred to as ‘Wing Commander’ in the bedroom). Box no. 3501.

6.   Like I mentioned in number 4, photography completely fascinates me.  This site is a 100 meter long photograph of 178 people from the same spot on a railway station.  The photographer stitched the pictures together to create one long seamless glimpse at ordinary German folks going about their days.

7.  Do you need a place to live?  Do you like to travel light?  Do you long to live off the grid?  Try this one out – Yale Grad student builds herself a tiny house on a trailer in order to save money on student housing.  I can think of at least a few *cough*Jonathan*cough* future grad students who might do well to read this article

There you go, 7 things that I thought I should share, that is all now.  You may return back to your daily lives.