Soo I'm on Megabus, coming back from Philadelphia. I would like someone interesting to sit next to, but no such luck, of course. Megabus is a new discovery for me. It's way cheaper than Greyhound ($21 from Richmond to Philadelphia on a Sunday, and $13 for the way back on a Tuesday. Not too bad!). On the way to Philadelphia the bus "broke down", and by that I mean we stopped on the side of the road for an hour or so until a random guy pulled over and fixed the bus. It was amusing. When we got to Washington DC we had to switch buses twice, which I didn't care about because I am a homo sapien and am able to adapt to my surroundings, but I guess some people on the bus were not as sapien as I, because they were freaking out. They complained to the driver, called the company, and did other generally annoying things. But they survived in the end, just like I knew they would. Maybe I should have mentioned that to them...
Anyway, Megabus has wifi, hence my current blogging ability. But Netflix is blocked!! So is YouTube! As is every other possible video playing website. All I want to do is watch Parks & Recreation, but nooo, don't worry about it, I'll just sit here in silence instead. Okay I know, I should read a good book or chat with my neighbor or take a nap, what about the old days without Internet? But... When I've already done all that, I want to watch tv. I'm American, young, and impressionable. And I blame the media.
Also, I am an extreme fan of summer. So it kind of bums me out that I'm spending the longest day of the year on public transportation. It's so completely different from when I was a kid and my family would host massive Summer Solstice parties in our large backyard, complete with healthy food, incense, and prayers to each of the four cardinal directions . What hippies!
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
Saturday, June 18, 2011
best. cereal. ever.
I have an extreme love of cereal. It's so easy to buy, prepare, eat, and forget about! It's great.
Back in the day, while other kids were eating sugar coated cereal with entertaining boxes and funny mascots, I was eating Raisin Brain and Cheerios (sometimes my dad would buy Honey-Nut Cheerios, just to shake things up a bit). So, since I was in an endless circle of bran and wheat, I had to partake in a few experiments to liven things up and make the mornings more interesting in general.
I started with actually mixing the two cereals together, which yielded a very interesting combination of textures and tastes. It was a brave move, but I was relatively happy with the end result.
After that, I began adding fruit. I don't recommend adding fruit to Raisin Bran. It's just weird. If you must, maybe throw in a few blueberries, but I think it's pretty good on it's own. It's sugary, too, because of the raisins.
After that, I began adding fruit. I don't recommend adding fruit to Raisin Bran. It's just weird. If you must, maybe throw in a few blueberries, but I think it's pretty good on it's own. It's sugary, too, because of the raisins.
But Cheerios are fun. Not only are they little circles, which was such a fucking genius idea, but they have a pretty nondescript taste, so when you add fruit they take on the taste of said fruit. Try: blueberries, peaches, mango, kiwi, strawberries, etc.
However, I am pleased to announce that I have discovered the best combination of cereal & fruit in existence. It goes like this: plain Cheerios, a sliced up banana, and a broken up Oats & Honey Nature Valley bar. The Nature Valley bar makes everything sweet. Even the milk left over at the end is delicious. If you don't enjoy this bowl of culinary perfection, I'm not sure what to suggest to make your life an okay thing worth living (just kidding, that's harsh. But seriously, it's good!).
Because I'm feeling really self-absorbed this morning, here are some visuals! Here's me eating my creation, and showing how much I enjoy it! Just for laughs. I guess.
omnomnomnom. mornings just got a little sweeter!
mr. b & me
I've been babysitting this little guy for the past week. So cute! And so clueless (seeing as he is a baby). But one day, he too will discover the greatness of photobooth, if it still even exists in 10 years. By then, maybe computers will be a thing of the past, who knows! But anyway, here's the little guy :) And me, providing supervision, of course.
Disclaimer: I am not distressed in this picture. I was laughing that the little guy, because he was making really hardcore panting sounds combined with a bit of whining. It was really entertaining :)
Friday, June 17, 2011
blogs: legit.
(Me. Self-promotion, I know. The ranting is somewhat over on that blog though, and soon I'll actually be posting work. So check it out!)
languages.
I must learn Italian. Faster than I currently am, anyway. It's sounds so beautiful. I also must learn French, because it rolls off the tongue. I also must learn Hindi - I can't explain why, but that's okay. Finally, I want to learn Sign Language. Just for fun.
I love to watch foreign films, because I love not understanding how they can look and act and smile and eat and smoke and pick flowers and run like me, but sound like they are from a different planet.
One of my favorite foreign films is Bread & Tulips, which is a ridiculous film about an Italian woman who gets left behind on a family vacation in Greece, and on the way home she decides to stop in Venice for the night but ends up staying there a bit longer than she expected. It's terribly romantic and silly, but completely motivates me to learn the language of the run-down housewife, her new hippy friend, and her older gentleman love interest.
I also love Jules & Jim, the French film about two friends who fall in love with the same woman. It moves like water - rushing by, waiting for no one, twisting and churning and forcing the audience to become involved, no matter whether you want to be interested or not. But it's also calming in a way, to see that other people, even people on the other side of the planet, are also crazy. And the language - oh my god. French is perfect. Beautiful is not a good enough word for it. It's like silky cotton candy - soft beyond belief, pleasing to the senses, but still complicated and sticky if you get too involved.
This is slightly unrelated, because it's not a foreign production, but the film The Namesake is amazing. It's about a young American man born to Indian parents, and his struggles to live with a ridiculous sounding but meaningful name. It's sad and endearing and powerful, and there's a bit of Hindi spoken. It's just great.
(Also, Inglorious Bastards. Enough said.)
Anyway, I guess I've been feeling sheltered lately, and traveling to a distant place would help shock me out of that. But it would be convenient if I could speak the language...
Ode (or obsession....) to Natalie Portman
I hate to be that person... but I'll do it anyway.
I knew that Natalie Portman was cool wayy before you did. Really, I did. Because I knew that:
In Star Wars, she was awesome (I don't care what the general nerd-public says, the first 3 episodes are just as cool as the last 3 episodes. And by the first 3 episodes, I mean the last 3 installments, with Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, and of course Natalie Portman. They may not have the badly tuned music, fake space-monsters, and a gorgeous Harrison Ford yelling at a large, angry, furry, - and in my opinion, annoying - giant, but they are also magical. Everything about them is great - besides the continuation of overly-cheesy action, which seemed to be a trend in the Star Wars films. The music, the concepts behind the awesome sky cities, the costumes... they're golden. As are the original 1970-1983 episodes, don't get me wrong. I love all of them!).
She was pitch-perfect in Where the Heart Is. She tore my heart apart every time she cried, and when her baby disappeared for that one hot second I felt my life spinning out of control, as if I too had just lost my only child.
I think V for Vendetta (with her terrible, shameful British accent) is where she started to gain respect, even though she had been respectable for years.
Garden State is seriously a fucking gem. I know that sounds stupid, but I'm serious. It's worth gold. It's directed by, written by, and starring Zach Braff, who is one of the most underrated actors of our generation. If you haven't seen it yet, you've simply been wasting your time. There's a quote towards the end that sounds something like, "What if this is it? What if this is life?"... or something like that. It made me realize that there's no straying from the path, because whatever you're doing is the path. The path of your life. It has changed my whole perception of living. Not many statements have had such a great effect on me. Anyway, of course Natalie Portman is a main character in this movie, and she's awesome. Her character is weird, and she plays weird perfectly. Seriously - watch it.
Her role as self-destructive yet endlessly loving character of Alice in the film Closer is indescribably powerful (the first time I watched Closer I hated it, but with each viewing I became more involved in the story, more understanding of the characters, and more invested in the emotions caused by their rash and rude actions. Now, it's one of my favorite films - after all, with a cast of Natalie Portman, Julia Roberts, the ever-adorable Jude Law, and the ever-sexy Clive Owens, how could I stay away??)
She also performed the unforgettable "Natalie Rap" on SNL, a masterpiece of its own. Somehow I picked up the... nickname? of "Victoria, A Badass Bitch" from that video (there may have been alcohol involved). Anyway, watch it here: Natalie Rap.
In Black Swan, Natalie Portman solidified her position has a talented actress, with exceptional critical acclaim and an Oscar to show to anyone who thinks that the film is less than a masterpiece. As an art student and a lover of beauty, I think the Black Swan is as close to perfection as any other film I've ever seen. I appreciate this movie for several reasons, most of them being normal ones, such as great acting, attractive characters, and beautiful music and choreography. But I also love it because it relates closely to my life. I know the definition of passion. I know about its power to both consume me day and night, and yet simultaneously breathe life into me and provide the motivation to carry on.
So. Natalie Portman is talented. But beyond that, she's epically beautiful. She has an interesting face, with tiny, delicate features, and strangely long eyebrows. But she has a face that is capable of playing a whole range of characters that can make me laugh and cry, feel love and anger, and both sooth and infuriate me. With her beautiful face & small frame she makes a great model, which she has proved with years of exposure in many, many magazine covers and spreads.
Here are a few great photographs of Natalie and a video or two, just to prove my point.
<3
(She's so cool! She sounds sexy as hell speaking Hebrew, which is definitely not a sexy language. And she still looks gorgeous with no hair - if I shaved my head, I'd look like a giant alien baby.)
Anyway, my point is that Natalie Portman is seriously legitimate. She has been for a long time. It didn't take a sex scene with Mila Kunis to make her awesome (although I don't think anyone can complain about that...) she was cool long before that. She's smart (Ivy League, check), talented (see above), and really fucking hot (again, see above).
This is where I get cheesy - she's an inspiration. She is a great role model. I'm excited to have someone in Hollywood like Natalie Portman. She's down-to-earth (and by that I mean not ditzy - my biggest pet peeve is when I really can't tell if there's actually a brain inside a girl's head). She's intelligent, pretty, and funny. Le femme parfaite!
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