Books, Libros, Leabhair, llyfrau, Knihy, Kirjat, and all the rest

Sooooo I know know how to say "books" in English, Spanish, Irish, Welsh, Czeck, and Finnish.  Pronunciation, though . . . let's not go there! :P

Anyway, as you might've guessed, I spent my weekend (half of it, at least) at the LA Times/UCLA Festival of Books.  I went with my aunt, mystery/noir writer Denise Hamilton (who is totally awesome, by the way . . . you should check out her books!) and as such, I divided my time between the booths on the fairway, the requisite panels for English class extra credit, and the Green Room.

I went to two panels.  One, that my aunt moderated, was with two young adult fiction writers, who were a lot of fun to watch.  The second panel was about the art of literary criticism, and featured critics from Salon, the LA Times, and others.

The first panel was interesting because it was geared toward young adult readers, or writers who were interested in writing YA fiction.  The two authors, David Levithan and John Green, were discussing their latest book, Will Grayson, Will Grayson.  I really liked this panel because the authors were fun and relatable, and  very engaging.  I also very much enjoyed getting to hear them talk about how they wrote the book (each one wrote alternate chapters).  Although I have not read the book, and probably won’t (it’s a highschool drama/comedy, and that’s not the type of books I usually read), the panel also provided some insights into how adult authors viewed the teenage world, and how those views help shape their novels.

The second panel, about literary criticism, was drier, but I still enjoyed it.  It was more formal and structured, and all about how the critics went about reviewing their books.  Most of the critics were self-assigning, meaning they picked their own books to review, and that, they said, was the best part of their job.  As someone who writes her own, fun reviews of TV shows, movies, and books, I enjoyed seeing the perspective of those who wrote reviews for a living.  A lot of what they talked about was not supremely interesting to me, but it was informative nonetheless.  I particularly enjoyed hearing the panelists talk about what they do when they have to write a bad review, and what happens when they end up changing their minds about a book.  I also came away from that session with several book recommendations.

Walking around the booths was amazing.  I am never one to say no to a book, but I am forced to (repeatedly) here, since I usually end up wanting to buy one of everything.  Nevertheless, I got to meet Nicholas Meyer (who directed several Star Trek movies) and have him sign his autobiography for me, and I bought a copy of one of Cara Black’s murder mysteries (she’s a really good friend of Denise’s, and her books are awesome!).  I also rather inadvertently discovered the religion/spirituality section, and am the proud but somewhat confused owner of a Quran, six pamphlets about Islam, and two DVDs on interfaith cooperation. 

But by far the best part of the day was the opportunity to meet all the other authors informally.  I often found myself wondering why I had never gone to the book fair with Aunt Denise before . . . every twenty seconds, it seemed, she was pulling over Patt Morrison or Janet Fitch or someone equally as impressive.  We had breakfast with Amy Alkon, the advice columnist, and I don’t think I’ll soon forget the thirtysomething writer giggling like a little girl as she related how she had told off one of her fellow authors for being on his cell phone.   I also got to re-connect with one of Denise’s old friends, Naomi Hirahara (I had previously met her at a book reading/signing event for LA Noir 2), and spend some time chatting about college and writing with Cara, who writes a series of murder mysteries set in France that I love.  While I loved listening to her stories about her trips to Paris, her efforts to improve my paltry French were somewhat futile :).

Between the Darkness & the Light

Yes, I have been watching too much Babylon 5, as the title clearly shows.  But it's also related to where I am in my life right now: pretty much done with high school, but not even sure where I'm going to college.  I just want May 2nd to come.  And there's the other set, the darkness of senioritis and the light of schoolwork.  I think, to deal with being rejected by my top two choices, I wrapped myself in a cloak of don't-care, and sat around watching DVDs and blogging about politics.  With the exception of a few classes that I genuinely care about, I have a hard time doing any work anymore . . . . but I'm starting to kick that habit now, thankfully.

But guess what!  Over spring break, my family and I went on a ski trip, and I went down black diamond runs!  We also got caught at the top of the mountain in a blizzard, and got to ride down in a snow cat . . . I was freaking out to no end at the time, but all I have now is a good story.  So all is well :)

Also over spring break, I (rather stupidly) left my nice digital camera at school, so I went hunting for other cameras around the house.  I found two: A Canon Elph LT 270, and a Minolta Freedom AF 35.  The Elph uses APS (Advanced Photo System) film, which almost no one sells anymore, but is totally awesome, not least because it offers three different sets of dimensions.  Awesome, yes, but hard to find, since the film Elphs were discontinued in the early 2000s and APS never really caught on.  BUT Amazon sells anything and everything, so I found some Fuji film, ISO 400, 3 rolls of 25 exposures each.  I can't wait to start taking pictures!  Film for the Minolta is upcoming, I need to go to Samy's this week.  I'll tell you all about the pictures, and maybe bully my scanner into working so you can see them.

Hm.  I got a twitter account, if anyone cares.  @AnyaPrynn  . . . not that hard to find :)  Mostly I use it to promote my politics blog and talk to Senators haha.

Babylon 5 is one of the best TV shows.  Ever.  I say that about every show I watch, but this is different.  It's . . . devastatingly real.  Everything is so perfectly imagined.  I see parts of myself in every character.  I laugh with them and cry with them and use them as examples on my religion tests (I got a 100%, so I'm not complaining!).  It's so philosophical and adventurous and everything I could ever want in a TV show.  So . . . go watch!  I have 2 episodes left in the second season and all I can say is that it's getting better and better!  I did a wallpaper . . . not the greatest, I don't think, or at least, it's not what I wanted, but it's nice.  Oh, whatever, you decide :P

Full-size image & description on my website as usual.

Current Music:
Capercaillie
Battlestar Galactica soundtrack
Avatar soundtrack
Loreena McKennitt
Nightwish

Current Books:
"The People v. Bush", by Charlotte Dennett
"Iranophobia", by Haggi Ram
"Destiny: Child of the Sky", by Elizabeth Haydon
"Rapture of the Deep", by L.A. Meyer
"Sharp Teeth", by Toby Barlow
"Mrs. Dalloway", by Virginia Woolf
"The Wizard of London", by Mercedes Lackey

Current TV Shows:
Babylon 5 Season 2
Law & Order: SVU Season 2

Double Depression

Columbia rejected me.
So did Harvard.
I really don't know what to think now.
I was so convinced I'd get into one of those schools.
And I was waitlisted at my other top choice.
So.
I cried, threw stuff around, watched some Babylon 5, went for a 2 and a half mile run, and made a depressing (but pretty wallpaper).
I feel a bit better now.  The only thing I can keep telling myself is "You couldn't have done anything different, or anything better."  If those schools don't want me, I guess I don't belong there.  It just makes me so mad that they love talking about "fit" and whatnot, and I'm obviously such a good fit!  I guess there's six thousand equally as qualified people out there who are good fits too.
It's not like I don't have choices.  I've gotten into colleges most people only dream of.  But I'm still really upset.

Anyway, enough with my whining.  Here's the wallpaper I made.  It's Margaret "Racetrack" Edmondson from Battlestar Galactica, aka my new favorite person.  Made to celebrate me (finally!) finishing BSG Season 3 and because I wanted to do something with my loads of new screencaps (oh, and for the BSG-literate out here: Didi Cassidy?  She is so the future me.)

Hm, so, in other news, the lineup for this year's Ballyshannon Folk Festival is up.  Fidil, Eilidh Patterson, Lunasa, Eleanor McEvoy, The Dave Matthews Band, Andy Irvine, and Solas.  Not the best it's been in recent years . . . I might end up at a different festival if I do go to Ireland this summer.  Although, I have possible plans to meet up with some friends in Hong Kong, so that may happen instead.

I suppose I just have to remember that things happen for a reason.  No matter where I end up -- for this summer, for college, for life -- I just have to remember to take every moment and make the best of it.

An Intense Love-Hate Relationship

I can never quite figure out how I feel about the month of March.  On one hand, it's St. Patrick's Day season, so it's dance dance dance never ending . . . but at the same time, that dance means I am overloaded with schoolwork and constantly tired and sore.  Would I trade it for anything?  Nope!  Do I wish I had more time to sleep?  Ohhhh heck yeah.

Anyway, that's why I've been gone for most of March.  I've kept up mildly better with mine and Ashley's politics blog (then again, I have her constantly pestering me to update that).  But I do have two movie reviews to post, and a recap of Battlestar Galactica's Season 3, which I just finished.  Also upcoming: A Racetrack-based wallpaper, and a completed Minstralian Alliance story over at my website.

It's hard to cover a whole month of politics in a single post, but I'll try to hit the major points (to the non-politicos among my readers, you may breath a sigh of relief :P)

• Jim Bunning filibustered a jobless benefits extension bill.  He accomplished little except making a fool out of himself, flipping off a reporter, and providing me with excellent material for a mini-essay about the faults of the filibuster over at Double A Politics.
• President Obama signed the healthcare bill, after the House passed the Senate version.  Joe Biden became notorious for calling the bill "a big f***ing deal", and Wait Wait Don't Tell Me had a ton of fun pretending that America turned into a communist state.
• The Joint Chiefs of Staff commissioned a study to look into the effects of repealing Don't Ask Don't Tell and have made it harder to enforce.

What else happened in March?  Well, my English teacher lost a couple of my assignments and blamed me for it . . . that was pleasant.  I've decided that The Sound and the Fury is one of the best books ever written, but is most definitely the worst movie of all time.  I'm heartily sick of my name after making 4 letterhead/business card/envelope sets as part of our corporate identity unit in Yearbook.  I've been promised a Nexus by my dad if I write apps for it.  Oh, and of course, I got into college!  Not sure where I'm going yet, since I'm still waiting on a few decisions, but I'm really happy with where I've gotten in so far.

That's all for now . . . I'm going to try to steal some sleep now!

"Heaven Knows No Frontiers"

I've had such a beautiful past few weeks.

School's been great; our yearbook is almost finished!  I've made so many great friends this year . . . I don't want it to end.  I want just one more year of high school . . . I even made up a dream schedule of classes :)

I love yearbook class so so much.  At the risk of sounding cliche, it taught me a whole new way of looking at the world.  I'm working on a photography series about seeing the world through raindrop-covered windows.  And I can't look at fonts anymore without analyzing them.  I learned that there really are no rules you can't bend, and no frontiers that are permanent.  I'm actually seriously considering a graphics/photography minor in college now, and it's all cause of this class.

I've been watching the Olympics . . . started out with tragedy, but everyone has managed to come through. These athletes are so amazing and inspiring.  Although I will say that I have been accused of being unpatriotic for not cheering for all Americans, all the time (notably, I was sooo rooting for the incredible, adorable, Shen/Zhou couple in pairs figure skating, I was so happy when they won!).

But the commercials get so overplayed.  Gah.  Especially Meg Whitman's "elect me!" commercial, which demonstrates an astounding lack of common sense and an unacceptable amount of pandering.  She says she wants to create jobs, and follows that up immediately with saying she wants to cut government spending.  I guess she missed the memo that we're just coming out of a recession and the economy is still shaky, and cutting spending is NOT what you do in a bad economy.  Sheesh.  I took a semester long economics course, and even I know that.  My point is, she is saying exactly what her Republican constituents want to hear, while offering no real solutions.  Gah.

I've been in a political and artsy mood lately. . . .go figure.  I blame it on the rain.  So I'm making campaign logos for all the Democratic senators running for re-election.  I'll post them all when I'm done! Also, with the TV in my room for the Olympics, I've been watching The Rachel Maddow Show every night . . . sheesh, that lady is AWESOME.  Especially when compared to the pretentious screamy git, Keith Olberman.

I spent last weekend in San Francisco with two of my beautiful, amazing, perfect Irish dance friends at the feis there.  The 6 hour drive turned out to be really fun, even though the I5 through the central valley is boring, my friends never are!  The stages were tiny and had no marlay down, but I managed to place in almost all my dances!  Everyone else did great too . . . and, since I'm in a bragging mood, the two dancers from our school who went to All-Irelands brought back medals!  Soooo proud of them!  Anyway, we also got to see a lot of the town, which was really nice.  Pictures are forthcoming.

I just spent a beautiful night watching the Olympics and doing henna tattoos with my two best friends.  I love the weekend.

In yearbook, we're doing a corporate ID project, and it's really forcing me to look at myself and what I want, and I realized . . . I want everything.  I am so many things.  Computers, graphics design, astronomy, politics, photography, Irish dance . . . they're all such an integral part of me.  I want to do so many things in life, and I worry that I won't have enough time to be everything I want to be.

I decided I'm re-starting the Minstralian Alliance series on my website.  I just . . . had inspiration, all of a sudden.  I don't know what happened.  But I'm excited!

Current Music:
The Corrs
Sinead O'Connor
Midnight Oil
Maire Brennan
Sarah Brightman
Loreena McKennitt

Current Books:
"Madame Secretary", Madeleine Albright
"Light in August", William Faulkner

Current TV Show:
Battlestar Galactica, Season 3

Movies I Really Really Want to See Right Now:
Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief
Shutter Island
Avatar: The Last Airbender

Sorry for the really rambling post.  There's been a lot going on lately, both in my life and in the wide world, and I wanted to write it all down.

Battlestar Música

Apparently senioritis doesn't care if you want it around or not, it comes to visit anyway.  But school has been pretty tame lately as second semester picks up, and I've been spending my days listening to music and catching up on TV shows, as well as cleaning the garage (yikes.  you find straaaaaaaaaaaaange stuff in there!) and, yes, keeping up with schoolwork.

I suppose it's because it's been so awesomely rainy lately that I've been in a strange mood, musically at least, lately.  I've been listening to four albums practically nonstop: Moya Brennan's Misty Eyed Adventures Sarah Brightman's Harem, The Corrs' In Blue, and Sinead O'Connor's Faith and Courage.  Why?  I'm not quite sure.  They make me happy, I suppose.  Make me want to go out and travel the world, get on a train & just see where I'll end up.  I highly recommend all three of these albums.

And, my other current obsession: Battlestar Galactica.  I'm 8 episodes into season 3 and have never loved it more!  There's so much more intrigue now, so many battles (between ships and people).  Everything is so intense, after the failed harmony experiment of New Caprica.  I'm kind of wishing Baltar is a Cylon, just so I don't have to think that a human would betray his own race so horridly TWICE.  Laura Roslin is reminding me why she's my favorite character (not that I need reminding) but ohhhhh boy, she does have ice water in her veins sometimes!  I'm starting to like Sharon Agathon -- Athena -- more now, and Racetrack is epic pilot win, as usual.  Tory is awesome even if she's a psychotic Cylon later on, Apollo is soooo much cuter now that he lost all that weight, I am so not surprised Ellen was a collaborator on New Caprica, Tigh as a drunk is supremely unattractive.  Oh, and I hate all the Threes because Lucy Lawless is such a good actress she makes me feel sorry for them.

Oh, yeah, and I went to this store in Hollywood called "It's a Wrap" that gets all sorts of costumes/props from movies/tv shows/whatever, annnnnnnnnnnnd ......... I found outfits from BSG!!!!  Soooooo excited ... I'm going to be watching all the episodes super closely looking for my new clothes :P

I am in love with the BSG soundtrack.  Endofstory.

I downloaded the first half of the pilot for Caprica.
Ugh.
I swore I wouldn't get it/watch it.
But it was free on iTunes and I'm a sucker for free stuff.
I comfort myself by knowing that just because I have it, doesn't mean I like it.

So, take all the sex, drugs, and violence of Vegas, multiply it by a few thousands, and you have "V-World".  Ew.  I get the point -- the colonies are in love with themselves and headed toward destruction.  And yeah, sex and violence sells in our pathetic little American TV culture.  But really.  The most interesting parts were the FX and the creepy priestess lady.  I think I might have to watch the second half of the pilot, but not the rest of the series.

Will the Real Catholic Church Please Stand Up?

So, I'm looking for the Catholic Church as it was meant to be.  The Catholic Church that:

• Preaches love for everyone
• Supports tolerance
• Is doing such a good job helping people in Haiti
• Knows better than to get involved in politics and legal battles
• Says everyone is equal in the eyes of God . . . and the Church

Not the Catholic Church that:

• Seems less than interested in reaching out to other faiths
• Threatens to stop social service operations in DC if the city legalizes gay marriage
• Threw support behind the "yes on 8" campaign in California in 2008
• Has forgotten that church and state are supposed to remain completely different entities

I might as well wish for Admiral Adama to swoop out of the sky in the Galactica and take me to Kobol, it seems.

The iPad: Uh-huh, Sure.....

As you maybe can tell, I am less than impressed with Apple's new tablet, called (rather disingeniously) the iPad.

So The Onion did this really awesome satire bit, "Frantic Steve Jobs Stays Up All Night Designing Apple Tablet", in which Jobs frantically glues 9 iPods to a cafeteria tray and slaps a bit of masking tape on the whole thing.  Unfortunately, that seems pretty close to reality here.  The iPad is basically an iPod touch, except with a huge screen.  The only thing that's new is the iBooks app . . . and hey, if I want to read books on the go, I'd rather have an actual eReader, like the nook.

So is it cool?  Very.  Are some people going to absolutely love it?  Heck yeah.  Am I one of them?  Eh, no.  I'll go for an iPod+Droid+nook combo any day.

Advertising Fail

Uh, I have no clue what this billboard for Caprica is supposed to be saying.

It's almost something that belongs on PhotoshopDisasters, but it's not really the retoucher's fault, it's the art director's fault.  I'll admit that I'm commenting without having seen the pilot, but really now.  Apart from the over-use of the Eve imagery and the blatant inappropriateness of having a girl who's supposed to be, what, sixteen, posing nude?  Granted, the actress is twentysomething, but still.  One thing is for sure, Caprica is going to be nothing like it's parent series, Battlestar Galactica.  Wheres that was all about the darkness, the fight for life, Caprica is about . . . well, I'm not exactly sure, from the poster.  The funny thing is, although I know perfectly well what the series is about, the poster tells nothing.  There's none of the high-tech glitzyness that's supposed to define human society at this time evident.  I dig the color scheme . . . the brushed chrome and gray are awesome . . . but, what does it have to do with anything?  The poor girl looks like a vampire.  The contrast is nice, I love the font, but otherwise, this poster is a complete fail.  The future of humanity begins with a choice?  Sure it does.  A choice for horrid art direction!

Women Who are Positively Portrayed in the Media

So.  Either I'm being whiny and sleep deprived (entirely possible), or this list is my rebuttal against the entire concept of the Women's Studies class (also totally possible).

From The X-Files

• Dana Scully
• Margaret Scully
• Teena Mulder
• Marita Covarrubias
• Monica Reyes
• Dakota Whitney

From Babylon 5

• Susan Ivanova
• Talia Winters
• Delenn
• Lyta Alexander
• Elizabeth Lochley
• Na'Toth

From CSI and CSI: Miami

• Sara Sidle
• Catherine Willows
• Terri Miller
• Sofia Curtis
• Calleigh Duquesne
• Wendy Simms
• Natalia Boa Vista
• Alexx Woods

From Buffy the Vampire Slayer

• Buffy Summers
• Willow Rosenberg
• Faith
• Kendra
• Jenny Calendar
• Cordelia Chase

From Warehouse 13

• Myka Bering
• Claudia Donovan
• Leena
• Mrs. Irene Frederic

From Fringe

• Olivia Dunham
• Nina Sharp
• Astrid Farnsworth
• Amy Jessup

From Roswell

• Liz Parker
• Maria de Luca
• Isabel Evans

From NCIS

• Abby Sciuto
• Caitlin Todd
• Ziva David

From Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU

• Olivia Benson
• Alexandra Cabot
• Abbie Carmichael
• Elizabeth Donnelly
• Casey Novak
• Jill Hennessey
• Serena Southerlyn
• Connie Rubirosa
• Alexandra Borgia
• Claire Kincaid
• Monique Jefferies
• Kim Greylek
• Melinda Warner

From Battlestar Galactica

• Laura Roslin
• Tory Foster
• Kara "Starbuck" Thrace
• Anastasia Dualla
• D'Anna Beirs / The Rest of the Threes
• Sharon Agathon / The Rest of the Eights
• Gina Inviere/ The Rest of the Sixes
• Helena Cain
• Kendra Shaw
• Margaret "Racetrack" Edmonson
• Diana "Hardball" Seelix
• Louanne "Kat" Katraine
• Erin Matthias
• Jean Barolay

From Stargate (SG-1, Atlantis, and Universe)

• Samantha Carter
• Janet Frasier
• Vala Mal Doran
• Elizabeth Weir
• Teyla Emmagen
• Kate Heightmeyer
• Jennifer Keller
• Laura Cadman
• Katie Brown
• Chaya
• Helia
• Alicia Vega
• Camille Wray
• Tamara Johansen
• Jeannie Miller

Some of them are evil, sure, but they're all strong, complex characters who would never let men make them feel bad about themselves.

4ND 50 1!F3 607 PWND 8Y 5¢!-F! 4ND ¢0P 5#0W5. 1337!!!!!!!
(^^it's leetspeak.  figure it out :P^^)

Watch Out World, Anya's Bored!

Semester break = time for me to catch up on all those wallpapers I promised people for Christmas and then never got around to.  Ahem.

The Dark Knight.  Batman.  For 'Drea :)

Alice (The SyFy Miniseries).  Alice.  For Toria :)

CSI: Crime Scene Investigation.  Greg Sanders.  For Marina :)

Battlestar Galactica.  Laura Roslin & Tory Foster.  For Laura :)

Mad Men.  Don Draper.  For Ashley :)

So . . . I know everyone whom I've dedicated these to have seen them already, but I thought I'd post them here so you all could see a wider sampling of my artwork.   As always, full-size versions and detailed explanations of the thought processes behind all of these can be found at my website: http://www.anyaprynn.com/artwork.html.

"The Young Victoria" Movie Review

I admit, The Young Victoria is not my usual fare, as far as movies go.  On the rare occasions I do watch period movies, they're usually more along the lines of Elizabeth: The Golden Age, with enough war and court intrigue to keep me occupied for the two hour long movie.  The Young Victoria, on the other hand, seems more like a movie my unimaginative history teacher from last year would show.

Regardless, I found it an okay movie.  It wasn't great, it wasn't awful.  It didn't bore me to death, but I'd never watch it again.  It earns points for historical accuracy, the beautiful settings, and the performance of the ever-awesome Miranda Richardson, who I have mildly idolized ever since I saw her in The Phantom of the Opera and The Hours.  What it loses points for: its utter forgettability.

The sets/locations are absolutely fabulous.  They really capture the the grandeur of British royal palaces. The wide expanses, especially in the outdoor and coronation scenes, are used to great effect in wide angle shots to capture the all-encompassing nature of the monarchy, and how lost Victoria is in it.  Or maybe I'm just reading too much into it :P

The directing is, I'm sad to say, unimaginative for nearly the whole movie.  It feels almost like a documentary, which is not helped by the fact that it breaks two of my golden rules for movies, namely, no text on screen, and no narration.  There's the rare movie where narration works, but I have not yet found the movie where you can throw text up on screen and have it not look preachy or immature.  The one element of the presentation that I really enjoyed was how so many of the important events (King William's death, Victoria's pregnancy) are shown, without words.  So many directors fail at "show, don't tell", Jean-Marc Vallee doesn't.

The acting is solid but not amazing.  Miranda Richardson and Mark Strong, as the Duchess of Kent and Sir James Conroy, respectively, steal much of the show.  Emily Blunt is a passionate, intelligent young queen, but her performance just . . . it didn't have any real "spark" for me.  And the guy who played Albert was just plain boring.  Maybe it's the writing that bugged me -- the film focused a lot on Victoria's personal life, and less than I would have liked on her actual reign.

Overall, The Young Victoria is a good movie for someone who just wants to see a nice, pretty accurate historical romance/drama (the love story is a bit sweet at times . . . but way overly sweet at others).  But for me, it was just a bit bland.

Photojournaling Our Way Thru LA, Part 2

No school means you can generally find me and Ashley downtown, and semester break is no exception.  We took the red line down from school again, this time (thankfully) with more knowledge of our cameras (ie, not spending 15 minutes trying to change Ash's film, and not thinking that 1/2000 of a second shutter speed actually works).

We were planning on going to the courthouse and sitting in on some trials, but, for various reasons, that didn't quite work out.  So we ended up just hanging out at the food court in the Los Angeles Mall, talking about school, politics, life . . . .We got some very strange looks from the lawyer-type people who were sitting a few tables over, although we probably deserved most of them.  Ashley for speculating that the government could overhear our conversation because our cell phones were on, me for my (rather long and loud) rant about why exactly Prop 8 is unconstitutional, backed with direct quotes from my pocket constitution.  I really, really want to know what they were thinking . . .

Since I didn't have a dance lesson this time, we got to stay downtown a bit longer, so I got night photographs!  None of them using flash, all of them using different apertures and shutter speeds.  Although some of them (specifically the ones with 4 or 8 second shutter lapses) did come out quite blurry because I didn't have a tripod and my hands are notoriously unsteady.

Some People Shouldn't be Allowed to Talk

Well, that's not true.  Everyone should be allowed to talk, we have a right to freedom of speech, and I cherish that right.  It applies to everyone, no questions.

On the other hand, just because you can talk, it doesn't mean you should.  And it for sure doesn't mean you should be allowed to broadcast your opinions to the world.

Take Pat Robertson.  He says that the earthquake in Haiti was caused by the Haitians themselves, because they made a pact with the devil to throw out the French.  That is so disgusting on so many levels, I don't even know where to begin.  He's dismissing the Haitian's religion, promoting colonization, ignoring the fact that things called natural disasters exist, and are called natural disasters for a reason, and he's implying that 50,000 people deserved to die.  Excuse me.  I take issue with that.  You should be praying for those people, donating money to help them, promoting relief efforts.  I didn't think it was possible for Robertson to offend me any more . . . he did.  I am glad, at least, to see that the White House is responding to this, with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs calling his remarks "utterly stupid".  Because, guess what, they are!

Or Rush Limbaugh.  He, at least, is not blaming the Haitians for their tragedy.  But he's matching Robertson in stupidity, by saying that Obama is using US relief efforts as a way to boost his credibility with the black community in the US.  'Scuse me?  What happened to caring for your neighbor, and, um, the obligation to help people?  I mean, Limbaugh is very Christian, right?  Doesn't the Bible have very specific things to say about loving your neighbor?  And doesn't "helping your poverty-stricken neighbors recover from a devastating earthquake" qualify as "loving"?

And then, when somebody actually points out what a hypocritical, lying, jerk he's being, he responds with . . . well, some unrepeatable sentiments.  Watch here: http://mediamatters.org/mmtv/201001140046.  I got exactly 1 minute and 30 seconds into the video before wanting to strangle him, and about 2 and a half minutes before I nearly cried at how simply horrific, disgusting, and completely un-defendable his statements are.  Really.  I don't care if you don't like the president, no one in their right mind would turn a humanitarian tragedy into a political game.  Except, apparently, Rush Limbaugh.  Way to make the world hate you.

By the way, it's also a good idea to check out some of the other videos on that page.  And I know that Media Matters is a very liberal website, but keep in mind that there is no commentary on these videos.  It's simply exactly what Limbaugh/Robertson said: their words from their mouths.

Kudos to Senator Claire McCaskill for posting this on her Twitter, that's where I found it :)

"Sherlock Holmes" Movie Review

I feel like all I've been writing lately is movie reviews, but watching movies is pretty much what I've been spending my winter break doing (besides the mandatory schoolwork, of course).

But anyway.  So Sherlock Holmes wasn't really what I expected . . . but it was pretty good!  Bottom line, it's an action movie, not a mystery movie.  Which is okay (I actually really like action/adventure movies, especially when they have a lot of humor thrown it), but I also don't think it really did the great detective justice.

Let me say that I am in love with the art department.  From sets to props to the closing credits, this film had me completely convinced I was chasing around London with Holmes.  His room was spot-on -- reminds me a lot of my room, actually, except with more explosives.  The location filming is probably this film's strongest point, especially on in the cathedral in the opening and the inadvertently hilarious accidental launching of a steamboat on the Thames.  The ending credits are hands-down the most awesome I have ever seen . . . remember how Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban did their ending credits with the Maurader's Map?  Well, this is kind of like that.  I'm not going to describe them, that would ruin the surprise, but . . . the whole film was worth it just for that.

Music.  Hans Zimmer is like a god . . . his scores make any movie better (he did the score for Angels & Demons too, just FYI.  It also features the Dubliner's version of "The Rocky Road to Dublin", giving parts of the film a very ordinary-man-on-the-street feel.  Sometimes the music takes away from the story, sometimes it overwhelms the story, and sometimes . . . it just fits the story beautifully, like here.

Casting.  Robert Downey Jr. is actually a very good actor, which surprised me . . . I hadn't seen any other movies of his, but I've had enough movie-going experience to say that the guys most girls my age swoon over can't act to save their lives.  This is an exception :).  While I loved loved loved Irene Adler's character, I can't help but think Rachel McAdams was . . . miscast, I suppose.  She's a good actress, but she's too . . . modern?  bland?  I dunno.  Something.  Jude Law was a great foil for Holmes, Mark Strong was a creepy evil Lord Blackwood.  While he was over-the-top, that fault lies with the writers.

Now, to the plot.  Probably the weakest part of the whole movie, IMHO.  The story is overblown, interesting parts are played down, and the occasional moments of inventive directing are weighed down by the less than spectatular writing.  There's plenty of funny moments, notably any scene involving Homes's dog, and the whole steamboat-launching thing; unfortunately, those moments are too often lost in the rest of the jumble.  The boxing scene, for one, makes me roll my eyes in annoyance, and if Blackwood was any more a stereotypical villain, he would . . . um, help me out here guys, I can't think of anything!  Anyway, I wish they'd focus more on the magic and detective work, rather than have Holmes go around punching people and accidentally blowing stuff up.  We need more scenes like the one in the midget's workshop.

On the plus side, Sherlock Holmes has one of the best opening sequences I've seen in a long time.  Dark, suspenseful, and making full use of a variety of camera angles (crane shots = <3).  I also really liked director Guy Rithcie's glimpses into Homes's brain during the fight scenes, breaking down each of his moves in slow motion before he finally explodes into action.  It shows a bit of Holmes' intelligence that isn't always on display.

Overall, I recommend it.  It's harmless fun, a summer movie with too little CGI and romance to actually be a summer movie, and a winter movie with too big of a budget and too much humor to actually be a winter movie.  Go watch it, you'll like it!  (If you can ignore the fact that the last 30 minutes are doing nothing but screaming "SEQUAL!" in your ear with a megaphone or two :P).