Friday, February 19, 2010

"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.

Sunday, February 7, 2010

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.

Saturday, February 6, 2010

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.