Uffish Thought

I've been a bit busy (only days without work or school since Sept 1st = Labor Day + today; total days off since Aug 1st = 6), but Monday was my last class of massage school! Just 28 internship hours and a few tests and I can get my license!

Lindsey and I are celebrating by catching up on Fringe. I always forget just how fucking awesome Olivia Dunham is until she comes on my screen again, but seriously: Anna Torv's performance(s) in S3 hit it out of the damn park.

In other news, can I just say how incredibly fucking glad I am that DADT has been repealed?

Tangentially - Sean Maher opens up about his sexuality: 'This is my coming out ball':

The role for which Maher is probably most well-known is Dr. Simon Tam [...] on the cult TV series Firefly and follow-up feature Serenity, both created by Joss Whedon. Maher remembers those projects as some of his best — even though his personal life was still off-limits during that time. “Looking back, on Firefly for instance, I do wish on day one I had told them because these are some of the most amazing people who are still like family to me,” Maher says. “I am so grateful for that show because they saved me. I was so unhappy and lonely and to come to work everyday with that group was wonderful. It really was all I had at that point in my life.”

♥ Firefly cast & crew, forever and ever. ♥ Too bad that his new show The Playboy Club looks terrible and has been getting similar ratings, but good for him on a personal level.

This animated video, adapted from a Hyperbole and a Half post, sent Lindsey and me into hysterical giggle fits. So you should watch it to! Paralyze yourself with laughter!




The "manly scent" section of that reminded me that I started massage therapy school. I told many, many people in real life - I told junebug_waltz twice! (she laughed at me) - but I neglected to tell the internet. Sorry about that. It's delightfully fun, between my renewed anatomy geekery and spending half of my class time on Tuesdays *getting* a massage. My very own portable massage table arrives tomorrow, so I can practice on all the unfortunate souls who live near me ;)

I have been hiding from real life by reading massive quantities of Magnificent Seven fic. Some of it was deeply, deeply bad, but I cannot stop myself.

However, I have a compelling list of reasons for hiding.
1) On Wednesday, a student at my school was shot and killed at her job in the campus bookstore. The shooter was at large until late last night, and the campus was on lockdown because they thought he might go after more Wesleyan students. I didn't know her, and I really don't know how I feel right now - it's still so surreal. I've barely left the house for a week.

2) I have three papers left to write. One is days late, and the other two are due on Monday. I have not written a single page. I am soooo fucked, and I'm having trouble caring.

3) I am graduating from college. My only current solid plan is going to the Bahamas for two weeks in June.


Some things that have made me smile recently:
1) Ryan Ross playing with animal horns (not like that!) and Brendon Urie quoting 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover
2) Maine legalizing same-sex marriage. If New Hampshire joins, we'll have New England almost covered. Let's hope it spreads, like a zombie plague of awesome.
3) The shenanigans over at XKCD. I am frequently irked at how media and fiction portray fans as crazy in a bad way; Randall Munroe is one of us, and pokes fun at Firefly/general fandom in a way that neatly avoids any irkage on my part. Plus, there's a perfect dig at FOX, which I ALWAYS love.
4) Picturing the ATF-verse Mag7 meeting the Leverage gang. I mean, aside from imagining Ezra and Sophie's delightful verbal duels when they meet undercover, or how badly Parker would scare Buck, I like to picture Vin and Eliot in the same room, and all the separated-at-birth jokes that might follow.

1) I have watched eight movies this week (one of which I've seen before), plus about 3 hours of short films from 1895-1906ish. I feel like my eyes are going to turn into movie reels if this keeps up. Once my Silent Cinema class hits feature films, I will be watching a MINIMUM of 7 movies a week. Yeaargh.

2) I found an old meme from my old computer (I've been going through my files and ruthlessly organizing them. I'm starting to feel a little OCD.), and wanted to post it. I'm particularly amused by the last item, which was clearly written before winter break:
( Fandom Fling meme, gender-neutralized for your viewing pleasure )

3) My brain keeps composing parts of a Criminal Minds 5 things fic while I'm not paying attention. The thing is, there must be plenty of fics out there that posit alternate fates for the BAU team, right? It's an on-going subtext on the show that our profilers are only separated from the unsubs by a thin line of circumstance and choice, yet I haven't *seen* any around. Have any of ya'll spotted them? Am I just looking in the wrong places?

Oh, dear. I made the mistake of reading the first few pages of Luck in the Shadows on Amazon, and ended up ordering the whole Nightrunner trilogy by Lynn Flewelling. Considering the number of recommendations I've had for it and my own appreciation of the opening, I suspect that I'm safe, but I wish I hadn't already ordered Empire of Ivory - it would have saved extra trips to the mail. As it was, I was forced to add Martha Wells' Entanglement to get free shipping: such a sad fate is mine.

Now the question is: when the hell am I gonna find the time to read them? Last weekend was literally the first time since school started that I haven't had to a) shoot a film or b) drive to New Haven to buy apartment crap at IKEA (also an excuse to visit my roommate's adorable brother at Yale, with whom I always end up arguing the merits of film vs theatre).

I'm having a fantastic semester: three film classes and West African dance. Heaven! So I've watched over 20 movies since school started, and that's not including all the one-reel silent films from my Action and Adventure class. Higgins does love his silents, but he provides hilarious commentary, so we love them, too.

A lot of them are for my Race and Film class, though, and therefore heavy on the offensive/bad end of the spectrum. I watched Birth of a Nation on fast-forward (the benefit of it being silent and me being fast at reading intertitles).

Additional trivia:
--Isabella Rossellini donated money and some of her mother's collection to our film center, a fact learned while snacking outside the editing room.
--My production prof used to teach at UT/work in Austin, so we bonded over missing Tex-Mex the first day of class. Also, he make ninja filmmaker jokes.
--I have three radically different types of dance this semester: West African, rapper sword dancing, and swing.
--I haven't watched a single TV premiere or pilot :(
--All my classes are within 100 feet of each other.
--Rudy Valentino was a damn attractive man, but don't watch The Sheik. Skip straight to the sequel, Son of the Sheik, in which Rudy has some great scenes with himself.

This weekend has been one of extended outings. I want to sleep, but of course I am plagued by homework.

( Lo, the saga of Katie's weekend )

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On the (slightly) more entertaining side, I had a whacky dream last night. Initially, I was a character in a group that got sucked into a parallel universe, except we were from a sort of steampunk universe. The new universe was more traditionally medieval, so we found a castle where some sort of murders had taken place, and it was haunted and the lighting was very Supernatural-esque. I kept getting chased around and there were military factions and whatnot. The story strayed from realism at that point, and the culprit looked like the Nightmare Before Christmas guy (Jack Skellington?) and there was some sort of bomb about to go off? Yeah.

The dream shifted at that point: the first section was a new book by marthawells, and I was in a seminar led by researchgrrrl, which was located in my Austin bedroom for some obscure reason (any ideas, Kim? *waggles eyebrows*). I was sitting where the closet is - WTF? I can't remember what we discussed, but Kim had two large books in front of her: one on alchemy and one on explosives *g*. I do remember thinking that we both knew Martha (and were Texans?) and that should be included in the discussion, but we were both being discreet, or something.

My brain is weird, ya'll.

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In other news, my history professor is adorable and I have a brain-crush. His teaching style and philosophy is reminiscent of my favorite high school teacher, and he's like a cross between David Tennant's Doctor and Marc on Ugly Betty - catty/dorky/hilarious with eyebrows that jump around like grasshoppers.

Today, I ate an entire 24 ounce jar of applesauce (in two sittings) and did not start my film paper at all. Do you think the first balances out the second?

Also, the guy I work with at the computer helpdesk was watching Justice League on his computer, which I figured out by recognizing Green Lantern's voice. From across the room. (J'onn, meanwhile, sounds like a hybrid of James Earl Jones and Michael Dorn from afar) I even figured out it was Metamorphosis from Season 1. *headdesk* Why does my brain store useless information like this?

So, I'm watching Veronica Mars episodes that I missed and ( guess what I noticed? )

Well, today sucked.

When the best part of your day happens in Economics clas (yay 110 on the test!), and the second best part involves staying after school for 3 hours (playing with the centrifuge, cactus, and a blender), you realize that you should have stayed in bed. Especially since Texas decided to jump from 85 degree weather to 45 degree weather in 3 days, without including my favorite weather at all. *sulks*

I'm not touching the other Issue.

*squeeeeeee* Spider-Man 2 trailer!!!!!!!!!

*swoons* I can't believe it, but it's going to be better than the first one. I'll just have to see it 7 times, then. It has character conflict, and plot, and shirtless Peter awesome special effects/fight scenes (including a badass swing through a pedestrian bridge). I can't *believe* my luck, though: it opens 2 days after I leave for Austria. Lindsey and I have sworn to go straight to the theatre after getting home, jetlag be damned!

Ooooh, Shrek 2! With a fairy godmother playing The Godfather, Antonio Banderas as the cutest little Puss in Boots ever, and more parodies than you can shake a stick at. *snickers* This is gonna be good.

Excuse me, off to watch the Spider-Man trailer again.

Addendum-- Topless sunbathing is very fun. Every town needs a Barton Springs to try such things at.

Mutant Addendum-- Oh my god. This is my English teacher. Who is in a band, I knew, but, ummm:

"Lead singer Matt Kelly is a sight to behold. He's totally off the wall. During the set he sang while drinking beer, sprayed beer everywhere, and ripped his shirt off Hulk Hogan style. Their set was awesome from start to finish and a joy for all who showed up for it."

Quizzing his audience on Goethe

*loves* The scary thing is, this is all so very true to how he is now. Crazy, lovely man.

Last picture on the page. That's him. *dies laughing*