So Many Things

Seeing how I've neglected this blog for over a month, let me give a brief update of my life during that month.

School

I have more projects due than weeks left. 8 hours of sleep is no longer an option.

I am running for Co-Director of the student chapter of the American Library Association. There are 8 nominees for 4 positions and the election is next week. I need to start on my smear campaigns once the nominees are announced.

Holiday breaks

Katie is coming in 11 days! Eep!

I will be back home on the 14th.

Halloween

There was Jack-O-Lantern carving

Rocky Horror
Lounging at the Spider House
Austin Film Festival
Feels like I just went to SIFF, but now it's Austin's turn. I made it obvious which ones I recommend so you don't have to indulge me in my film critic fantasies and read my amateur reviews:

Lunafest- short films "by, about and for women", which means they're hit or miss. Sadly, when some filmmakers "celebrate" women, they can't resist putting a vomit-inducing level of sentimentality in there. Shorts worth doing a YouTube search for: Getting A Grip about the first female cable car operator in San Francisco; Irene, about the director's grandmother's struggle with keeping her independence while suffering from Alzheimer's; Miracle Lady, a stop-animation about a widow and her immortal neighbor.

Blue Valentine- The first half was better than the second. It sort of just kept going. And going. Anyway, now I sort of understand why it got the NC-17 rating (not that I side with the FCC).

Under the Boardwalk- ADD THIS TO YOUR NETFLIX. This is a documentary about Monopoly. Yes, the game Mom calls Monotony. When the film started with the usual corporate product praise, I thought I had made a mistake. But after following the National and International Monopoly Championships, I got pulled in. I love freaks who own being freaks and the people who compete in Monopoly championships are so entertaining.

S&M Lawn Care- A low-budget film about a local lawn care company (that has nothing to do with S&M) that is faced with some stiff competition when a sexier lawn care company comes to town. I liked it, but I think it caters to a certain sense of humor, so I will not order you to add it to your Netflix.

Hello Lonesome- At first I didn't think I liked this film, but I keep thinking about it. It's about 6 pairs of lonely individuals who pair up in friendship, love and ambiguous-territory. I think what made me cold to it at first was that these people probably shouldn't have "normally" interacted in the ways that they did. That might have been the feeling the filmmakers were looking for.

Bloodworth- ADD THIS TO YOUR NETFLIX. Don't question me. And don't let the fact that Hilary Duff is in the film stop you.

Wasteland- ADD THIS TO YOUR NETFLIX. I missed this at SIFF last year and it got all kinds of praise. An artist visits the world's largest landfill to take portraits of the workers there and eventually collaborates with them on their own self-portraits.

Austin Beer Week
An unintentional complement to AFF was Austin Beer Week, happening during the same time. I sampled the home brews at Lovejoy's and there was unanimous agreement (between me, Emilia and Carin) that the Orange Wheat was the best. There was also a Pinot Gringo, which was a beer made with a wine grape. It wasn't bad. It was just weird.

Haircut

Bye!