Mr. Darcy, the Yankees are Coming!

Did you know that sometimes TCM shows a 1940 version of Pride and Prejudice starring Greer Garson and Laurence Olivier? How exciting!

The most strinking thing was the costumes. I am no expert on the clothing of the era, but I thought that Lizzie looked suspiciously like Scarlett O'Hara. I looked on the IMDB page and guess what? Greer Garson said that the costumes were leftovers from Gone with the Wind, aka my childhood obsession.

And to add to the weirdness, the screenwriter was Aldous Huxley, so maybe the Darcys go on to found a creepy dystopia on the grounds of Pemberly. I wish I could watch the movie all the way through, but it's too hard. In the first scene they are shopping for fabric and a little woman with curly hair and a round face walks into the shop. Aunt Pitty! I just keep waiting for them to call each other "Melly" in Southern accents, which only makes their weird fake British accents more annoying.

"Miss Bingley, I don't know nothin bout birthin no babies!"



P.S. I do know that GWTW is horrible and racist.

Finally, (working) Vacation Time

The problem with California is not that there's nothing to blog about. The problem is that there is way too much to blog about and I can't decide on a single thing. I have a ton of pictures but they aren't uploading, so you will have to settle for brilliant prose.

When I got here I was not as excited as I thought I would or should be. There is good public transportation and lots of fuel efficient cars on the road. I thought that would be exciting, but it wasn't. Just different. The big moment came a few days later whe I saw a real live tree sit on campus. I am in California for real now! Very exciting.

Then I went downtown to buy a book and ended up buying the latest BWR. I had nothing to do with the issue but I loved seeing it so far from home in one of the snazziest bookstores I've ever been to. I read it on the beach.

Friday was July 4 so we wandered around a bit. Some girls I work with got sneezed on by a sea lion. One thought it was cool and one had a slight meltdown. Word got around and people are saying the sea lion vomited on them. Don't believe the hype. It was just snot.

Fireworks were outlawed because of the fires so the official town show was cancelled. Instead of a professional show, people just gather on the beach and shoot illegal fireworks all night. It was kind of fun, then terrifyingly fun, then just terrifying. You could see the moment where we were sitting and watching and decided maybe we would be better off in a more mobile position. When it looked like live fireworks were going to fall on us we got moving. I caught one of the little parachutes they are attached to. I can see why so many people die or are disfigured by fireworks. Don't tell my mom about this.

Saturday I went to the biggest baddest yoga class I've ever been to. Even the yoga is big out here. When the class was over people introduced themselves and invited me to tea. Can you believe that? I'm going back on Thursday.

After that I went to a shop where I'd seen some lotus-shaped lamps in the window to find out how much they cost and if I can have them shipped.
Me: I love this place!
Owner: I love you!
Saturday was a big day for kindness from strangers. On Sunday I went downtown and witnessed a parade of girls in wedding dresses, enormous crowns and fake fur capes, which was a mystery. But I learned that it was the feast day of Saint Isabella, Queen of Portugal. She sold all of her jewels, etc., during a famine to feed the citizens, and they attributed the end of the drought to her prayers. So these girls have a ceremony once a year to honor her and take on that role in their communities.

The moral of this post is that in Santa Cruz all I have to do is get on the downtown bus for $1.50, and the magic will find me.

Happy Fourth!

I gave you all a Mariah-themed post on this day last year. Let's make it a tradition:

I will be back soon with news of CA.

Reading is Fun

I am using my internet energy elsewhere this week. Go to my Good Reads page to see what I'm writing on the internet these days. And be my friend.

Reunited

What's this? A crappy picture of some books on a bookshelf. Not a big deal? It is a big deal, but I'm not going to tell the story anymore.

Miss y'all

I went to Tuscaloosa this week! I had lots of good times with people I adore. One very Southern thing we did (which I'd never done in the whole four years I lived there) was deep-fry food. You could call it deep-fried dinner. The menu:

Fried pickles

Fried zucchini

Fried chicken

Fried burritos

Fried Snickers (!)

It was all quite delicious and did not make me completely ill as I expected it to. A couple days later I was in Big Lots and saw a T-Fal deep fryer for $40. I let it pass me by for some reason.

I also saw Xia, who gave me a pipe cleaner bracelet and said all kinds of charming things, such as:

on riding a camel at the zoo:
"It was a bumpy ride!"

on our 134 CHOM visits:
"I don't remember. That must have been when I was younger."

on her new shorts:
"I don't want a shirt."

on throwing something away:
"That's the trash can."

X: Hey, Rachel. I can do all kinds of tricks on the playground at my school.
me: Really? Like what?
X: I don't know!

So we worked on headstands and somersaults and she will wow them next year.

DISPOSSESSED

You may have heard the news this week about the Supreme Court upholding Indiana's voter ID laws. You may have also heard that I've been busy this year trying to hold down a job and keep my mom from dying. So I haven't made it over to the license branch yet. I sent them a copy of my bank statement with my local address! I have a faculty ID! That is not enough. I went to vote early and I was turned away from the polls. ROBBED OF MY RIGHT TO VOTE! So now I have to get my new license today, even thought I have 2436847 finals to grade, and can't get my plates because I'm not sure exactly where my title is (something I was going to take care of next week when I have no responsibilities).

What if I had moved right before election day? Technically I would no longer be a resident of my old area, but might not have the necessary ID for voting here. So I would absentee vote at my old address. Isn't that technically fraudulent? I really don't know. But it's the kind of thing this law allegedly is supposed to prevent.

UPDATE: I have been to the BMV, passed the test (without studying!), paid $19, obtained a local license, and voted. Good luck to those who are less moneyed/mobile.

Thanks, NYT.

FIRST CHAPTER, Y'ALL!

Twenty minutes until I can leave my office and procure additional chapters at the bookstore.

A Fortnight of Bliss

There are really few things I look forward to as much as new Mariah Carey albums and new Louise Erdrich novels. So imagine my joy when I learned that next Tuesday, just two weeks after the MC album release, there will be a new Louise book. And even though that's finals week and not really a good time for reading, I will buy it and look at it longingly and use it for motivation to grade and get this godforsaken year over with.

There is always a secret part of me that worries that I will finally outgrow Mariah, but guess what? It hasn't happened.

A Minimally Captioned, Variably Lit Barack Obama Photo Essay

This is Barack shaking a kid's hand as he walks to the stage. The door behind the stage goes to the gym where I work out. That's right, Barack Obama was in the gym where I work out before and after his speech. I might breathe in some of the CO2 he exhaled.

Beginning to talk.

Continuing to talk. This photo is an acheivement because he rarely stood still.

The dark version.

Waving goodbye.

Leaving for real :(


Here's something I didn't know before: If we increase fuel efficiency on our cars to 40mpg we will eliminate all dependency on foreign oil. Why has this argument not gotten through to the people who drive big trucks in order to feel good about themselves? Surely their resistance to environmentalism could be outweighed by their resistance to making Middle Eastern nations rich.

More Politics!

Watch the campaign coverage this weekend because I'm going to an Obama town hall meeting on campus tomorrow. Maybe you will see me in the crowd!

Big Countdown

Here is a funny web site. In my case it would be "Postcards from Yo Gramma" because my Mom doesn't know how to turn on the computer, let alone send an e-mail.

Something big happens a week from today, so I'm digging this out of the vault as a warm-up:


And this too. Because what is better than driving to school on a sunny day with your new pink shirt with the bow and your new shoes with the cute bows (that's right, I've got three bows on today) with the windows down and the remix album on? That's right, nothing.

Hand-Crafted Artisanry

So, you may have wondered why I never wrote about ceramics class. Because I didn't have pictures. Why did I not have pictures? Because it takes FOREVER to get stuff back. These are the three items that I lovingly handcrafted during the first two classes in JANUARY. Granted, I hadn't been to class in the last three weeks and they may have been waiting for me there the whole time. The teacher waits until he gets a full kiln to fire, then you have to glaze it and wait until he gets another full kiln to fire. I don't mean to say that he should use all that electricity just so I can get my crappy bowls faster, but it is sort of anticlimactic after two months.

I did glaze some things last night that are much better-constructed than these works of art, and I will post pictures of them in November when they're out of the kiln.

I made a vase for my mom on the wheel on the night she had surgery and carved "To: Mom Love, Rachel 2008 [heart]" on the inside. It was supposed to be a Mother's Day or birthday gift. Well, guess what? My teacher turned one of the coils in the kiln to the wrong temperature and blew the bottom off of it. But I glazed it anyway. I could put fake flowers in it, or I could make a little plate base for it next week.

All of this is basically meant to say, "ceramics...meh."

Writing and photography 4 eva!

Oh, Vlad.

Have you ever met Leo Tolstoy’s great-great grandson? I have! He was at the Muncie Public Library this weekend. His name is Vladimir Tolstoy. He is the director of Yasnaya Poliana, the Tolstoy Museum and Estate, which is a two-hour train ride south of Moscow. He spoke English but he had an interpreter and a scholarly sidekick named Galina who both contributed to the program. I didn’t know much about Tolstoy, so it was very informative.

Here are some fun facts that I learned:
8 of the 13 Tolstoy children survived into adulthood, and their descendents live all over the world. There are over 100 Tolstoy descendents in Sweden alone. There are also many in Brazil, North America, Italy, and, of course, Russia. Vladimir’s ancestors relocated to the US, then to Serbia, before he returned to the family home, where his youngest children were born.

Emerson, Thoreau, and many other American writers influenced Tolstoy. He was a great admirer of American literature and America in general.

By the end of his life, Tolstoy was such a big deal that what we would now call paparazzi were camped out at his home non-stop. There is a video of elderly Tolstoy walking from the house to the outhouse and back. Even his friends would write down every word he said for posterity. When Tolstoy complained about this, one friend (a doctor) actually learned to write with a tiny pencil concealed in his pocket. He would even note when Tolstoy coughed or sneezed. So all the people I know who are always wishing writers got more attention should maybe reconsider.

He signed books. I didn’t really have anything mind-blowing to say to him, so I didn’t say anything. I always think people who ramble random stuff in that situation are dumb, so I just keep my mouth shut. But he was nice despite my close-lippedness, and invited me to visit Yasnaya Poliana. I said “I probably will!” as I walked away. What? Probably I won’t. It’s not in the immediate vacay plans, anyway.

Here is some more intrepid camera phone journalism:

Vlad & Co.


Vlad signing books.


Vlad’s signature on my book.

Politics!

Do you read this in order to know what's going on in my life? Two weeks ago was Spring Break, which was not a break. Then I got back and spent last week in bed with tonsilitis, much like a toddler. So life has been great! Today Chelsea Clinton came to campus with Sean Astin, star of Rudy and Lord of the Rings. I guess he is there to draw out the nerds and sports fans? Anyway, I was walking back from a meeting and I stopped. For a while a could not see a thing and I took this picture:














It's all very exciting because Indiana has not been relevant in a presidential primary since 1968. Then she came over to hear a question from someone on my side of the stage so I got to actually see her and not just hear a disembodied voice.














Then I got smart and walked up the stairs even more and was able to take this picture:














This was a major nostalgia event for me because Chelsea is my age and I remember watching her Dad's inauguration at school and wondering what it would be like to be her. It's cool to be first daughter, but people were very mean about her hair, teeth, etc. I also remember reading a news article where Stanford students described her reading the news in a campus computer lab when the whole Lewinsky thing broke, and being thankful that I wasn't her. But all that aside, she's had an interesting life. Someone asked a question about Zimbabwe and she said "My mother and I visited Zimbabwe over ten years ago..." Not many of us can say that, can we? She spoke very well about her mother's plans and policies.

A note: I know that Sean Astin did not play Frodo, but I don't know who he did play, which is why I've labeled him "Frodo."

Video Magic

Yay, yay. It's here. Be warned: it's not going to win any points with feminists* (or nerds). But it's still fun!

*I am a feminist.

BREAKING NEWS: THE OSCARS

This weekend I watched Rain Man, the 1988 Oscar winner for best picture. It was very good. Tom Cruise, Good. Dustin Hoffman, Very Good. I can see why people were always making those references that I just had to smile and nod at for the last twenty years. I can also see why Tom Cruise was once considered cool. He should start a club with Michael Jackson and Britney Spears.

Check back in 2028 for my take on No Country for Old Men.

I'm a little bummed that this has basically become a diary about what I watch on TV. But today I learned that I'm working in Santa Cruz this summer. So I will have fun travel and cultural experiences again, and I will get to see some friends that I haven't seen in years. A++++++++++!

Best Day in the World Day

You may know that I love Mariah Carey. You may know that I love 30 Rock. Did you know that Mariah has a new song out and that the video will costar one of my favorite people from 30 Rock? It's true! That is Jack McBrayer, aka Kenneth the Page. I love him. Here is a place where you can hear the song.

Life is Easier When You Watch Books Instead of Read Them

Masterpiece Theater is in the middle of a three-month Jane Austen festival. The host is X-Files star Gillian "I just ate a lemon" Anderson. Here is my take on the series, so you can decide whether to Netflix or not:

Persuasion - Missed it.

Northanger Abbey - There are some people in the world who need to be reminded that Jane Austen was meta before meta was meta. This movie is can be the reminder. They did a great job of capturing the tone of the book and balancing it with the courtship/marriage drama that is no less important here than in her "standard" novels. It was funny, well-paced, well-cast, etc. It's nice to see this book get some care and attention.

Mansfield Park - This was good too, but the movie struggles for the same reason the book does: the end is a foregone conclusion. It's clear early on that Fanny and Edward are meant to be. You want the heroine to get her man. You just have to wait for the guy to get it (Sex and the City, much?). You know that there is no way in holy hell that Jane Austen would keep them apart in the end. So no matter how obnoxious/hideous the antagonists are, you can't get too worked up over it.

Miss Austen Regrets - I went into this one with very low expectations.They made that Anne Hathaway movie last year and it annoyed me (I never actually saw it). Biographies of people you know little about have got to be lame, right? The point of Jane Austen is that she is so mysterious--she was right to control her image the way she did. Her novels are so spot-on in their judgments that you have to trust the voice. Knowing that she was human would diminish that. But in this case they showed that she was the voice, and she was awesome (sort of a duh moment there, but I'm not ashamed). In this movie Jane was so smart, so sympathetic, and so extraordinary that I couldn't help but love it more and more as it progressed. It was true to the spirit of her work, with a bittersweet ending layered in. Very good.

Pride and Prejudice - They are using the 1995 Colin Firth version for this, and rightfully so. Because it is perfection.

Still to come:
Emma - I can't wait to see a good adaptation of this novel. I love Clueless, but it's anachronistic. The 90's version with Gwyneth Paltrow is the kind of movie that makes people joke about gouging their eyes out.

Sense and Sensibility - This is a premature judgment, but they should have just bought the right to show the Ang Lee/Emma Thompson/Alan Rickman version. I saw it in the theater when I was in high school and I felt sorry for Kate Winslet's character because yeah, Colonel Brandon is nice, but he's also OLD. Ten years later: I'm way jealous of her. Aside from that, it's just a really excellent adaptation. The writing, directing, acting, music and art direction are superb.

You are welcome for this important public service.

4 Things

1. Today the fire alarm went off and I had to stand outside in the the freezing wind for ten minutes. But the building was cleared for return just in time for my two classes, so there was no benefit.

2. I joined a fancy gym where they do all these tests and personalize your workout plan. Yesterday I had a scan done that showed my whole skeleton. It's pretty cool, even though it's like all the other skeletons I've seen. One skull, two clavicles, lots of ribs, two femurs, two tibulas, etc. I'd post the picture here but I think that would be an overshare.

3. I got a new car in May. It was my sister's car, and before that it was my Dad's. A few years ago a CD got stuck in the CD player, and my sister's way of coping was hooking up a disc man through the tape player. This is a major pain in the ass, and I do not own an ipod. On Monday night I got a new alternator in the car. And when I drove home, lights were on that had never been on before. Specifically, the ones related to the CD player. So I hit eject and MJ's "Rockin' Party Mix" was set free. Since then other CD's have gone in, played songs, and been ejected with no problems. How did a new alternator make this happen? I don't know. But it was totally worth the $300.

4. I totally forgot that ceramics starts tonight. I am pumped.

Vindication

I was really disappointed in myself on Wednesday. That morning I heard on NPR that Heath Ledger died and even though I wasn't president of his fan club, I could not stop thinking about it. Mostly because he was young, and he has a little daughter, and now he and Michelle Williams will never get back together, and because I'm tired of hearing about people my age dying. I just think that when a young, otherwise healthy person dies because of sleeping pills, you should get a redo. I think my reasons for being sad are reasonable. But still, there is a war on. People my age and younger are dying every day and I don't sit around thinking about that.

So I went to get my hair cut that afternoon, still a little ashamed of myself. I really like the girl who cuts my hair and we always have good conversations. And of course, celebrity death can't go unaddressed in the salon. At one point she said "I think it's sad...he was cute." And I felt good about myself because I thought that her reason was more shallow than my reasons.

Twenty minutes later the conversation turns to family life--her husband has been in Iraq for four weeks, and she's taking care of their three-year-old by herself for the next year. So there you go! You can care about the war and care about Heath Ledger too. The end.

Meat is the New Bread!

I have not been feeling very bloggy lately, but I did sign up for ceramics class, so maybe I will have something to write about that in the coming weeks. Until then, I recommend that you watch my favorite show, 30 Rock. It's sort of like Arrested Development in that you have to see a few episodes and get to know the characters/jokes before you can fully enjoy it.

The ten most recent episodes are available here. You can Netflix season one. But I would start with the episode 210, which I'm assuming was the last new episode before they stopped filming. I was speechless on the treadmill for the last five minutes of the episode (though I wasn't drunk dialing as I ran--haha! You will have to watch the episode if you want to laugh with me).

Let's hope that it's not like Arrested Development in that it gets cancelled after 2.5 seasons because nobody watches it. And let's hope the strike ends soon so there can be more hilarity.