elsinora's Xanga

Goodbye Xanga...and Hello Blogspot!

Tue, 10 Jun 2008 19:48:37 GMT

It's been a great few years, everyone. Thanks for reading, and I hope to see you all at my new blog: The Shabbos Princess.

"Well I've been afraid of changing,
'Cause I built my life around you.
But time makes you bolder,
Children get older--
I'm getting older, too."
~~Stevie Nicks, "Landslide"

Footsteps

Mon, 02 Jun 2008 21:14:34 GMT

Well, it's official. I've worked things out with the registrar. I've written the conclusion to my paper. I've taken my one exam. I've got nothing left to do except pack, take Richard clothes shopping, walk across the stage, and then...

I haven't quite figured that part out yet. But I will.

I'm having a hard time getting my thoughts in order. I don't feel sad, per se: my heart knows that it's time to go. I came into college on antidepressants and anticonvulsants, and I leave college happy, stable, and epilepsy free. I came into college single, and I leave college engaged to a wonderful man. In a million little ways, the wheel has turned for me, often in ways I could never have expected. I couldn't get anything more out of this place than I already have.

And yet...

Have you ever been walking down a lonely street and heard footsteps behind you--but when you turned around, nobody was there? That feeling, that mistaking of your own footsteps for someone else's...that's how I feel with regards to my memories. Detatched. I look back at everything that has happened to me here at Knox, and it seems like it happened to somebody else. The girl who came into her first freshman preceptorial and noticed with distaste the annoying boy with the yarmulke sitting across from her...I can see the scene in my mind, but I can't make the mental jump to label the girl as "me." The same goes for all my memories of college--even those from this year, even those from this term, even those that happened yesterday. They all seem equally distant. It's not a bad feeling, but it is a bit disorienting, like my mind already drove back to Milwaukee and left the rest of me here.

This is as nostalgic and as melacholic as I'm likely to get this week...all the effort I've poured into staying positive this term seems to have taken hold, and even without working at it I'm finding it very hard to stay sad or wistful for more than a few minutes. Even when, like now, I feel like I SHOULD be wistful, I can't really keep it up for long. I think that's a good thing, even if it does creep Richard out a little.

(Nonetheless, there is one thing I do find depressing about all this. When I first "graduated" back in eighth grade, George W. Bush had just become president. When I graduate from college this Saturday, George W. Bush will still be president. Bush was elected just five months after my bat mitzvah. His successor will be inaugurated just seven months before my wedding. How's that for perspective?)

On Sunday, I will write my final post in this blog, with a link to my new blog. I created this blog when I entered college, and it feels right to abandon it now that I'm leaving college. My new blog will be closer in terms of emphasis to the blog I kept in high school--much more introspection, much less flat out reporting, although this new blog will have a more spiritual/Jewish focus than my high school blog did. (Also, it will have recipes. As I try out new recipes this year, I'll be sure to share the good ones.)

Only 19 days until my birthday...

Wednesday, May 28, 2008

Wed, 28 May 2008 18:42:57 GMT

Here we go again. The registrar's office emailed me to inform me that I don't have all my minor requirements completed, and need to let them know whether I have a substitution to make. Actually, this will be the THIRD TIME that I have informed them of the substitution that needs to be made. The head of the department has emailed the registrar about it. One of the deans has emailed them about it. I've emailed them about it. And the registrar's office has done absolutely NOTHING about it.

Sigh. Only one more week, and I won't have to deal with this crud...that is if the registrar's office decides to actually do its job and lets me graduate.

Summer Movies, Round One

Sat, 24 May 2008 22:44:36 GMT

This is INFURIATING--I've seen two movies this week and have absolutely no one to discuss/analyze them with. Fine, be that way...I'm going to do the next best thing and analyze/review them MYSELF. So, nyah. You have no one to blame but yourselves.

First up, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian.

Plot Summary: Hamlet by way of the Book of Exodus by way of LotR by way of a PG rating.
What I missed most: Tilda Swinton as a main character.
What worked: the battle scenes, Reepicheep, the tone, the Hamletiness(!!!)
What didn't work: the title character being completely bland, Susan as a badass, direct visual references to LotR (the moving trees and magical river CGI thingers in particular)
Would I see it again: Yes.
Advice for improvement of next installment: Make Caspian interesting, dammit!

If you thought "The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe" flirted with the boundaries of its PG rating, you ain't seen nothin' yet. "Prince Caspian" is darker and more violent in every way, albeit sans any sightings of blood. Unfortunately, this movie's villain, King Miraz, simply cannot measure up to Tilda Swinton's White Witch (who, in a short cameo, proves that she can devour the scenery and everyone on it whole even while encased in an ice block). And the titular prince himself is easy on the eyes (his age has been upped from thirteen in the book to about eighteen here, to allow for flirtation between him and Susan) but has about as much character development as a cardboard cutout, which isn't a plus when you're supposed to be a mixture of Hamlet and Moses. But do not be afraid: this movie has its own scene-stealer in the form of Reepicheep, the mouse knight voiced by the brilliant Eddie Izzard. The four child actors are still very good, although my favorite character Edmund has very little to do here--although the actor makes the most of what he does get--and Susan does much too much (Susan as a Legolas-like, bow and arrow badass just plain doesn't work, and Susan nurturing a crush on Prince Caspian isn't much better). Overall, though, I greatly enjoyed the movie's darker and more battle-pic story, even if the direct nods to sequences from "The Lord of the Rings" (trust me, you'll know them when you see them) got a bit irritating at times. And hey, it's based on Hamlet. What more do you want?

Next, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.

Plot Summary: Indiana Jones fights communism and has close encounters of the third kind.
What I missed most: Sean Connery.
What worked: bringing back Marion, the casting in general, replacing Nazis with Ruskies
What didn't work: anything involving CGI, crystal skulls as a plot device
Would I see it again: You bet!
Advice for improvement of next installment: Don't make one. But if you do, FIRE GEORGE LUCAS FIRST.

Make no mistake about it, George Lucas's crystal skull/alien idea is by far the worst McGuffin this series has ever used--worse even than those stone thingies from "Temple of Doom". And yes, CGI looks ridiculously out of place in an Indiana Jones movie (although fortunately, there is far less CGI use than I had feared). And yes, several sequences go over the top even for an Indy film (you get the impression that George Lucas ran into the conference room where Spielberg was working and yelled "HAI GUYZ I HAZ THIS GREAT IDEA LULZ!" at intermittent points of the movie). And yes, Harrison Ford is old, although still game for anything. But--and this is a big but--the movie somehow manages to still be utterly awesome. The actors are all well cast and having way, way too much fun. In particular, bringing back Marion Ravenwood was a stroke of genius--she was the only Indy girl anybody ever actually liked, largely because she and Indy made such great foils, and that chemistry is still there in spades. And although I had my misgivings, the new character of Mutt fits in just fine (although George Lucas's stated desire to make a spin off series around him is decidedly not fine--stop being a franchise whore, Lucas!) and Cate Blanchette makes a really creepy Ukrainian villainess. Oh, and speaking of that, the switch from Nazis to Commies works, and beautifully at that, as does the switch from pulping up the thirties to pulping up the fifties. So, overall, the movie works because everybody is having too damn much fun for you not to join in--which, truth be told, is what has made most of the Indiana Jones movies work (and the relative lack of fun-having is what made "Temple of Doom" fail). This one isn't "Raiders" redux, but it's much, much better than "Temple of Doom".

Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Wed, 21 May 2008 19:51:38 GMT

Ugh, essays...college takes all the fun out of writing. I just keep reminding myself, after next Sunday, I won't have to write for other people anymore--I can go back to writing for FUN. And it will be fun: I've got four novel ideas kicking around in my head right now, and I've finally decided which one I want to write first. We'll see if I have the stamina and organizational prowess for longer stories...

Only one month until my birthday!

Lastly, I just have to share this YouTube find with everybody: a Norwegian musical group performing one of my favorite songs, Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah". I've heard many, many great versions of this song before, but this one completely blew me away.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008

Tue, 13 May 2008 15:17:25 GMT

So, new tagline! I've been listening to the Muse song "Knights of Cydonia" quite a bit recently, in part because that line just keeps popping out at me. It just seems to sum up my philosophy at the moment. (Plus, it is a freaking awesome song--I envy Matthew Bellamy's mad guitar/composing/vocal skills. If you don't know what to get me for my birthday, Muse's album "Black Holes and Revelations" would not go amiss...hinty hinty.)

Speaking of philosophy, would you like to hear the title of my senior seminar paper? "Toward a Taxonomic and Aesthetic Understanding of Theater Art." The worst part? The rest of my paper sounds like that, too. Somebody, please...shoot me.

EDIT: Oh, my goodness...do you believe in miracles? The Democrat won the Congressional runoff in Mississippi's blood-red first district! The DEMOCRAT! Ready or not, November, here we come!

Monday, May 12, 2008

Mon, 12 May 2008 16:47:24 GMT

So, Hamlet is over...and I'm in mourning. Whatever am I going to do with myself now? That show was pretty much the only thing keeping me sane and non-senioritis-ish...and to top it all off, it's just now dawning on me that I may never be involved in a theatrical production again, which is depressing as all hell. Now all I have to look forward to is papers, exams, and goodbyes--which isn't nearly as much fun, it turns out, as a stage full of dead people. Go figure.

For now, I'm keeping the sadness at bay by making a fun little Hamlet memento dealie for the cast and crew. But after that, all bets are off.

I WANT HAMLET BACK, DAMN IT!

EDIT: In the meantime, this song is keeping a smile on my face. Best Hamlet parody EVER...in particular, the notion of Hamlet telling Laertes "don't tase me, bro!" just cracks me up every time! Check it out:

http://www.thefump.com/fump.php?id=1014#

Friday, May 02, 2008

Fri, 02 May 2008 03:52:20 GMT

Today was my final Flunk Day.

Only six days left until Hamlet opens.

Only four weeks left before finals.

Only five weeks left until graduation.

I'm not quite sure whether to find this exciting or frightening.

Friday, April 25, 2008

Fri, 25 Apr 2008 19:35:50 GMT

The Galesburg-Register Mail finally specially posted the video clip of my waterboarding question to John Ashcroft on youtube due to popular demand. I'm pleased at how close my memorial reconstruction was to the actual exchange, which you can see here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=19vjh_V19NM. The clip doesn't include my initial apology to him or the UN Conventions against Torture exchange (and it edits out all but the very end of the applause for the question), but the important parts are all there, including the rudeness of many in the audience regarding his answer. Check it out. (It's weird, though...I specifically remember hearing the phrase "apples and oranges," but apparently I was mistaken. Oops.)

The aftermath of the speech is getting downright ugly really fast--the Knox Republicans members are being threatened, shoved, and spat at, and the Galesburg community is expressing outrage that the silent protesters weren't tasered or worse. I think I'm getting out of here just in time, especially since I seem to have become one of the two most public faces of the whole event (the other being the guy who asked if Ashcroft had a soul, who to his credit has apologized to everyone for it). Just five more weeks...

In Which I Cross-Examine the Prosecutor and Get Yelled At

Wed, 23 Apr 2008 17:57:35 GMT

So, I wasn't too far off in Pennsylvania--final tally 54.7 to 45.3. As for how exactly the media claims that as a 10 point win, I'm not sure...looks like 9.4 to me, which rounds down, not up. But oh well, it doesn't really matter a whit.

Like I said I would, I went to Ashcroft's speech last night and questioned him about the Yukio Asano case. I basically got the response I expected--no answer, just some semantic fencing. Now, what I didn't expect was that my diary of the event on DailyKos (the largest Democratic netroots blog site on the Internet) would shoot to the top of the "Recommended Diaries" list within fifteen minutes, stay there for 14 hours and counting, and then start to go viral around the political realms of the Internet! So instead of writing a new post here, I'll just refer you to the diary I wrote for DKos: http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/4/23/04046/3938/224/501151

I've gotten a lot of comments that I sounded like a lawyer at the mike. Gee, I wonder where I learned that from? ;)