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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
missizzy's InsaneJournal:
| Sunday, February 7th, 2010 | |
| 11:45 am | And I think we might have gotten thirty inches or so. Missed the opera broadcast yesterday; the snow just seemed to be a little too much. Not sure if the temperatures are going above freezing tdoay, so it may not melt. It's nearly up the level of my window still in the backyard, there's a tall level of it on the back fence, at least one tree cracked in half because the snow accumulated on it made it so heavy, and noone's going anywhere today. And there's more snow on Tuesday. Has nature gotten so irritated at the whole global warming thing she's trying to kill us with irony Due to CBS choices regarding commercials, I shall not be watching the Super Bowl this year. Instead I'm downloading way too many skating clips, hoping for them all to be done by the end of today, as my next montage I'll definitely want to have finished before Friday. Speaking of Friday, will anyone in this section of the east coast even be able to get to Vancouver before then? This could be a serious problem. We know Tanith and Ben are currently stuck-she threatened on Twitter to call child protective services on Mother Nature. Just turned on the TV. Alexandria, Arlington, and of course Fairfax schools have already closed for tomorrow, as have some others. |
| Thursday, February 4th, 2010 | |
| 6:36 am | Had an elaborate dream last night where I was sitting as a passive observer in a movie where Lance Armstrong was an evil serial killer of dogs, complete with scenes of him scaring everyone as a child at the beginning, his running into and making an enemy of a guy who became obsessed with getting him in trouble and/or killing him, both men making elaborate disguises(and obsessed guy making his own yellow jersey), poor Kristi Yamaguchi, who was one of his few friends, coming into his apartment when he fails to hide from her that he's covered in blood, and her giving away to the staff of the nearby hospital that he's the killer when she comes in and starts talking about how he's injured and why she's so worried about him, and finally, his violent death in the middle of a confrontation with obsessed guy(though I don't remember whether the guy himself kills him or someone else does). The movie opened with the news media reporting about a night no dogs were killed, and near the end we follow him and find out why he didn't kill any that night, which was very dramatically satisfying. A few things made absolutely no sense, but still impressive plot structure. I'm very proud of my subconscious. Latin class tonight. Because we didn't have it last week I haven't had to do any more translating, but now I'm worried about warnings of yet more snow. |
| Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 | |
| 8:48 am | I really have been out of the loop! I didn't even know the Oscars had decided to nominate ten movies for Best Picture until I turned the TV on just now, having heard of the nominations about to be announced thanks to Twitter. Now waiting for the full list to be posted on IMDB, reactions to the TV announcement: Now I'm never going to be able to see all the nominated movies ever again; the only ones I have seen are An Education(which did well, maybe a few more people will go see it now!) and Up(what was that about the Animated Feature category being bad because of animated films never getting Best Picture nods again? You never know how circumstances will change), though I have finally resolved to see Avatar this afternoon. Part of that's my own weakness too; I don't want to risk major depression by seeing Up in the Air and Precious would be *way* too hard for me to sit through. As would the Tarantino; that getting nommed just amused me. Wow, The Lovely Bones actually counted as a release from last year? After seeing the reviews, I'd assumed it had been dumped. Also surprised to discover The Last Station is (presumably!) coming sooner than I thought; mom and I are definitely seeing that one, though she wants to give It's Complicated priority next week, while I'm still not sure I want to see that one. I kind of want to see Invictus now, but I'm not sure I'll be able to when it's barely still in the theaters. *Really* glad to see Colin Firth get the nod; I saw A Single Man this Sunday and he absolutely deserves the Oscar, thought I don't think he'll get it. But on the other hand, Sean Penn did, and I really don't know where any of the other four nominees stand. Also yay for Meryl Streep and Julie and Julia. Probably won't get around to seeing The Hurt Locker, but a lady director getting nominated is always a good thing. Half the lesser nominations are up, and ooh, cinematography nod for Harry Potter!. Mixed feelings about Bright Star getting a costume nomination, satisfied more with Young Victoria, Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, and Nine getting their art nods; they were the kind of movies that excelled at that kind of thing.(Oddly amused by Penelope Cruz getting the nod for Nine as well, of course it's the movie she'd get the nod for) Score nominations up: sad Harry Potter didn't get nominated there, too, but I think the best music might have started in OotP, so maybe that's fair enough. Also I see the obvious two nods for Star Trek. What the? Why didn't anyone tell me there was another Wallace and Gromit short?! And finally, last sound nominations, four songs I haven't heard, one I don't remember very well, and two more nods for Star Trek and Up. I'm going to enjoy watching this year. |
| Sunday, January 31st, 2010 | |
| 7:13 am | Another Saturday snowstorm, and I'm again going to miss my Sunday morning feeding the cats. At least this time I managed to get in contact with people to tell them that. Less accumulation this time, I think, but it was still enough to make us miss out on a show at the Folger last night. I slept unusually well, not waking up until quarter to five, after which I spent about an hour dozing and getting up to turn the TV on at decreasing intervals, until I finally got up for the final tiebreak, and after two days of indecision decided that I was still enough of a Roger fan that I kind of wanted him to close it out quickly. Still, I feel deep pain for Andy M. I was relieved to see sympathy for him on Twitter from usual haters; I still don't see how anyone can slam someone for crying over a clearly devastating loss on the podium, or even for other reasons while they're literally in the act of doing so. Current Mood:  calmCurrent Music: Madonna-Ray of Light |
| Thursday, January 28th, 2010 | |
| 7:29 am | The problem with liking everyone Thinking it was only the ladies semi-finals last night, I decided to take a full night's sleep instead, and woke up less than half an hour after the end of the Murray-Cilic match, which I'd really wanted to see. And now I'm hopelessly torn. I really want Andy M to win that slam; I really do. But I don't want him beating Roger in a slam final. If Roger would go down to Tsonga that would leave me less torn for the final, but would be bad for the Roger's career. Also, it would mean I would be rooting for another streak to break, since from 2005 on, every man who has won a slam has had to get through Roger to do it(but I wouldn't mind that being broken at Wimbledon either, if Andy M could take care of Roger for Andy R in the semi-final-provided the rankings even allow for that at that point-before losing to him in the final, because that would allow him to win the title in 2011 while Andy R finally wins the damn trophy). But meanwhile, since I'm still not watching Roger liv,e because even if I'm not sure I want him to win, to jinx him would just be unfair, should he win tonight, I'll be back to normal sleeping patterns until the Olympics. Current Mood:  dorkyCurrent Music: Lady Gaga-Poker Face |
| Tuesday, January 26th, 2010 | |
| 6:13 am | GIP: I finally made myself a tennis icon. Currently watching Rafa down two sets to Murray. He's perfectly capable, of course, of coming back and winning this, but I really don't know. Now that Andy R's out(Damn!) I would not at all mind Andy M. winning this slam. Though this match ending in three would be a deep disappointment. Saw The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus with mom last night, and it was about the beautiful bizarre nonsense that I expected from Terry Gilliam. I was impressed by how they used the replacement actors and how well they worked with each other; it didn't feel at all jarring. And Nadal needs treatment for the knees. This is not going to end well, I fear. |
| Saturday, January 23rd, 2010 | |
| 5:42 am | Europeans/Nationals Mixed Comments: Happy about: Elene medalling! Unhappy about: Ashley not making it. Consoled by: Mirai making it instead. Unconsoled by: Rachael being kind of overly favored. Relieved by: Johnny making it. Unrelieved by: The whole mess that is ice dance. Begrudgingly impressed by: Kavaguti and Smirnov. Reluctantly unimpressed by: Tanith and Ben. Hope for Four Continents: That Kim and Brent win. Dread for Four Continents: That whole pairs competition. |
| Friday, January 22nd, 2010 | |
| 7:24 pm | Computer now pretty much fully set up. I downloaded the webpage to it last night. A few programs remain to be tested but the transition is now complete. |
| Tuesday, January 19th, 2010 | |
| 6:43 pm | Typing from the new computer It arrived right on schedule yesterday, just before lunch. I spent the early afternoon switching between struggling with various European feeds and setting it up. I still have to install iTunes and move my videos and new novel over. I'm still adding bookmarks to the browser too; I've trying to log into Twitter at the moment, which is over-capacity. Also to do today is deal with my Latin homework, and then I have to plug the old computer in one last time, because I forgot to unauthorize it's iTunes! After that kind of exhaustion I went to bed around midnight and ended up sleeping more than I have since last weekend, which isn't saying much. I've been remarkably relaxed since early Sunday evening, when I followed Johnny's skate on Twitter, and when I thought he wasn't going to make the Olympics I was about ready to swear off the sport all together. I dramatically tweeted about turning the TV on to watch for the last time, and then I watched Johnny get his score and cried so loudly in relief that mom came into the room and declared I was getting too invested, and that I needed to get a boyfriend/girlfriend/any kind of acquaintance. That evening I went onto OKCupid, retrieved the profile I set up years ago to take quizzes, and started building it. I've been meaning to go back ever since. Meanwhile, I have sworn to be grateful. I am even refusing to get angry about certain events in the dance competition at Europeans, though it may be harder should they repeat themselves at the Olympics. Now, however, I have cramps, though they're very mild at the moment. And I really am worried over Twitter. It's not like it to be overloaded this long. |
| Sunday, January 17th, 2010 | |
| 6:09 am | Carmen It was an opera of replacements; Elina Garanca first agreed to sing Carmen after Rogerto Alagna's wife split from him and walked out of the production, and then the original Escamillo got sick and one Teddy Tahu Rhodes, engaged to take over the role later, was given three hours notice he'd be debuting early on broadcast day(well, four hours technically, since the character doesn't appear until the second act). Not that you would have guessed it in either of their cases if they hadn't talked about Rhodes(Garanca, for obvious reasons, they were mum about; dad told mom and me). Garanca may have found herself a new signature role; she owned the stage and everyone on it from the minute she stepped up through the trapdoor. Lesser men she would have overwhelmed; and she might have upstaged Rhodes anyway, though that was more because Escamillo isn't as important as Carmen. But Rhodes rose to the occasion marvelously in his solo moments, and Alagna already had Don Jose as his signature role, and through his sheer level of passion he had no trouble keeping up with her. Of course, you expect that kind of singing from the Met; and often it's needed it to cover overly-cautious productions. But the production of Carmen was smart. Taking it a century forward in time and getting more sexual than the Met usually dares was a start, strategic use of ballet to enhance the story was a continuation. Sets with a common circular rock theme were nifty and meant they could be changed quickly twice; there was only one intermission. I especially liked that, of course, because it meant that while the estimated 3:06 running twice was overly optimistic, it did finish at 4:30 and I got home in time for most of the pairs competition. |
| Saturday, January 16th, 2010 | |
| 7:25 am | Got less than four hours of sleep last night. I think I managed to sleep a little between nine and ten, but by ten I was awake and dying of anxiety. At quarter after, believing Johnny had skated already, I gave up, got up, and turned the computer on, only to discover the competition hadn't started yet! Very put out, I went back to bed. Half an hour later I still hadn't fallen asleep, so I got up again, and this time got a result. Contented, I went back to bed again. And then I *still* didn't fall asleep. I spent two hours wondering why I wasn't falling asleep, before getting up again at one in the morning, just as Evan was skating. Ended up staying up for an hour and following the rest of the competition through Twitter. I'm suffering the temptation to break my boycott and watch Jeremy's short(Johnny's of course I'll watch anyway), but if the timing is right I may end up watching all three shorts on TV as well; I'm curious about Evan's too. I am refraining from judgement for the moment, ( only saying... ). Timing is a problem today. In theory Carmen should end at 4:06, more than enough time to get home in time for the NBC broadcast. However, I suspect it will run longer, possibly considerably longer, and I may get home too late to watch much of the pairs competition, but way too early to wait for downloads. |
| Friday, January 15th, 2010 | |
| 7:38 am | Shouldn't Have Taken That Hour In Lately I've been getting up at seven rather than six, though this morning I thought I should get up just to check the Australian Open, as I foolishly thought nothing of leaving the house for an evening lecture on Gluck at the Wagner Society minutes before the draw started. But I didn't, and got up to reactions from both players and fans from Twitter tapering off. I have seen a single blog post on the draw, from which I have the following reactions: Poor Svetlana. Dementieva, both the Belgians, and Flavia Pennetta? Though it's even worse for Elena; Henin in the second round when she's defending semi-final points? Maybe just bad in general for Russians who are not Maria Sharapova; Dinara might have been upset about the last, but I doubt she'll get as far as her anyway. Roger gets a number of stress-inducers. Rafa gets Murray. Djokovic and Delpo must be laughing right now. Well, maybe not the latter; he's too much of a nice guy. But the Djoker's biggest opponent in Soderling, who is injured and may not even be there, and if he doesn't make the semis there's no excuse. And that's all I've had time for so far, while meanwhile, I really need to check the results for the CD from Canadian Nationals last night(have Weaver and Poje a chance? Have they truly?). And of course, if IceNetwork is at all watchable, US Nationals will start today with the pairs(men I'm sleeping through. Or trying to; I may wake up in a cold sweat in the middle of the night and turn the computer on to know right away). Current Mood:  anxiousCurrent Music: Dido-Sand in My Shoes |
| Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 | |
| 7:46 am | Almodovar, Victoria, Chicago 2.0, and BBC Films After some time of not seeing very many movies, since Christmas I've managed to see four. There has been cinema employees forgetting to come in and start the projector, there has been the sound not working, there have been cold walks and drives, and, more pleasantly, there has been a cute coke commercial featuring an international snowball fight in the Olympic Village. And then there are the movies. Mom, dad, and I chose Broken Embraces to see Christmas Day because it was by Pedro Almodovar, who had impressed her in the past, and we figured it wouldn't offend anyone. Certainly it wasn't an unpleasant movie. It can even be given props as a piece of moviemaking, though this happens to be so for all four of these movies-they were all well made-particularly with a clever plot structure. But dad got to the heart of the problem when he remarked the next day that it featured a bunch of unbelievable characters doing improbably things. And this was the kind of film that is weakened considerably by such things. Combined with not entirely pleasant protagonists, and we left feeling vaguely disappointed. The next day mom and I went to see The Young Victoria, figuring we'd enjoy it more. Which we did; Emily Blunt, Paul Bettany, and the 19th-century eye candy saw to that. Had we been uneducated masses who could believe everything the film claimed about Victoria and her reign, we probably would have thought it a good film. Alas that we know too much! With the Duchess of York, I believe, as one of the producers it was going to be overflattering and therefore shallow, and we were left with not too much to remember the next day. The next week I went alone to Nine. Even before going I was quick to realize from the promos that Rob Marshall was going to use the formula that worked so well for him in Chicago, completely with the same production team for similar mis-en-scene, and, of course the same concept of all the musical numbers taking place in the main character's head. However, since this was a remake of 8 1/2, this happened to be very appropriate. I think Daneil Day-Lewis' version of Guido was considerably softened from the original, but these things happen. Also, there was Judi Dench having more fun than she's had since she preened her way to as Oscar in Shakespeare in Love, and Nicole Kidman plain stealing the film. Had the music of Chicago been combined with the movie of Nine, we would have had a really good film. Alas, Nine was saddled with its own score, which wasn't as memorable. Some of it is; I've had "Cinema Italiano" stuck in my head ever since seeing the promo, but the rest didn't do it, and a musical without striking music will always be glaringly lacking. So it seemed we would have to give up on seeing any really good movies, when yesterday mom and I went to see an obscure BBC import called An Education. And at last, we had strengths without really glaring weaknesses, good performances from a number of familiar actors(mom recognized half the cast from various Austen films; I recognized Alfred Molina as well) that didn't steal attention from the talented newcomer in the lead role, mis-en-scene that wasn't the point of the movie but definitely got the job done, and a story and characters that didn't make you roll your eyes. Mom called it the best film we'd seen in a long while. Alas, we were two of only four people in the theater. The good ones never last. |
| Sunday, January 10th, 2010 | |
| 7:28 am | Der Rosenkavalier Headed out in the cold to the opera once again, and this time we had to endure the Hoffman's incompetence; before the third act they forgot to lower the lights back down, and after the show they forgot to raise them back up and I had a really hard time finding my hat. Fortunately the production was easily the best of the ones we've seen so far. Part of that happened to be Renee Fleming, which must have shocked at least a few people in the audience who were used to her as a sometimes irritating broadcast host. But after watching her in her element, in her signature role, no less, you're willing to forgive her anything. In terms of acting, it's one of the best performance in an opera I've seen; the Marshellin also happens to be one of opera's more interesting characters, so that helps. So does the music being as beautiful as it is; I walked out wanting to hum the waltz. Hosting duties, meanwhile, were taken over by none other than Placido Domingo, which was delightful; even the required "Come to the Met! Give us money!" speeches hosts are required to do turned from annoying to amusing. Though he did have a co-host, who before the second act took us up to the props department to the bull from Carmen next week and large animals they're making for Armida in May. Much to the stagehands' relief, no doubt, since they were clearly working to the last moment to get that set ready; having an excuse for an overdone set meant the designer went to town. Dad commented someone had fun designing the chandeliers. |
| Friday, January 8th, 2010 | |
| 6:08 am | DivShare did finally process my new montage for embedding yesterday: Though then I was hindered by the track pad of the laptop suddenly not working! I went out for a walk in DC in the cold, walking past the Canadian Embassy simply so I could see the Countdown to Vancouver clock they've put on the front and viewing the display of front pages from around the country on display in front of the Newseum next door. Most of them were about snow, which has since arrived here as well in a thin layer. When I got back and turned the laptop back on, thankfully the track pad decided to work again. |
| Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 | |
| 8:33 am | And it seems as if embedding isn't happening, but the new montage is available for download at http://en.swoopshare.com/file/85c5fafff High is supposed to go up to a positively toasty 38 degrees Farenheit today. I might just venture outside, maybe see if Avatar isn't sold out at the Hoffman. Though once upon a time, I might have felt obliged to see the new Sherlock Holmes for fandom purposes, but now my obligations are limited to the Harry Potter movies. Snow now expected for tomorrow afternoon. Space bar is being very disobliging and I'm having to hit it more than once to get it to work a lot. |
| Tuesday, January 5th, 2010 | |
| 3:00 pm | With the cold weather since New Year's I've mostly stayed in and wrapped up in my baby quilt. I also finally got myself to finish my new montage, which is one of the harder ones I've done, and having to complete it without either the left-click or right-click, and with several of the video files in use momentarily disappearing into another folder and making me panic that I'd deleted them and would have to do the whole thing over, didn't help either. Now waiting for it to process. Been reading about how the point of no return has been passed and global warming is now very likely to kill the human race off probably near the far end of my lifetime. Starting to wonder if the world's going to simply end in 2012 after all. The news is all about people acting like idiots; they keep at it for three more years and I could see it happening. Yet there is snow predicted for the end of the week. We could be trudging off to the opera in it again. The the big question is, how much will it snow in New York? And #uksnow is a top trending topic on Twitter. I've been enjoying photographs from all over the world, while staying warm, of course. Amid photos of people's dogs. I'm waiting for photos of people's dogs in the snow; so far I can't remember any, which is kind of strange. Speaking of strange, half an hour and the vid hasn't processed. I'm going to post this now and hopefully come back later. |
| Sunday, January 3rd, 2010 | |
| 12:40 pm | And now the right-click on the laptop isn't working either, and the tips of my fingers are burnt, I think from so much contact with the heated trackpad. I'm trying to use the computer slightly less. This morning the big one worked for two hours before freezing up, which at this point is quite a remarkable stretch for it. The new computer was ordered-after a minor to-do with the credit card company-and hopefully will arrive by the end of the month. Apparently there is a Russian TV tennis stream happening somewhere right now. Off to look into that. |
| Thursday, December 31st, 2009 | |
| 7:28 am | Year in Review by Sentences Saw this meme on my friend's list today, so, the first sentence of the first entry of each month: January: For the past few years we've always spent New Year's Eve at the Kennedy Center, though this year we considered not doing so because the best thing they had on was an Andrew Lloyd Weber concert. February: While I would like to stay up tonight long enough to watch Bruce Springsteen, last night was not a good sign. March: Some hip pain again this morning, though it's mostly gone now. April: Finally got the Latin exam back. May: Will this rainy weather ever cease? June: I think I really do need a tennis icon. July: Wednesday we took the cats to the vet for checkups and vaccinations. August: Cramps so bad I had trouble sleeping last night. September: After three days of hardcore tennis watching, it might be just as well I'll be seeing much less of it this weekend. October: More trouble preparing for the GREs. November: This morning, after casting seven likely fruitless votes for Mark D, I walked to my childhood elementary school and cast a likely equally fruitless vote for Craig Deeds. December: Alternate title: "Watching the bandwidth anxiously... |
| Tuesday, December 29th, 2009 | |
| 7:50 am | For record-keeping purposes,you know they'd have to change the terror levels again:  Hope that image shows up here... |