Three weeks into grad school. . .

. . .and I'm still alive. Exhausted, but still kickin'.

Week one: The seduction.

I obviously had tons of emotion going on the first week. I couldn't believe how nervous I was! Going back to school brought back all these anxieties about the first day of classes that I hadn't had since getting dropped off at college! Were people going to like me? Would I be dressed the right way? Was I going to make friends? Would I say something stupid? Would everyone be intellectual snobs and think I was beneath them for being into entertainment journalism (like my husband)? All this plus my general dislike of going to events knowing no one made me one big nervous nelly.

Then there was the excitement of just doing something. I've was unemployed for a good eight months, and it was something of a thrill to feel like part of the world again, to be one of the millions treking into the city to do something. And not just something. I was on my way to Times Square to become a writer, a journalist. I had a purpose again, and it felt good.

I went to school and up the elevator. The doors opened, and the whirlwind of the next 16 months of my life began. I met tons of people. They met me. They were nice. I liked them. They liked me. I ate free food. I drank free coffee. I relaxed. I sat through many lectures, some interesting (Dean's welcome) some not (Research services). I broke my laptop. I drank free booze. I spoke Spanish. I went home. I became Facebook friends with about 57 people. That was my first day.

Week Two: The Tease

My first week of classes began. I had that nagging anxiety again, but not as badly. It's the fear of the new. Cliques were forming, friendships were developing, I noticed a budding romance. I feel conflicted about this. Part of me wants to throw myself headlong into meeting people, going out for margaritas and asking people to lunch with me in Bryant Park. But I'm married. I've got my man. I have my dog. I have my friends. These people deserve my time too. But I don't want to distance myself from my new colleagues, or miss out on a new lifelong friendship because I'm so devoted to my home life. I'll figure it out. I'm meeting some cool new people. Classes were. . .classes. The same ole' introductions and class syllabi rigmarole. I am inspired by my teachers. Well, more by their other jobs than their teaching, so far. A lawyer for the New York Times here, a host for NY1 there, a writer for Brian William over to my left, and an NPR lady thrown into the mix. More than anything I wanted to jump in. I wanted to write, to report, to use all this glorious equipment I was being shown. I did my first "reporting," but it was more of a tease, asking softball question to people on the Brooklyn Promenade. Granted this was a self imposed easy assignment I gave myself. I needn't had worried. There were plenty of challenging assignments in my very near future.

Week Three: The Honeymoon's over

After getting into a nice rhythm during my first week of classes, I had a four day weekend. I spent a glorious and drunken weekend up in the Berkshires. By the evening of Labor Day, I was a nervous mess again. I was dreading another brutal current events quiz from my Craft I teacher. I poured over CNN and the New York Times, trying to absorb what humans had been during in the three days I had been unplugged from the world. Of course he gave the quiz. I did marginally better than the previous week. I love that part of my grade for a graduate level course involves knowing who Tila Tequila is (it was a bonus question, but still).

Then the first "brutal" assignment came. I had to ask strangers what they thought about Swine Flu, Obama's Education Speech, or Van Jones, and write a story incorporating quotes into the story. Going up to strangers and asking these questions was akin to slowly driving nails into my eyeballs. Extremely unpleasant. Come to think of it, it's more like approaching some hottie at the bar. You're dying to be received well, have a lively, interesting conversation and, to seal the deal, get those digits. I've always dreaded that. The approach at least. Still, I completed the assignment, and my skin thickened just the tiniest bit in the process. Every day I feel more and more like a journalist.

Now I've received my first real assignment for Broadcast! One and a half minute piece about whatever I want. Think I'm hittin up the Brooklyn Book Fair on Sunday. If you see me out in the field, come over and let me interview you. Fellow Jschoolers, how have your first three weeks been?

New respect for Taylor Swift

I just caught the Princess of Country on CMA Music Festival, Taylor Swift on ABC, and she seemed to be singing at Madison Square Garden, although it was a bit unclear. I must say, I was quite impressed with her maturity, control, and appearance. Also, she sounded pretty fraking good. I have to admit Swift has annoyed me countless times, but I place blame more on repetative radio stations more than on the artist herself. The New York Times also gave her concert a very favorable review.

Swift's restrained behavior stands in stark contrast to her skanky twin sister of pop-country, Miley Cyrus. While I find the "scandal" over Cyrus' "pole dancing" at the Teen Choice Awards absouloutly ridiculous, the performance was in poor taste for a teen audience. I don't think I have to say that I enjoyed the performance immensely.

Why do I get a feeling that Swift is to Cyrus as Agilera is to Spears? I get the feeling Cyrus is on a fast track to hot-messiness, while Swift will keep her class intact as she grows up. Any thoughts on either of these mavens of teen pop music?

I'm baaaaack

Dearest Friends, Family, Fans, etc.

As my dear brother pointed out this weekend, I was remiss in informing everyone that I was taking a leave of absence from my blog for the summer while I was traveling.

Sorry. Didn't mean to leave you all hanging like that.

Indeed I was away taking a long awaited honeymoon with my husband in England and Italy, as well as visiting with family both in Massachusetts and Wisconsin. Hopefully I can get to posting about my various activities over the summer soon. In the meantime, you can enjoy some photos of my adventures below.

Enjoy!

-JB

European Honeymoon

Oscar gets interesting

Variety this morning is reporting that members the Motion Picture Academy, those good people who hand out a little statuette named Oscar, announced that this year there will be TEN nominees for Best Picture. How interesting! Has this come about from flak the Academy received for not nominating fan favorites such as Wall-E and The Dark Knight? Or is it more of a clever ploy to help nominate more mainstream films, thereby generating higher viewer interest and ratings?

I'm guessing it's a combination of the two. Plus it will lead to more stuidos shelling out big bucks for "For your consideration" ads. Which probably helps the academy in some way, I'm just not quite sure how. Variety has got to be loving it though.

Ten movies is a lot! Are there any that have come out so far this year that has caught people's attention as a contender? Can a comedy make its way into a coveted nominee slot? Could Up, Startrek or a documentary make the cut?? Exciting implications abound with this announcement.

9, or make that 5 reasons to get excited for 9

One of the highlights of seeing Drag Me to Hell, beyond the scene where our heroine knocks over a corpse at a funeral, only to have it land on top of her and vomit onto her face, was the stellar trailer for 9. Ok, it's not the best title in the world. Even "The 9" would have been better. While it is simple and a bit mysterious (especially done up in all that green glowy mist), it can easily lead to conversations such as:

"Dude, I'm so excited to see 9 tonight!"
"Uh, see nine what?"
"No, you know, 9, it's a Tim Burton movie"
"Oh yeah! That dude is messed up. Why is it called 9?"
"I dunno man, it's about 9 living dolls that live in an post apocalyptic world and fight these evil machines"
"Hmm, yeah, sounds messed up. Why didn't they call it The Nine? Has a bit of a catchier ring to it don't you think?"

If you couldn't tell, that was me as Dude 2, losing another friend. But enough about the title. This movie is giving me the shivering-willies in the best way possible. Why several reasons

1. I totally dig post-apocalyptic themed fare, and this one fists the bill. The art direction looks quality, and sets the mood just right.
2. It's about time we had more adult themed animation. I still haven't checked out Waltz With Bashir, but beyond that I can't think of any other recent "mature" animated films. Sorry, but I'm really not into the Pixar films that everyone says is "not just for the kids!" Both Finding Nemo and Wall-E bored me to tears. I'm also interested to see how and to whom they market this film. It could be quite tricky as the animation angle will skew towards younger folks, but many images from just the trailer are damned near terrifying.

3. Who doesn't love evil robots? By the end of this summer audiences may be entering evil-machine fatigue after Terminator 4 and Transformers 2, but hopefully the new IP will renew interest. And just check out these freaky red eyed baddies. Waaaaaay more scary than anything from the latest Terminator.



This last picture of the bipedal AT-ST type robots reminds me of War of the Worlds and The Tripods trilogy by Samuel Youd. Both super creepy.

4. Tim Burton executive produces. The name speaks for itself. Tim Burton isn't afraid to go there and get super weird, freaky and scary. It was very smart to place this property under his control.

5. It's directed by Shane Acker, the original mind behind his award winning short. Check it out below. Anyone else excited for this pic?

All pictures property of Focus Features

Frak me!! 24 might actually be good next season!

I used to love 24. I hope to again.

Strangely, my mom turned me on to the once sterling series. She was obsessed with the first season, and I would listen to her go on and on about a so called Jack Bauer and what a bad-ass he was and while it sounded mildly interesting, I don't like to get invested in series mid-season. So I filed it away in my head as something to check out down the road.

Then, in preparation for a leisurely summer in Cape Cod with my ex, I purchased the first season on a whim and Oh. My. god. Obsession. The first season TOTALLY blew me away and remains in my mind one of the best seasons of television ever produced. For about two weeks my ex and I would stay up way too late into the night nervously clutching each other as Jack Bauer rode in like a one man army, shooting first and asking questions later. And cutting off thumbs. Everything about it was just amazing. The then-fresh counting clock. The crazy action scenes. The techno-cool CTU. The cliff-hangers (just one more episode. . .?) The torture! The twists and double crosses (remember when Kim's friend's "dad" enters her hospital room and smothers her? Chills!) This woman:
the pre-Obama black presidential candidate, the devastating ending. It was like an emotionally gripping, unrelenting triple A action flick. Yeah, I liked it that much.

I became a rabid fan. I named my cat Chloe. Then, like another stalwart fav of mine I recently commented on (cough, cough, Lost), season by season, 24 slowly and painfully descended into a parody of itself. It all felt recycled, forced and overdone. Jack tortues another terrorist. Ho-hum. His family is in danger? Shocking! A double agent in CTU? Yawn.


But now, I see a light bright new dawn. Two things have me really feeling hopeful. The first: 24 is moving to New York City. I don't know why they didn't do this 7 seasons ago. While LA worked well for the first season, the locations quickly grew stale and the wide distances they theoretically traveled in like 4 minutes broke the realism of the show. Plus, LA is well. . .LA. Do terrorists really care that much about blowing stuff up there? Threatening New York will really bring back the sense of danger and realism that has hurt the show in recent seasons.

Second, and more exciting, is the addition of Katee Sackhoff to the cast. For those who don't know Ms. Sackhoff, she played the intractable Starbuck on Battlestar Galactica. For those of you who haven't seen BSG, well, you should. Michael Ausiello is reporting on ew.com that the BSG alum will play Dana Walsh, "a highly respected and down-to-earth data analyst at the new and improved New York branch of CTU." Sackhoff was far and away my favorite actress from BSG (well, except for Michelle Forbes' hardcore lesbian Admiral Gale), but she did have a lot to work with, seeing that Starbuck was one of the most compelling roles from the show.
It would be a shame if Walsh doesn't get to see some action in the field, as it's always a hoot seeing Sackhoff be a bad mother (shut yo mouth!). That said, if Walsh is written as a more mild mannered role, it will be interesting to see if Katee can stretch her acting legs and break out of her woman-with-a-chip-on-her-shoulder mold. Still, she'll be working with Chloe, and anyone in that role will need serious balls. Finally, while it was certainly a lot of fun watching Starbuck bed every hot boy toy on Galactica, this woman is screaming for a meaty lesbian role. Freddie Prinze. Jr. as her love interest? C'mon guys, you can do better than that. Or can you? I'll be tuning in to see if 24 can resurrect itself next season. Will you?

Drag Me to Hell: a horror lover's thoughts

So I went to see Drag Me to Hell last week, on the recommendations of many respectable critics. I was mightily entertained and often found myself contracting towards the fetal position, gasping, hands placed over mouth for much of the movie. This behavior was usually followed by hysterical laughter prompted by the ridiculousness of what I had just seen on screen (think old gypsy woman missing her dentures doing what could only be described as aggressively "slimeing" our heroine). To me, this is the cardinal hallmark of a good horror movie. Any material that prompts me to physically react to it has been well executed. Bonus: There was a lot of body fluids being shot around in this movie, usually into other people's open orifices. Loved it. Also, this movie should win awards for best sound effects / sound editing. I challenege anyone to find a film with more effective use of squishing noises.

However, a horror movie cannot rest on quality gross out scenes alone. It's unfortunate that the scenes of grotesquely indulgent fun were bookended by cheesy, mood breaking, treacly encounters, usually involving the unappealing Justin Long. He really grosses me out, and any suggestions of a sexual relationship between him and the lead left me feeling queesy. Had Long been replaced by a charming, attractive love interest, the movie could have been risen above the mundane, but just barely.


The writing and logic of the scenes that took place between attacks by the lamia (amazing name for a demon) were dealbreakers. This woman would be losing her shit. She is violently assaulted by an old gypsy woman, told by a seer that a curse is on her, and is then attacked by invisible forces in her kitchen, chased upstairs and flung around her attic by a demon. She would be going bat-shit crazy. Instead, she decides not to relate any of this to her boyfriend, but instead agrees to spend a leisurely evening getting dressed up and meeting his folks. Then the next day she walks into her bosses office, casually chatting with him as if she hadn't projectile nose-hemoraged onto him the previous afternoon. What? No. I don't care if you're making a pulping gross out horror flick, the logic still has to be there.


Certainly any fan of horror flick should check out this movie, just don't expect a grade-A experience throughout the entire movie, as some other critics have suggested. Still, it's a fun ride and probably more entertaining that 90% of the summer schlock available right now.

My grade?