Juan's website is back online. Yea! I mean, I saw him in person yesterday, so I know that his absence was only in cyberspace, but it's still nice to see his online presence. For those who haven't visited his site, Mr. Martinez maintains a very thorough Nabokov site as well as a blog and reading list. Visit and learn something new.

As for seeing him in person, we both went to see "Human Nature", the latest Charlie Kaufman script-turned-movie. Michael Gondry, the director, really treated the quirky material well - a scene of Patricia Arquette breaking out into song seemed to fit this movie better than the moment Ewan McGregor breaks out into song in "Moulin Rouge". Also, Gondry's sweet and pretty shots balance out the total moral bankrupts that interact in each scene. Very good. There was only one problem with the movie (besides those who are squirmish with "did I really see what I think I saw?" nudity...no, you didn't). The problem: Kaufman and Gondry and all the actors ask us to not take any of the subject matter seriously in order to get laughs, yet, in the end, they ask us to take all of it very seriously in order to understand the movie. It's a strange place for the audience to be in, a place that I think more audiences should visit. Audiences won't, however. I predict that this film will not be all that popular because of that fact.

Well, gotta go work on my James Joyce paper. Ugh. Blah. Ack.

Taxes in! The Man is happy.

Am a very happy man myself ("relieved" would be a better word), though minus multiple stacks of green.

Tom Tomorrow is my new hero.

Well, actually, he held that title about three years ago. It was just a catchy way to introduce this comic, as well as this one (which is funnier).

Also, Exploding Dog update..."here comes the argument" had me laughing all day. =)

Yeah, I couldn't get to sleep. Trying again...

Must send taxes in tomorrow. Must, must, must. Not that they will notice.

Have a good night all. I'm going to get to bed early. Well, earlier than usual. =)

"I'm a Failure" and other Catchy Sayings

So, I got to school at 12:10pm. My take-home exam was due at 11am. My friend Aaron, who needed to use my printer to print promo materials for his girlfriend's film, woke me at about 11:16am by calling my cellphone. Thank God! I should have just stayed awake all night - better chance of being prompt.

Once again, the Russian professor showed a vast amount of mercy and took my exam as I ran into class while everyone was gathering their things to go. I would give him a gift if that were not against the school's code of conduct. Then it was off to Avant Garde class - Jackson Pollock and Jasper Johns - interesting, but rather dry today, even with a clip from the recent Pollock movie. Johns is esp. interesting to me...must research his work further.

Now I'm waiting at home for Aaron to come and use the printer. Then it's Marxist Political Theory at 7pm. Will this rollercoaster of fun ever stop?

Mood: Bitter and guilty for being bitter
Breakfast: Cherry Coke at 12:56pm
Lunch: I'm going to go find it now...

Not the happiest of campers - Russian take-home exam took until now (3:45am) to finish. Saddest part - I didn't put it off. I started it as soon as possible.

Don't you just love the end of the semester?

(Must save morale with silver lining) - ummmmmmmmmmm...

Heads up! There are two new members to the blogging community that you should visit. Go see [jp/p] at bracketandslash.blogspot.com and bananie at bananie.blogspot.com. Both are just starting out their Blogs, so here's your chance to catch them from the beginning...thus eliminating the whole "gotta read all those archives" thing...now you can settle straight into "why the hell haven't they posted in forever". =)

This post felt a little like those awkward benedictions at my old church..."We've got three new members in the house of God...come up and greet them after service..."

I spent all day working on a script for Adaptation class. It's an adaptation of a short story by Susan Hubbard, a UCF prof, about a doctoral student who befriends an old woman and then kills her and steals everything she has. It's a lot more subtle than that, actually, and really pushes into that grey area in which anyone, even nice people, can do bad, bad things. I hope that my script does it just a little bit of justice.

My favorite line (from my own script - someone shoot me): "Maybe it was the color that killed him. He was born without ears, you know, not without eyes."

However, we never got to my script - postponed until next week. So, I basically spent all day working on a project I could have done this weekend. I've decided to embrace the bright side - I'm basically done with the final project of this class. One down, five to go.

After class, I went to a UCF English Allumni reading - two poets, two fiction. Even though fiction is my genre, I didn't enjoy the fiction readings as much as the poetry. One of the fiction readers is a teacher at UCF (to be left unnamed) who would not stop talking - really ruined this author's message and presence. The other fiction writer brought chapters from her children's novel. Wow! Her writing really floored me, even though it was for a younger audience. She read this one passage about these kids' father getting bit by a snake and had me on the edge of my seat.

But the poets. Man, I wish I were a poet now. The first poet, Terry Thaxton (a prof at UCF), has this really great collection of real-life based poems. A lot deal with her disillusionment with the Southern Baptist Church and really offer some stark contrasts between the practice of religion and, well, living a life embodied by love. Her poems had a beauty that allowed the listener to see dark, terrible images and be able to survive them. What a great talent.

And then there was Jarret Keene. I don't think that the older faculty knew what to think of him. He was ironic, joking, full of pop-culture references - yet every bit as much the literary poet as the rest. I don't think people knew how to take his work. I thought it was wonderful. Surprising (the good kind), precise, subversive - these are all words to describe his work. There are more, but I'm tired. Visit a site about him here or visit the people printing his book.

I would post samples, but since the authors themselves didn't authorize it, I won't. =)

Although Artisan Entertainment has no ties to Universal, the new commercials for Universal Studios Theme Park include a clip in their commercial that looks suspiciously like the dialating pupils in "Requiem for a Dream". A strange connection regardless of financial ties, if you ask me.

I survived Russian class this morning as well as Avant Garde class. AG was actually very interesting. We heard a speech about Willem de Koonig, an avant garde-type painter who did some rather shocking paintings of women. The best part was when the girl giving the speech described one of these grotesque, intimidating, sharp-toothed women depicted on de Koonig's canvas as "the All-American girl". Girl power...with fangs. Cool.

I'm getting really sad because I cannot access Juan's site (don't press the link if it's still April 9th as the site isn't up...didn't I mention that? Are you listening to me?). (totally kidding). (the sarcasm part). (you're right, I'm still being sarcastic). And with bad sentence construction as well.

Big thanks to [jp/p] for the links to vegetarian recipies! If you'd like to see the recipie links, you're gonna have to read the comment from April 8th.

Referencing my own blog. Post-modernism has killed the future.

***

And in the personal embarrasment category (trying to stay humble): I'm currently listening to "Dancing Queen" - not ABBA, but a very upbeat Sixpence None The Richer. There goes my brooding, hipster image I've tried so hard to cultivate.

Yep, still sarcastic.

I am a very very very bad boy. I just turned in a paper for Marxist Political Theory (online) at 11:59pm...it was due at midnight. I actually wrote it up to the deadline. I am so embarrased.

I am so relieved.

I'd go to sleep now except for the adrenaline coursing through my veins from formatting and spell checking from 11:57 to 11:58.

I got a kick out of this news story. Apparently Ticketmaster wants to get rid of the "perceived shadiness" of the "ticket reselling" market by offering their own "fair" web service. In other words, find your ticket scalpers online at www.ticketmaster.com.

Better yet, don't. Go to your local independent record store (if you're in Central Florida, go here) and see if they offer the tickets you want there. If it's too late, find a real scalper - and keep one eye over your shoulder for the cops, now sponsored by Ticketmaster (j/k) =)

Just finished watching "Home Movies" and Space Ghost on Adult Swim. Juan's got me hooked. HM was really good this week - better than last. Go to the Adult Swim website for clips (as well as this site).

Lesson of the day: Protein is expensive. If you're looking for a long term investment and bio-tech just doesn't seem to cut it for you, please invest in alternatives to meat protein - my grocery dollar will make it back to you soon.

Today I bought:
Tofu crumbles
Chicken-style seitan (made from wheat glutan)
Tempeh (also from soy)
and the best of all - Boca "Chicken"

This should last quite awhile, but I got kinda peeved thinking of all the chicken and beef I could have bought for the same amount. Oh well, I guess you can't put a price on health.

If anyone knows any good recipies, please drop an email (especially for the tempeh and seitan - I'm not that experienced with either).