In lieu of an actual update, I felt like sharing this.

Not as lame a song as some, perhaps, but holy fucking balls is it weak and corporate and of no redeeming values. I'm so incredibly amused that it actually exists! Please enjoy!

I have watched this no less then 20 times today, and it has never stopped being, seriously, the most adorable thing ever and really freaking funny. I hope you agree!

OH MY FUCKING GOD

That is something I clearly have a need for. I mean, seriously, if anything could get me out of bed most mornings...you know? It's brilliant.

You know what's really weird? That Giuliani was the presumed front-runner for so long last year, and to a lesser extent Romney was as well. Giuliani, especially, seems almost unimaginable as the One To Beat. I have to say, though, I am really glad that I don't need to deal with Romney any more, and as he left, he gave the best example as to why that is.

"In this time of war, I simply cannot let my campaign be a part of aiding a surrender to terror."

I saw that clip when it was on A Daily Show this evening, and after playing it three times, all Jon Stewart could say was "Fuck you". And I agree. Pretty much whenever I've heard anything from him this cycle, it has made me rather cross. He's a dick. Also, is McCain that moderate? Because I thought he was fairly conservative--though open-minded and rather cool--until all this came up. Then again, I didn't think Lieberman was that conservative until the Lamont thing, so who am I to judge. Anyway. Politics, eh?

Ummmm things are going okay. Classes are sort of shaky already--I don't feel particularly bright in any of them, especially not the History of the 60's class I'm auditing (though I'm auditing it, which I guess is an okay excuse). We did have Mark Rudd, a former member of the Weathermen come speak to us today, which was pretty cool, as he was freakin' there.

I...like X? They're freaking awesome. I have nothing else to say.

Oh, and if I had voted for Obama instead of Edwards, it would have broken a literal tie in North Stonington between him and Clinton. That's kinda crazy. Yeah.

Yesterday was the first snow of the season, though it was just some flurries in the morning. Today there was more, and it actually stuck. Not sure if it'll be there in the morning, or if I'll encounter it on the trek back to Connecticut, but still SNOW! Before Thanksgiving! That's pretty cool, if you ask me.

So "Sittin'", right? "Sittin'" went really really well. All of the runs went quite smoothly, apart from an almost-catastrophic that was averted, the shows were both very good and I drank almost an entire bottle of wine at the cast party. So not that shabby, if I do say so myself! I'd like to thank Zach, Lili, the cast, the designers, and and everyone else for just being so awesome. So if any of you are reading these words...Yay Sittin'!

I told people I would hang out with them in the city once I was in a post-SM world...not realizing, of course, that tech for the dance show is, you know, the week after Thanksgiving. It's just really busy I guess. It always is. But I have a rough plan as to how to get on top of my work, and hope that I can make that happen.

And, of course, tomorrow I drive back home for Thanksgiving (assuming I overcome my neuroticism enough to call public safety to jump my car again), which should be a good good time!

This is perhaps the most hardcore clip I have ever seen.

Can you even believe that?

Joan Cusack is awesome. So say I. So here.


So last night was opening night for Last Easter. From my vantage point in the box office, it sounded like it was a resounding success. I'll probably watch an actual run this weekend, so I can get the full effect. But it's good that it's up, because now I do not have to worry about set any more. I felt pretty ineffective the whole time, but I seriously doubted that I could pull it off, and I did! So that's pretty cool. Anyway, now that that's done, I can relax, get work done, clean my room, catch up in my classes, start my house managing duties, and (if I have time), have an active social life? Please? I've been really girl-crazy recently (unlike normally?), so without all this carpentry to worry about, I can, you know, throw another obstacle in my way. Oh well. At least I'm free to cut loose for the next few nights. Amiright? Before the crushing weight of all the work I've put off pulverizes me like a light bulb, of course.

Anyway, I'm off to house manage, but could I perhaps interest you in this as well?

I should be trying to do work, because I have seriously no time. But. Look at this trailer.

Ellen Page. Michael Cera. Allison Janney. Patrick Bateman. Rainn Wilson. WHAT A FRAKING AMAZING CAST AMIRIGHT

(Speaking of Ellen Page, has anyone seen Hard Candy? Because I really want to, and the trailer is just incredible.)

Anyway...I should try to catch up on work before I have to present my DIS and then simultaneously hold auditions and build a set. So...later!

The record companies forced them to release a music video. This was their response.

Dear Livejournal Audience,

This is the best--the best--teaser trailer ever. If you know of one that is better, you may say so. But you are probably wrong.



Love, Basil

"Grace Kelly" by Mika--for these reasons three.
1. It's as catchy as fuck. I think that this bears repeating. It is as catchy as fuck.
2. The music video is really fun! Especially him arguing with that little girl. I don't know why, but it
3. "Do I attract you? Do I repulse you with my queasy smile?" Clearly, the story of my life. Or, rather, how I choose to interpret the story of my life.

I hope you like it too! Thanks to Calvin for linking me.

So I have no idea why I'm still awake, but this is quite probably the most adorable thing I have ever seen--especially at 1:18.

Seriously, CAN YOU TOP THAT?

Okay. So. I know absolutely nothing about Bukowski (I just found out, for example, that his name was "Charles". Who knew?), but on Orphans, Tom Waits does a reading of his poem "Nirvana" that is completely and utterly sublime. In fact...here. It's really freaking good.

Do this and repost it with the title:
( I've done 69 of the 132 stupid things. )

Look! Forsooth! A cat!

"Alfie"

"LDN"

Know what I'm saying?

Sooo there will soon be a conservative answer to Comedy Central's news hour of The Daily Show With Jon Stewart and The Colbert Report--The ½ Hour News Hour. As a liberal who greatly enjoys Stewart and Colbert, I've frequently wondered about such a show and if it would be funny and would it be a success. Here's a preview clip.



This from Joel Surnow, the comedic force behind 24 who previously cut his teeth on Miami Vice. It....it really speaks for itself.

I feel like I've been sort of half-hearted about almost everything recently. Schoolwork, theatre, friends, I don't know. Hopefully it's just an off-week. Who can say. Maybe I just need to go to the gym more. Anyway, today was Valentine's day. I just thought I'd touch on that. Right now, I'm not sure how much I need a girlfriend so much as I need to let myself be closer friends with people instead of retreating all the time. Of course, I would like to have a girlfriend, but I just feel that failing that, I'd be very okay with strengthening my friendships with people, which l always feel anyway. So that's something I need to work on.

On a more interesting note, I sort of want to start posting videos on Youtube and getting into the new Videocasting revolution. Because, clearly, Livejournal alone isn't a big enough medium to capture the profundity of my mind. It's true. You can admit it.

Speaking of Youtube, this is cute, but it just proves to me that I'm short.

5'7½"(ish?) FTW! I never really feel short until I look around.

I feel like I'm not posting that much and leaving a lot of things unsaid, but I really don't know what there is to say. Fun With Music! by 36 Madison Avenue is a really good record, though it ends with Justin saying "Well, okay--here's one more song!" after a live recording of "Seven Bridges Road" which is just a tease. Know what I'm saying? My room is a mess and I think I have only been to the gym twice since I got back to school and don't like either of those facts. It was Opening Night for 1st set tonight, and I hope that I'll actually work more on future sets. It's sort of weird how every year I do a lot more in the department during fall semester than in spring. Every single year that's happened.

So I just finished reading Three Sisters for my acting class. I...still don't like it. I'm not sure if that makes me a bad person, but I just don't get it. What is with these girls and why don't they just freaking go to Moscow (I get that it's a metaphor for how you can never be really happy, but still!)? I know it would be a very different thing to see on the stage, but I just feel like there's something major I'm missing and that I'm just too dumb or modern or shallow or attention-spany to appreciate it. Okay. Fine. I'm the uncultured jerk who doesn't like Chekhov. Whatever.

Part of me thinks the best way to celebrate Valentines Day would be, tomorrow, to drink a lot of wine while watching Aliens. The other part of me seriously wonders what I've been smoking, where I can get some, and if I can drop myself off at Bedlam on the way to score it.

So yesterday, I saw Children Of Men, the new Alfonso Cuarón semi-apocalyptic thriller. It was completely amazing. I'm not sure if I've even seen 10 movies from 2006 (sadly--new resolution: Go to the movies at least once a month), but it was definitely the best movie that I saw. I haven't really had time to think of the implications of it, as I was too caught up in the chase, but it was a wonder to behold. The movie is set in a 2027 in which no one has given birth for 18 years and the world outside England has crumbled into what I'm guessing would be a Road Warrior-like existence...in the nicer parts, that is. England itself looks like a perpetual war zone, from the deadly streets of London to the horrible refuge camps illegal immigrants are sent to. I'm not sure why I included a random synopsis there. I...just really liked it. So you should see it!

In other quick news, here are two Tom Waits videos I saw on Youtube recently that I thought were really cool. What a silly, wonderful man he is, no?

"Lie To Me" off of Orphans: Brawlers

"I Don't Wanna Grow Up" off of Bone Machine

I especially like the contrast with the ridiculous music video and the moving lyric.

That's all for now. Cheers!

Last night, I saw The Illusionist at the Revival House. The Revival House is a café/movie house in downtown Westerly that plays old(er) movies--the other two movies I have seen there have been Lawrence Of Arabia and Raging Bull, but now they're showing mostly higher-quality movies from the past year. And they sell panini sandwiches, salads, beer and wine--so all-in-all it's a place I should frequent more (I just had a flash that I may have reviewed it for my school paper back at Williams. I may have) (I'd say I'd love to bring a date there, but truth be told I'd love to bring a date pretty much anywhere...in case this is not something I haven't hammered home enough of the past year and a half). Yes. Parenthetical asides...aside, it was a very good movie. Ed Norton and Paul Giamatti? Yep! I didn't really think the ending worked for me, but I'm not quite sure why I think that. Also, I heard on NPR that they didn't use special effects for any of the stage work. That I don't really buy...but if I didn't mishear, than that's truly incredible.

Later on that night, I decided to watch A Nightmare On Elm Street, which I actually thought was pretty good. It's certainly an original premise for a horror movie--a guy who can only kill kids when they're sleeping, forcing them to remain awake for days on end. It didn't have the intensity of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre or the memorable score of Halloween, but it had really good visuals and worked well to create nightmares...I say this knowing that I remember almost none of my dreams, and for me a nightmare is when I physically feel like I'm falling out of bed or something and then just wake up. Does that happen to any of you? Hmm.

Youtube clip #3245 as to why I should watch The Office more than I do.

Seriously. That's really sad.

Today was a very nothing day. I did stuff for Mom's computer and in the meantime played Katamari Damancy, which is clearly so freaking much better than any of those lame games Calvin is all the time playing. Umm..still not sure what I should be doing about the summer. Do people...hire summer help in January or March? I feel like I should be doing something different, like looking into internships, but most of me just would rather have the money for next year. I don't know. Oh well.

Egads! I have not been the King of Updating recently, eh? So yesterday was Christmas. And it was a very lovely time. I got to hang out with my cousins for a good spell, and it was a good day. The main thing of note was that we--Mom, Alden, Calvin, Zoe and myself--will be in Europe for most of June (ie, I'll finish my DIS in Munich and everyone will probably come meet me there). This is clearly awesome. We're probably going to Prague and Amsterdam, but we haven't really talked about it that much yet. But still! I'm quite excited. Yes indeed!

So the semester ended well, I suppose. My birthday went...about as well as it could have under the circumstances, I suppose--what with most everyone on campus having gone home already, and those remaining having tests the next day (including me). So I can't complain (This is a lie--I suddenly feel like saying I almost feel I was gypped out of a proper 21st even though it was entirely circumstantial and no one's fault except for possibly my own for not insisting on people taking me out, but, of course that was a week ago so, again, meh). I think most of my exams went pretty well--I did much better in Theatre History, one of the two classes I have my grade for, than I thought I would. Also, I realized quickly that there was no way I would be able to make it through the New York subway with that plant I bought back in October still intact. So...sorry, Plant. You're not gonna get water for over a month. Although, to be fair, you're lucky I was able to keep you alive for a full semester.

Now that Christmas is over, I have few definite plans for my break

a) Apply for my passport.
b) Look for a summer job (Not sure what I can get with only July and August, but dammit I can try!)
c) Hang out with people, like, a lot? Like, maybe? I actually have never hung out with anyone from Drew while it was not in session.
d) ...Get a haircut?

I don't know. I think it'll be a good break. We'll see. I still definitely am without New Year plans. This definitely needs to be fixed.

Merry Christmas from your friend and mine, Charlie the Unicorn!

Check it:



(The URL if you want it.)

Okay. I know that I for one groan whenever I hear someone say "This is how Hitler came to power". But...seriously. This is exactly how Hitler came to power. I swear it is.

Allow me to quallify that. In Judgment At Nuremberg (1961), Stanley Kramer's enduring and still relevant study of the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal, Ernst Janning (played by Burt Lancaster), an influential judge in the Weimar Republic and the Third Reich, explains the circumstances around Hitler's rise to power in his testimony at the climax of the film:

Ernst Janning: There was a fever over the land. A fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger. We had a democracy, yes, but it was torn by elements within. Above all, there was fear. Fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbors, and fear of ourselves. Only when you understand that - can you understand what Hitler meant to us. Because he said to us: 'Lift your heads! Be proud to be German! There are devils among us. Communists, Liberals, Jews, Gypsies!. Once these devils will be destroyed, your misery will be destroyed' It was the old, old story of the sacrificial lamb. What about those of us who knew better? We who knew the words were lies and worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we take part? Because we loved our country! What difference does it make if a few political extremists lose their rights? What difference does it make if a few racial minorities lose their rights? It is only a passing phase. It is only a stage we are going through. It will be discarded sooner or later. Hitler himself will be discarded... sooner or later. The country is in danger. We will march out of the shadows. We will go forward. Forward is the great password. And history tells how well we succeeded, your honor. We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. The very elements of hate and power about Hitler that mesmerized Germany, mesmerized the world! We found ourselves with sudden powerful allies. Things that had been denied to us as a democracy were open to us now. The world said 'go ahead, take it, take it! Take Sudetenland, take the Rhineland - remilitarize it - take all of Austria, take it! And then one day we looked around and found that we were in an even more terrible danger. The ritual began in this courtroom swept over the land like a raging, roaring disease. What was going to be a passing phase had become the way of life. Your honor, I was content to sit silent during this trial. I was content to tend my roses. I was even content to let counsel try to save my name, until I realized that in order to save it, he would have to raise the specter again. You have seen him do it - he has done it here in this courtroom. He has suggested that the Third Reich worked for the benefit of people. He has suggested that we sterilized men for the welfare of the country. He has suggested that perhaps the old Jew did sleep with the sixteen year old girl, after all. Once more it is being done for love of country. It is not easy to tell the truth; but if there is to be any salvation for Germany, we who know our guilt must admit it... whatever the pain and humiliation.

Now. I'm not saying that Bush is anywhere near as bad as Hitler or Stalin or anything like that. I'm not. He's not, and anyone who says he is is just wrong and actually hurts our case. I'm saying that allowing him the authority to suspend habeas corpus more or less at will because of a perceived threat is so close to the state of affairs in 1930's Germany that it simply cannot stand.

Am I out of line here?

The thing that seems to justify all of our fears is that all this went down in the last five years.