The Geek Out

Okay, it has to be said.

Tonight Jill and Ann and I went to see New Moon.

Like this.

Ann's shirt says, "Team Indifferent."

The front of my shirt just says, "Edward?"

My favorite part of this is the whole pretending to be self-righteous about Twilight while we're there on opening day, as well as the pretending that Buffy the Vampire Slayer is somehow less geeky. (Buffy does have more street cred though. There's a certain respectability despite things like this (thank you for being short and getting better quickly, season one): http://www.hulu.com/watch/1298/buffy-the-vampire-slayer-vampire-harvest-ritual#x-4,vclip,3,0) But I digress from my point, which was that we defied geekiness with uber-geekiness.

That being said, the movie was thoroughly enjoyable. I'm not going to say a lot, but this has always been my favorite of the books, and I wasn't disappointed. We laughed, we cried, we laughed hysterically at a few really choice parts, the bad CGI wolves and every time one of the guys took his shirt off again. (I lied about the crying. There was no crying. Except with laughter.) Overall though, I thought it was better than the first one (probably because of the budget being bigger this time and the translation into less moody guitar in the soundtrack and a better overall quality), and Michael Sheen was awesomely creepy. Speaking of which - did I just think Michael Sheen was more respectable than he is? Because I thought Frost/Nixon plus The Queen meant that he had higher standards. But then, I also didn't expect Justin Vernon to be such a teeny bopper sellout until I found out he wrote a song for the soundtrack (which sounded awesome, by the way, and I need it). I suppose if Bill Nighy can be in Underworld, Michael Sheen can be Aro. I think it just threw me because I didn't know he was in the movie until today. Regardless of any of this, he was awesome.

Yeah. Creeptastic.

Anyway. Don't be fooled by my laughter and scorn for some of the more ridiculous moments. I loved it, as I expected to, and I'm not ashamed. (Take that, haters. Also Jill.) You should all check out Julie's guest post on the blogject today. I think it sums up certain aspects of the hysteria perfectly, and I love it. I also really love Janssen's review. It says many of the things I didn't write about but agree with fully, so go ahead and read her post if you want a positive review that still makes fun of Edward's lipstick.

Also, watching the previews was even more enjoyable than it usually is because Ann instituted a thumbs up, thumbs down or thumbs sideways voting policy before they started. I started off with a thumbs down for When in Rome, switched to a thumbs up when Lee Pace came on screen, then was back to thumbs down by the end of the preview. It looks really bad. The next preview was for Dear John, and although I was already in a thumbs down state of mind when I saw that Channing Tatum was in it, I reserved judgment until the screen said, "From Nicolas Sparks," which was when Ann and I gave it a thumbs down simultaneously. Also, I'm grateful to the Letters to Juliet preview for giving away the entire movie so I don't have to be torn between my love of Vanessa Redgrave and how bad that movie looked. It was a great game.

Finally, I've been excited for Sherlock Holmes and The Lovely Bones for awhile, but I got more excited for the former after some pre-previews tonight, and I got more excited about the later when I realized the Peter Jackson is doing it. This is your chance to make up for King Kong, Peter!

Puzzling

I have recently become a crossword puzzle fiend. I've always liked them, but now it's this drive to finish my crossword puzzle, and since I have access to the IU paper AND a free New York Times (also USA Today . . . I wonder how their puzzle is?) I sometimes do both.

Here's what I've discovered. There are certain clues or words that end up popping up a lot. Words that really have no business being in multiple cross word puzzles. For example: why has the word "dab" been in the last three IU puzzles I've completed? Why do so many puzzles reference British record company"EMI?" Must we always talk about "scabs" and how they're enemies to unions? (I mean, can't we at least mix it up and talk about scabs as things you pick off your skin once in awhile?) And hey, I watched Family Matters for years, but that doesn't mean that I know how to spell "nerdy Steve's" last name. Today I tried to start it with an E, but since no one grows "seger cane," I figured I was probably wrong.

On the other hand, I do like clues like, "climbing tool for frozen services." (Me: "Crampon! Wait, no . . . only five letters. I'll come back.") How great is it to have "ice ax" in your puzzle? I like it that today the New York Times had "rock and roll," "cock and bull," "lock and load" and "shock and awe" as answers and none of them crossed. I like that I now assume "Spanish 'that' " is always going to be "esa" even though I don't speak Spanish and am fairly certain there's more than one way to say "that." If it's been in more than one puzzle, it's the answer.

Finally, I like that because I'm mostly on campus Monday-Wednesday, I almost never have to remember that I'm not as amazing at crossword puzzles as I think, because I never see the reality check that is the Friday puzzle. Are you kidding me? I did two puzzles today without help! I'm awesome!

Anniversaries

Has anyone noticed how many significant anniversaries there are this year? This is crazy.

• "One small step for man . . ." - 40 years
• Sesame Street - 40 years
• The Wizard of Oz - 70 years (the anniversary screening of this was SO much fun).
• Berlin Wall comes down - 20 years
• Edgar Allan Poe's birth - 200 years
• Birth of Victor Borge - 100 years
• Sleeping Beauty - 50 years
• Woodstock - 40 years

I'm pretty sure Ann and I talked about some others the other night. I guess there are significant anniversaries every year. Anything else you've noticed?

The usual quick update to get my blog un-stagnant again.

I hate it when I get really behind on my blog and feel like I should be catching up, but then there are other things I want to talk about. I also hate it that I still haven't posted Halloween pictures, so let's get that out of the way first.

Jill and I planned our Halloween costumes months in advance, courtesy of Martha Stewart. Jill was a beehive (or Utah) and I was a beekeeper, but did it in such a way that more than one person thought I was Chuck from Pushing Daisies, which I was okay with.

So here we go:

So there's Halloween. There was also some Psycho watching. It was a good October.

Since then, I don't feel like there was that much that happened. We went to the opera and will be going to a different opera this week (Romeo and Juliet before, The Magic Flute this weekend).

On Wednesday this week, we went to sing at a funeral in Terre Haute. A member of our stake was killed in Afghanistan and they wanted a stake choir. It was a nice way to spend Veteran's Day.

I'm sure life has been more eventful than that, but that's all I've got. Onward now to Thanksgiving, final projects and home for Christmas!

Happy Birthday Sesame Street!

Dear Sesame Street,

Thank you for being such a big part of my formative years.

Love,

Megan

Post the 400th

I don't have anything very exciting for this 400th post, so I'm just going to write some stuff and note that this is the 400th post. Good times.

1. I have now been in Indiana for just over two months, and I realized something amazing the other day. I am really happy. I still miss my family and wish they were here, I wish I wasn't building student loan debt or living in a little room where every day I think about things I should have brought with me. And yet. It's really nice to realize that this was the right decision - that all of those feelings that I needed to do this were actually leading me somewhere.
2. I just finished a lovely book called Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close. Good heavens it was wonderful. There was some strong language in it and it jumps around a lot, so don't read it if you just like a straightforward story that will wrap up all nice and neat, but it was fantastic. (If you aren't sure whether you'd like it, feel free to ask me for more details and I'd be happy to talk about it.)
3. I'm listening to the new Kings of Convenience album entitled Declaration of Dependence. Aside from its obviously great title, I am thrilled to be reminded again of how much I love this band with their simple harmonies, introspective lyrics and HUGE glasses. If you haven't checked them out yet (still?) please enjoy this video and fall in love with them:
   
4. Remember how I don't like soup? Well, since moving to Indiana, I have found several that I like, including this great butternut squash bisque that Jill and I made on Sunday. Take note there of the words soup and squash. It's almost like I'm a real grown up person.
5. Despite my being really happy in Bloomington, I sure would like it if real movies would come here. (And by "real" I mean . . . I wish they had the Salt Lake Film Society here.) I'm dying to see An Education and that one about Keats and am convinced that they will never come here. Ever. On the bright side though, I'm excited to see Amelia and The Lovely Bones, and The Invention of Lying just became eligible for the Five Buck Club, provided my card gets here someday.
6. The other day, Jill and I went shopping for Halloween costume stuff and also ended up buying wigs. This was mostly because they were $4 and we needed something to wear to a Halloween birthday party that night (our actual costumes weren't quite done yet). The result was this, and I kind of loved it:
   
   
7. This weekend the Institute choir gave its first concert, and I remembered how much I missed singing in a choir. Tonight we started Christmas music, including a couple of songs we sang when I was in Madrigals in high school (albeit different versions). I still miss singing Christmas music all through December, but this certainly makes it better.
8. My dad has turned into something of a folk hero here. I think that has something to do with my telling stories about him making centerpieces for his High Priest Quorum lesson - rolls of duct tape stacked like a vase and containing a bouquet of remote controls - and that story about the time he came to my choir concert and flashed his keychain flashlight during the ovation. In fact, one of my friends now makes a flashlight motion at me every time he sees me now. And really, why shouldn't my dad be a legend?
   My mom is also a legend, mostly because I cook her delicious food and people want to try the real thing. We may get some visitors over Christmas break.
9. My cataloging class has become mind-numbingly boring. The material is fine, but it's hard stuff to teach, which is evident. On the upside, I'm getting really good at doing crossword puzzles and listening at the same time.
10. I taught a library instruction session this week. The class was a little dead (they are freshmen in a first year course, so I can't blame them) but it wasn't a total bust and I think most people got it. I'm sure it will become a smoother process as I practice, which is going to happen again on Friday.

I think that's it for now. Thanks for sticking with me through 400 posts - especially during the times when I hardly post at all. You, dear readers, are awesome. Even the secret lurkers. (I know you're out there - there are way more people subscribed on Google Reader than actually comment here. Which is cool. Lurking, that is. Can I say that?)

A Reverence Story

Yesterday the Elders Quorum and Relief Society lessons were both on reverence. The Relief Society lesson was lovely, naturally. In Elders Quorum, they were talking about ways that they can be reverent during the week. One of the guys said, "I like to go for a drive by myself with nothing on."

Now, what he meant was he likes to drive without the radio on, and that was the way most people took it. However, a couple of people took it the way you just read it, and Ross in particular started laughing - so hard that he had to leave the lesson. The lesson on reverence.

So last night at the Institute Choirside, Ross and Jon were telling us about this and when Jon went to leave, he said, "I'm going for a drive now," and took off his coat. Ross said, "Yeah, me too," and started loosening his tie. Haha. It was all very hilarious.

More hilarious though, was the note I found on my windshield when I went to retrieve my car from the Institute tonight. It just said, "ARE YOU DRIVING REVERENTLY?" It was from Ross.

Sometimes I really love this place.

Somewhere in Ohio

Last Saturday, I learned about another way that going to church activities in Indiana is different from going to things in Provo.

We had a regional activity on Saturday - pretty standard, just a corn maze and dinner (plus a dance, which was never part of my personal plan). We didn't find out until about two days before that this corn maze was somewhere between 90 and 120 miles away in a little town called Connorsville. Keep in mind the fact that we're in Indiana, which has no shortage of corn or mazes. And yes, I realize that it's a regional activity and we have to accommodate the entire region, but most of the region isn't actually in Ohio. Most of the people who come are from the other side of Indiana, and it was a little silly. But we were being good sports, so we got together a nice little carpool of people who a) were awesome and b) didn't want to stay to the dance, and off we went.

After several detours and a fairly ridiculous route, we arrived at Crazy Acres and did some wending of our way through the maze. We also drank hot chocolate and lukewarm chocolate and had s'mores and all kinds of exciting things.

I kept looking around for dinner, but apparently that was also a memo I missed, because dinner was in Richmond, which they said was 18 miles away. (Back toward Bloomington? Nope. The other way.) So we started following Sarah toward Richmond, and we really were starting to question the decision to go ahead to dinner about half an hour later when the road we were supposed to be following ended. (It's okay. We found another one.) It took at least 45 minutes to get there in all, and the food wasn't good, but hey, it was funny, so whatever.

We asked someone how far we were from Ohio at this point - turns out it was less than five miles. We ran out before the dance could start (we could tell from the preliminary music that we weren't going to be regretting that decision) but not before I got stopped by some guy from Indy whom I'd been talking to back at the corn maze who said he "forgot to get [my] number." Um . . .

So we drove to Ohio, listened to some Ohio songs ("Ohio" by Bowling for Soup, "Somewhere in Ohio" by The Jayhawks) stopped and took a picture (Luke had never been in Ohio, so we really needed to go, but the funniest picture was Steve in Ohio, since he's been there dozens of times) and then we got gasoline in Ohio and turned around to drive back to Bloomington for three hours. Good times indeed.

On the bright side, Indiana is currently gorgeous and absolutely dripping with fall colors, so the long crazy drive ended up being quite nice. Plus, there was a coffin in the middle of the corn maze even though it didn't get haunted until after we left. Neat.

Now pictures:

With Jill, Ross and Steve in the corn maze.

Steve stuffing his face with marshmallows

A very blurry picture of Luke and me in Ohio. It was dark, okay?

Pumpkin Month and So Forth

Oh, it's been far too long since I posted for real, and now I've forgotten what I was going to say. Here's a summary through various mediums:

Pumpkin Month foods so far:

• Low-fat Pumpkin Sundae
• Dr. Dean's pumpkin bars
• Pumpkin pecan ice cream from Brewster's
• Jill's pumpkin chocolate chip cookies
• This pumpkin roll
  

Highlights from Jill's birthday party:

Jill's reaction to our amazing gift, Heat Wave by Richard Castle. Yes, it's a fake book. That they really wrote.

D'CALC!

Steve's amazing t-shirt, "I Attended Brecklyn and Jill's Birthday Bash 2009."

The birthday girls.

Sarah was Buffy! Best costume ever.

Movies we've watched for scary movie month (needs to be stepped up a little):

• Night of the Hunter
• The Others
• Marnie
• Stage Fright

Things we still plan to watch (i.e. we've checked them out from the library or have them on hold):

• Rebecca
• The Innocents
• The Haunting
• The Nightmare Before Christmas
• Notorious
• Signs
• Psycho

So yeah. Also, we went to the 70th anniversary screening of The Wizard of Oz, which was delightful, and tonight I saw Where the Wild Things Are, which I adored.

I don't think I mentioned our amazing trip to Indy a couple of weeks ago either. We went up to this play called Dark Pages, which was pretty amazing. It involved Edgar Allan Poe, Sherlock Holmes, Arthur Conan Doyle, Queen Victoria, Lizzy Borden and other various crazies, and we went about the house in search of Jack the Ripper. My favorite part was when Edgar Allan pulled a heart out of a box and Sherlock's deduction was, "Well, let's move along. This man is clearly deranged, but he is not the Ripper." How did he come to that conclusion? Because typically when I see people holding hearts, I don't really rule them out as serial killer suspects. But that's just me.

Halloween Update

I figured it's been two years since I posted my Halloween playlist, and it's grown a little since then, so I'm posting an updated version. Here's what I'm listening to this Halloween. Some of it will be the same, but I'm adding the new stuff here and there. You should also know that I feel strongly that playlists should be, you know, listenable, which is why I typically leave off songs like "The Monster Mash." I listen to this playlist many times during October and I don't want to skip it every time.

Enjoy!

• "Goodnight Socialite" by The Brobecks. This is still my favorite creepy song and still starts off the playlist. It's just awesome.
• "Shankill Butchers" by The Decemberists. I'm pretty sure this song would have absolutely terrified me when I was a child, because I still think it's pretty scary now, and I'm much less of a wimp now than I was then.
• "Thriller" - Michael Jackson (you can't give it all away at the beginning, guys. You have to work up to Thriller.)
• "They Are Night Zombies!! They Are Neighbors!! They Have Come Back from the Dead!! Ahhhh!" by Sufjan Stevens. I think the title explains everything you need to know about this one.
• "Zombie" by The Cranberries. I just found out that was what they were singing in this song. Yeah. But the music video is totally creepy and weird, so that's good enough for me, even if they clearly have a deeper meaning going on.
• "The Boogie Monster" by Gnarls Barkley. It has an evil laugh at the beginning. What else do you want?
• "Zombie Jamboree" by The Kingston Trio. Oh, my childhood. It was awesome.
• "My Body's a Zombie For You" from a CD they featured on NPR called Dead Man's Bones. I don't actually have this one, but it's awesome, so on it goes.
• "Dead Man's Party" by Oingo Boingo.
• "Wolf Like Me" by TV On the Radio. Very werewolf-y and also awesome.
• "Werewolves of London" by Warren Zevron. It's ridiculous, but there's howling. You need howling.
• "Moon Over Bourbon Street" by Sting. My favorite of the vampire set I'm about to post.
• "Vampire" by Antsy Pants. Not scary, but still vampire-y.
• "Perhaps Vampire is a Bit Strong But . . ." by the Arctic Monkeys
• "The Sharpest Lives" by My Chemical Romance. More vampire references.
• "Darkshines" by Muse. I don't know why this song seems creepy and Halloweenish to me, but it really works for me. Take it or leave it.
• "Bodysnatchers" by Radiohead
• "Mr. Raven" by MC Lars. This song is ridiculous . . .ly awesome. "Who's that? Who's that rappin' on my chamber door? Mister! Mister Raven! All up in my grill sayin' "Nevermore!" Yeah. Still good.
• "Dear Songs And Daughters of Hungry Ghosts" by Wolf Parade
• "Haunted" by Evanescence. You have to have at least one of their songs, right? I mean, it's their whole schtick is the essence of Halloween, isn't it?
• "The Fear" by Travis
• "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave. Really, all of the Murder Ballads are appropriate here. Still.
• "Lullaby" by The Cure. Officially the creepiest song to have the title in the entire world.
• "Scary Monsters (& Super Creeps)" by David Bowie
• "Pathetique" by Andrew Bird. From the weird Music of Hair CD, this song has some major creep-town sounds going on.
• "John Wayne Gacy, Jr." Weird, creepy and beautiful song about a creepy creepy person.
• "The Long Black Veil" by Johnny Cash. This song has always creeped me out. You know what I'm talking about.
• "Ghost-Town Of My Brain" by Jim White. Very bizarre, but it totally fits the mood.
• "The Ghost of You Lingers" by Spoon. This song has some creepy sounds going on even if it isn't about Halloween. And it has "ghost" in the title.
• "I'm Afraid of Japan" by Final Fantasy. What's scarier than Japan!?! Seriously though, this song is SPOOKY.
• "Sleep" by My Chemical Romance
• "No One Lives Forever" by Oingo Boingo
• "Halloween" by Matt Pond
• "Shanty for the Arethusa" by The Decemberists. It starts off with creepy accordion and a scream. Trust me.
• "Chasing a Ghost" by The Morning Benders (because who doesn't need The Morning Benders?)
• From the new Nightmare Revisted CD: "Jack's Lament" covered by The All-American Rejects, "Sally's Song" covered by Amy Lee, and "Poor Jack" covered by The Plain White T's.
• "Dead Man" by Jars of Clay. Not that creepy, but still works.
• "The Other Father Song" by They Might Be Giants. It's from Coraline. Need I say more?
• "Lovely Creature" by Nick Cave
• "Ghostship" by Menomena
• "Halloween" by Stephen Lynch (Horrible. And very funny. Just don't play this one for your small children. And I'm totally blaming Lin for this one.)
• "This Is Halloween" from The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Also, some misc. instrumental songs for your mood music selection:

• "Danse macabre" by Camille Saint-Saens
• Suite from "Hush" - it's on the Buffy the Musical soundtrack. So scary!
• "Welcome, Ghosts" by Explosions in the Sky
• "Toccata in D minor" by Bach (yeah, you know)

Okay. That's where we are this year. It's not that much different, but you know you were trying to think of something to listen to and you forgot all about the last one. Am I right? Of course I am.

An Excuse

I think this picture pretty much sums up everything about why 1) I haven't blogged in a week and 2) I haven't finished the project I'm currently working on. First, it's symbolic of the costume party for Jill's birthday that also fell on the day I was cooking for Institute and the day after I was cooking for dinner group. It's been a busy weekend.

Second, this is my friend and fellow librarian-in-training, Rayla, and she got baptized yesterday, which was awesome. I even got to speak at the baptism, which was only mildly terrifying. (Who knew that you could spend your whole life as a member of a church and only attend one baptism that wasn't for an 8-year-old? And that it would be so weird trying to figure out what to say?)

Anyway, it was a lovely weekend, and I'll be posting more pictures after I finish my project. Until then, happy weekend.

Thoughts

Thought #1: All this time I've thought Night of the Hunter was going to be a terrifying movie. For years I've thought, "I should see this, but not tonight - I'm just not up to being that scared." And then it was the WIMPIEST SCARY MOVIE EVER. I mean, sure. The concept of a crazy scary preacher who thinks God is telling him to murder widows and chase small children is pretty scary, but we just never got to a climax. Every time it could have been scary it fell flat in a big way. I'll admit that they did some coolish things with the cinematography, and the cast was good, but overall it was a big meh.

Thought #2: You know who was a much scarier evil preacher? Nathan Fillion as Caleb in Buffy. SO. SCARY. I really wanted to find a video, but alas, I could find none. You'll just have to believe me in spite of this somewhat dorky picture.

Thought #3: You should go and watch the short film I posted over on the blogject. It will make your day.

Thought #4: Do you like how I'm going forward with this whole pretending "blogject" is a word now? And speaking of the blogject, I have awesome sisters-in-law. Julie totally wrote us a guest post, and Linda is going to help us with some design/coding things we don't know how to do. I will be sure to alert you when those things are live, because they will be awesome.

Thought #5: I love Conference Weekend. I'm excited to watch the broadcast at the Institute and then go to Indy during Priesthood session (since our plans for tonight fell through. Stupid weird historical society planning).