Psyched Out

So my dear friend Mika is leaving me again to go back to Japan where she teaches English. She came home to the states for about a month to visit and reconnect, which ends tomorrow morning at 11. So last night she and I hung out one last time before she returns to the motherland. And, like the well educated and world savvy women that we are, we watched Psycho until 12:30 in the morning. And then took out the garbage from the dark and unlit back yard.

Warning! Spoilers ahead!

First off, I have never seen Psycho, though I think everyone has seen that shower scene, if only in lists of ‘best movie scenes of all time’ or other such nonsense. We chatted through most of the beginning and backstory when we learn about Marion and her motives for stealing $40,000. When she started to flee however, we moved into the mocking of Marion, specifically the fact that she doesn’t blink. Like ever! Seriously, watch Psycho again and watch her eyes. Not only does she not blink like ever, but she keeps her eyes so wide open that you can see white space all around the iris. Mika speculated that maybe keeping your eyes that wide open helps to not blink. As a matter of fact it makes it harder to resist blinking, as Mika and I continually proved in our own highly scientific experiments on the couch. It really was disconcerting, as on the one hand, your eyes water on Marion’s behalf. But on the other hand, you want to try to out not-blink her. Plus she was so obvious to that cop. She was a bad fugitive, and we both agreed that she deserved to be stabbed to death in the shower.

Next up for discussion was Norman. He was actually really endearing. So nerdy and almost cute. In fact I compared him to our friend Dan, both of whom have a loping grace about them when they move, but seem to start and stop movements really abruptly. Dan has a habit of springing from his seat and pelting out of the room for no apparent reason and with no explanation. I think Norman would do the same.

Mostly I enjoyed it. I knew the plot, but there were still surprises. Like the butt bump that Norman adds to the ensemble when dressing like Mother. That was highly entertaining. And the appalling acting by the Private Eye and the Psychiatrist. And the not so subtle sexism when Marion tries to buy a car. Real quote during the car trade in scene from Mika: Since you’re a woman I’ll totally rip you off, but I am also afraid of you and your magical vagina which produces $700 cash when you go to the bathroom.

After the SUPER CREEPY ending, Mika needed to take out the trash, and asked almost timidly if I would come with her. I asked if she was scared and she said yes, though I don’t think she really was. I do know that I kept looking over my shoulder, and was glad that Mika’s dog Ricky had accompanied us outside and would most certainly at least bark were I stabbed to death in the driveway. Surprisingly, though Mika had seen Psycho several times, she has not seen Rear Window which is my favorite Hitchcock. Not as overtly creepy/scary as Psycho, it does do the suspense thing really well. I recommend it. But I do not recommend watching Psycho until 12:30 in the morning. That was dumb.

Things that make me happy #7855

Jezebel.com

Seriously you guys this website is awesome! My good friend Mika turned me on to it because of the Fine Lines articles that run every Friday. Fine Lines author Lizzie Skurnick takes books from her childhood and rereads them as an adult. Then posts her article about how she felt about the book then and now. Since I am all about rereading old favorites until the covers literally fall off (seriously, I have to find the book part of the Phantom Tollbooth, the cover has been in the living room for like, months), I am totally in love with it. Though the author Ms. Skurnick is a bit older than me, so some of her book choices are not what I have read, it is certainly interesting to look at these books from a new perspective. I especially liked the one she did about Little House in the Big Woods, which was like my arm when I was a kid. I’m certain I had it memorized at one point. In fact, one scene stands out in my memory in particular, and Skurnick mentions it in the piece!

Another thing that Jezebel does really well is speak intelligently about real women’s issues. Yes there are fun pictures of celebrities looking stupid, which is fun for all ages, but there are also articles about real life. And real women. And the things real women face in real life. Every time I go to Jez, I know I’m going to be spending some quality time on the site.

Some of today’s lead articles:

Dress Your Family in Whimsy and Symbolism (an obvious homage (or dig?) at David Sedaris’s classic, “Dress Your Family in Corduroy and Denim”)

Looking for Love? Don’t Change Your Hair, Weight, or Cup Size ­— Change Your Country (one woman's journey for actual fulfillment through love, not sex)

Selling Women’s Clothes to Women (an awesome piece comparing Victoria's Secret to a less well known brand Athleta)

Some others that I don’t feel like tracking down but were awesome nevertheless were about women as suicide bombers, the new vampire book series that is so unbelievably Christian Right that the story about VAMPIRES is swallowed whole, and the Shenis. Yes that is what it sounds like.

Spend some time poking around this site, and if you don’t like it I’ll give you a million dollars. Or a swift kick.

Birthday Extravaganza!

So, for those of you keeping score at home, I turned 23 on Saturday!

Of course, the festivities began a week previously with my weird aunt kay coming into town. She wasn’t coming specifically to see me, though I pretended that she was. She and I had a nice little day of running around in my car and being directed by the lady who lives in my GPS. Most notably we went to Trousseau where awesome aunt kay bought me TWO bras! Yes! I was super excited by that! Two bras that fit! Awesome!

Next on the birthday agenda was planning the day. I had decided a while ago that I wanted to “do the Time Warp again” so to speak, and relive my days as a Rocky Horror maven. I always sing the part of Magenta. Unfortch, Mika (who played Eddie) was to be in Austin Texas for the day of my birthday and Denise (playing RiffRaff) has decided to pull a unibomber and not answer the phone. So I got others involved. I think specifically Tiffany enjoyed herself. She was laughing quite heartily! But, I must back up. Previously to the Late Night early morning, Double Feature rocky horror Picture Show, I went to dinner with the girls and Airman.

The dinner became a bit disastrous, though thankfully not for me. When getting our waters, the whole tray crashed to the floor, soaking Aaron and pretty thoroughly dousing Mileva. She got really annoyed and mad, not aided by the fact that we were pretty much left to clean it up ourselves. She calmed down a little by the time we got our food, where we hit another snag. Carrie, despite having ordered the same thing as Lauren, did not get her burger. 20 minutes later said burger was still absent. We had all finished eating and her food was nowhere to be found. The hostess came over and explained that the chef had accidentally overcooked her burger and they had to make a new one. She did eventually get her burger, and was comp’d for it.

While we were all sitting and talking my brother came in and totally surprised me. I had not expected him at all, since he had spent most of the day at a driving class for getting a (nother) speeding ticket. He came in and so quickly handed me a balloon and a rose that I at first thought that this person was a waiter. Until Carrie said “oh, hey!” and then I caught on. He gave me my present (Garfield and Friends DVDs!!! YAAY!!!) and ate my leftover chicken and broccoli. And he was off again. Still, I really liked the surprise!

Backing up further in the day, (wow, I’m really doing this out of order…) my parents and I went on a mini adventure to Glen Echo Park. Mr. T was added to my GPS a while ago apparently, and so for a birthday treat Mr. T lead us to the park! It was awesome! “Fool! Turn Lef!” My mom and I rode the carrousel, dad too pictures and waxed rhapsodic about the architecture and sang the jingle for the park from when he was a kid. It really was a glorious day, really odd for my birthday which is usually HOTASBALLS! So we walked around and looked at pottery in Yurts and had a grand old time.

Then we went to a lovely lunch of French cuisine on a rooftop terrace in the glorious weather and I think I got a little tan! I had escargot, one of my favorite things, and totally grossed out my dad, another of my favorite things! The food was amazing! Super fun times!

Forward to Sunday night (This really is appallingly out of order. For a chronological timeline of events see me after class). The whole family with the additions of Allison and Kari, went to see BB King at Wolftrap. The reviews of his recent performances have said that he is more about the talking now and less with the playing. Thats OK with me. I like hearing him talk, he makes me feel pretty. He always makes me feel pretty because half his concert is him talking about "ladies" and how beautiful we all are and how fellas should thank god every day for ladies, and all that. He even sang "you are my sunshine" dedicated to all Ladies. He didnt play for very long, as he is 82 and really should be in bed by 11. So since I had taken 2 naps that day and really didnt feel like sleeping MORE, I stayed up to watch the American men's swim relay wherein we killed the French and totally won! Especially gratifying since the Frenchies had been talking smack earlier. Plus Michael Phelps is a hottie.

See You At the Debates Bitches!

Ok, so my love for Obama has been a slow but steady climb. In his race against Hillary for the nomination I was divided until Will.I.Am's video. Which was awesome. Then came the race for the white house against McCain. Now, I don't have much against McCain. He was a POW and I really respect that. And maybe in a different time against a different opponent, he would convince me that he was the right person to lead this country.

However. He (or at least his campaign) has run attack ads while claiming that they are all about clean campaigning. He endorses off shore drilling, and really doesn't know whats going on in the world as evidenced by his face when asked about health insurance covering Viagra but not birth control.

And so we've come to it. The Obama campaign has really done a great job in not responding to the attack ads, but letting America do it for them.

First we have: WomenForJohnMcCain.com
You guys, this site is totally scathing. They are really pissed, and the best part is the side bar ads who obviously don't know that the site is totally killing McCain and put up "invest in victory" bannner ads. LOL

Second we have:

See more Paris Hilton videos at Funny or Die

watch and enjoy!

"Twenty-five years ago, half of all eighteen to twenty-four year olds voted; today it's 25 percent. Eighteen to twenty-four year olds represent 33 percent of the population, but only account for 7 percent of the voters. Think government isn't about you? How many of you have student loans to pay? How many of you have credit card debt? How many want clean air and clean water and civil liberties? How many want jobs? How many want kids? How many want their kids to go to good schools and walk on safe streets? Decisions are made by those who show up. You've gotta rock the vote." -C.J. Cregg (Allison Janey) West Wing