Thursday, September 17, 2009

First five minutes of "Grey's Anatomy" season premiere


If you want to see it, the first five minutes of the Grey's Anatomy season premiere are online here.

Tuesday, September 15, 2009

Patrick Swayze, 1952 - 2009

Dirty Dancing was one of those movies my parents adamantly refused to let me see for years, which only made me all the more determined to watch it. And when I did, it was both less dirty than I'd expected, and more meaningful. "Dirty" to me sounds tawdry, and it definitely was not that. It's a quintessential coming of age story: a young woman, who's unconventionally beautiful (and easier to relate to), smart and compassionate, experiencing love for the first time and realizing she's not her father's little girl anymore, painful as that might be. And yes, the dancing and other stuff is pretty damn hot.

Most hot, of course, was Patrick Swayze as sensitively macho Johnny Castle. During my first finals week in college, my room mate and I unwound every night by watching Dirty Dancing. We picked up on all kinds of random things, like the woman in blue screaming louder than anyone in the final dance scene, or how the third time he kicks the post when he needs to break into his car, it makes a funny popping noise. (Seriously, fast forward to 1:35 in that clip.)

You had to love Patrick Swayze for this, and his other movies. Some of it was cheesy, some of it butch, but he always seemed to be having a good time, and I liked that about him.

Friday, September 11, 2009

Library school rears its ugly head

Over the past couple days, I spent a few hours organizing all of my CD's. They are now housed in six large plastic boxes under my bed in alphabetical order. What can I say, library school must have engendered a love of order and cataloguing. Each box holds about 66 CD's, and the last one is only partially full, so I think I have about 370. Is that a lot? I'm pretty sure almost no one reads this, but if you do, weigh in on how many CD's you have.

There were a few surprises, both good and marginally embarrassing. At the cooler end of the spectrum: I hadn't listened to Dummy by Portishead in a long time, or Ill Communication by the Beastie Boys, and was happy to see them again. Less cool? My copies of 'N SYNC's Celebrity (which I admit to listening to immediately) and Spice by the Spice Girls. In college, I somehow convinced two male friends to see their movie, Spice World, when it was in theaters. I owe you one, guys.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

After four days in a car...

Got back today from a road trip from Berekely, CA, across Nevada on highway 50 ("the loneliest road in America"), through Utah, to Boulder, CO by way of Denver. Phew! It was an amazing trip made in the company of an incredible friend, who's starting all kinds of new adventures. She's awesome and I think awesome things are happening for her.

She provided the music on the trip and I DJ'd, and here are some of the songs I liked most: Where Does the Good Go, Come Talk to Me, I Believe (When I Fall in Love), Flake, and One More Time.

Fun fact! Stevie Wonder recorded "Fingertips" in my hometown of York, PA back when he still performed as Little Stevie. At least my dad says this is true; Wikipedia disagrees.

Thursday, September 3, 2009

Plane reading

While I fly from Baltimore, MD to Oakland, CA tomorrow, I'll be reading the following: The Secret Life of Marilyn Monroe, and How I Became a Famous Novelist. The latter was written by Steve Hely, who I met a couple times and is a very nice guy; I'm excited to see what he's come up with.

When everything goes well, I actually enjoy flying because it gives me lots of time to read. Now watch me get a horrendous delay tomorrow.