boo!

As I was crossing the street to get to class this morning, I experienced my very own Donnie Darko moment. Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted a giant bunny riding a bike up the hill towards campus. Ears flopping, teeth in full view, this bunny was on a mission. And, just now, I spotted Elvis cruising through our local village grocery store. Wow. I love Halloween, and normally we go all out for this particular holiday, but I think most of our stuff remains packed away in moving boxes, and neither one of us felt the need to unpack a skeleton, cobwebs, and blinking pumpkin heads when we are still figuring out where to put sweaters and other essential clothing items! Damn, we didn't even buy a pumpkin. I hope kids don't think we are scrooges . . . to make up for our lack of decorating, I just plopped down 10 bucks on skull pops, and other sure-to-make-your-teeth-rot candies.

In perfect timing for the holiday, I see our beloved president has nominated a rather scary character for the SCOTUS. Samuel Alito, AKA Scalito, appears to be the perfect candidate to mollify the disgruntled far right. Now, what kind of counter-strategy will the Dems employ with this nomination? I won't hold my breath. A few gems about Alito: lone dissenter in Planned Parenthood v. Casey, doesn't believe in Title VII, Family and Medical Leave Act, or anything else that deals with race, class, gender, and dare I mention sexuality? Creepy times indeed.

2046

I have a new film hero: Wong Kar-Wai. We just went to see 2046 last night and I have to say it's one of the most visually stunning, seductive, haunting films about love, timing, and loneliness I've recently seen. A sequel to the 2000 In the Mood For Love (which I haven't seen), 2046 is a complex film set in both the 1960s and 2046. But, the number 2046, comes to represent much more than just the future . . . it's also a number on a hotel room door and/or a "place/space" to retrieve lost memories (or not). Definitely a difficult plot to capture in one single viewing, but I can assure you that it's a definite must-see. From the camera work, to the costumes, to the soundtrack, one gets to experience the raw emotions of longing, missed opportunities, love, and human relationships in a manner that most mainstream films fail to adequately capture.

We were able to see this indie film thanks to our local museum's annual Film Series. Driving 10 miles to see a good film sure beats an 80 mile trek to Albany. Every Wednesday and Friday, the art institute features an independent film to view--next up is Broken Flowers and June Bug. I've also heard Cornell has an excellent film series, so I'm anxious to get a schedule and plan a trip to check out Ithaca.

In other pop culture news, I just want to say how much I've been enjoying Season 4 of Six Feet Under. Damn. This series has to be considered one of the best that has aired on television. Because we don't have HBO, we've been screaming through the series thanks to Netflix, and we are 2 episodes away from awaiting the final season's release on DVD. Of course, most entertainment mags this year have given away the main plot/challenge of the Season 5, but I still can't wait to see it. I think Deadwood might place a close second, but I still think the acting, writing, and directing of Six Feet Under is far superior.

Well, I'm about to move closer to my mid-thirties next week, but I feel pretty ambivalent about growing older. I think 30 is a big one, as well as 40, but mid-thirties? Kind of boring.

On that note, I'm out.

october snow

Seems like most of my recent posts have revolved around weather. I'm at my office staring out at wet, white, slushy snow that dumped on the campus (and apparently only the campus, because our house, located only a mile away, received primarily rain). We are now riding out the end of a Nor'easter that has left more puddles, more mud, more gray slush on top of an already soaked October. I've just been enjoying a spot of sun, which only lasted approximately 15 minutes, before the clouds took over and the winds increased.

My mood reflects the weather. Normally, Fall is my favorite season, but this year I feel like the dead leaves scattered around our yard, reminding us that a brutal winter is right around the corner. I don't know why I feel such a sense of sadness. My knee is working better than ever, we've had lots of company this month, job is going well . . . I wonder if some of it isn't connected to the general state of affairs in this country. Sitting in classes, talking about missing women in Juarez and Guatemala, welfare deform, the brutality of neoliberal economic policies, and an ongoing war with no end in sight, I guess it's not hard to feel pretty low. Yesterday, US military deaths in Iraq reached 2000, Iraqi civilian deaths hover around 100,000 (reported), and Condi just testified that Bush is keeping his "options" open to launch wars against Iran and Syria. Although Bush's sagging ratings in the polls and the possibility of Rove (among others) being indicted in the Plame leak, offer me a glimmer of hope, I'm convinced that little will happen to Bush, Cheney, or Rumsfeld. Sigh. I guess I'm suffering from a good case of the blues.

We attended a speech by Katha Pollitt last night. She read two autobiographical pieces and then did a brief q and a. One person asked her what she thought about the state of journalism. Her reply wasn't all that surprising: disgraceful. She said it was pretty sad to think that Paul Krugman (a moderate if anything) was appearing to be down right "radical" when compared to the majority of columnists working today. She discussed the rightward shift of the NY TIMES, and the disappearance and fear of liberals to call into question anything that is happening these days. She didn't even mention the Left.

rain, rain go away!

ok, it's been 6 days since we've had any sunlight, and the forecast predicts more rain and showers for the remainder of the week. a colleague of mine told me the first year she was here it rained for 28 days straight. oh god, let's hope we aren't out to crack that record! i need sunlight dammit. i'm already feeling the grips of S.A.D. D., so electricity bill be damned, i'm keeping the lights on to maintain a semblance of sanity.

we had some friends visit over the gray, rainy weekend, which provided some temporary relief. we watched *hotel rwanda* . . . which i am glad i had the chance to see. i've been putting it off for the obvious reasons, but feel like it was "well done"-- how fucked up is that? here i am writing about a movie's description of a genocide as "well done". fuck. it's been a long day, but i've heard that *sometimes in april* is also a good film about rwanda. oh well, it's not like the west really gives too much of a shit anyway--look at darfur.

i haven't been keeping up with the news lately, but a friend told me there could be the possibility of a cheney impeachment? i won't hold my breath. seems these weasels always grease their way out of scandal. but, i have tried to half ignore/pay attention to the growing spectacle/circus that has become the harriet miers supreme court nomination. again. fuct. how crazy is the united states these days? here's a funny piece by maureen dowd on the whole "george bush is the most brilliant man i've ever met" saga.

www.truthout.org/docs_2005/101205E.shtml

another related story indicates rove told james dobson (creepy creepy) that miers was a bona fide conservative evangelical--apparenlty she even gave some money to Texans United For Life--but nobody can say for sure that she is pro-life. uh, excuse me? what the . . .?

oh, j has been waging her own personal mission to figure out why we have the highest sales tax in the state! we pay a whopping, whopping 9.75% sales tax! it makes me cringe during each and every transaction. i'm convinced j should enter local politics and demand an explanation. one night, while enjoying some damn good wine, we decided to figure this out on our own--before launching a premature campaign. apparently, this county has a lot of medicaid patients and it can't bear the costs of medicaid unless it raised taxes. now, this could also be interpreted as another scapegoating technique of the poor in this county--i can't be sure--but that appeared to be the primary reason that we pay 9.75%. i should just live in the fucking city.

oscar continues to grapple with the pains of being a teenager. his one blemish disappeared just in time for another to sprout up. still, i'm not convinced it's time to take him to the vet. by next year, he'll be in his early twenties and his acne will be a distant memory.

oh my god, i can't believe i forgot to mention that my requested funds were approved for the next three years. when thinking about how i wanted to spend money and make it connect to my work, i relied on international travel. so, i've now got money to go to the philippines, ireland, and england! woo-hoo. all of this is spread out over three years, with england coming during the third year, but this is very cool stuff, no? i'm very excited. i mention engalnd because that's where mushy is and i've been missing her a great deal--along with other buds in kato. in fact, i'm gonna have a guiness this evening in mushy's honor.

off to brave the rain.

Morning

There is nothing worse than having your sleep disrupted early in the morning by a plumber that only has grim news to tell you. Yes, we are back to our earlier plumbing woes. We are still dealing with the family of plumbers in this town, I think this guy might be the third or fourth generation, and they typically only respond to an emergency. We called a few days ago to let him know that the tile in our bathroom was leaking and causing the water to drip down into the dining room. Now we have to deal with the tile guy, and I'm really hoping he is not going to be near as difficult to contact as our plumber. Since the source of our problem is the tile and not pipes or caulking around the tub, I'm curious as to why the plumber wants to switch our bathroom valves. Our piping is on the external wall and fourth generation appears convinced that they (pipes/valves) are going to freeze and burst this winter (though they must not have done this in previous winters) and cause him to tear down all the new tile work we are preparing to have done. So, I'm not sure if he's inventing work or truly convinced that we need a major bathroom renovation. We'll start with the tile man and proceed from there. All I know is this is a monumental pain in the ass.

So, it's morning. I wanted to sleep in a bit today, probably because I know I have to face another annoying chore later this afternoon: getting tags/license for my car. After this, I have to get the car inspected and it will fail because my tail light is burned out. I'm not sure which is worse: mechanics or plumbers? Of course, being a chick, I'm always convinced I'm getting fleeced the moment I walk in with a car problem. The whole "inspection" process has me jaded too . . . if my tail light was working, I'd probably still have a number of things wrong. Oy.

Our friends (former profs) are coming to see us for an overnight visit tomorrow. I'm excited, but wish the weather would cooperate a bit more. We've had this incredible weather the past week, and now we are in the midst of a flood watch. The leaves haven't changed all that much, I'm suspecting the middle of October will be the peak around here!

Oh, ever heard of Staceyann Chin? We went to see her spoken word on Wednesday, pretty cool stuff.

Off to obtain my caffeine buzz.