Hello all,

My birthday was last Monday, and I had an amazing time!  We celebrated my birthday and Greg Yeldezian’s birthday together, because his was over Spring Break when everyone was gone. After doing a round at Trudys, we headed off to Chuys for some delicious Mexican food and margaritas.  Around 9:00 we went back to my apartment, where we hung out drinking until around 11:00.  A few of my DSC friends then accompanied Greg and I downtown for the rest of the night.  Since it was a rainy Monday, 6th street was completely empty.  It was actually pretty fun having bars entirely to yourself, and getting free drinks from bored bartenders.  One of the highlights of the night was seeing David Arquette downtown promoting a new movie he directed.  Another was the amazing flaming Dr. Pepper that we had at Chuggin’ Monkey!

This week I had to lobby for some ethics legislation at the Capitol, which was intimidating but fun.  It was really just another reason to wear a suit, which I enjoyed.

Entourage and the Sopranos come back this weekend!  Thanks, Jesus!  I read an article in the Wall Street Journal that talked about how HBO was coming to the end of an era with the departure of the Sopranos.  All of their huge powerhouse shows (Sex and the City, Six Feet Under, Sopranos) will be over before summer, and they will begin a huge new campaign to find their next big hits.  However, this time Showtime is right on their heels.  Over the past two years they have been able to compete with HBO for the first time, producing quality shows such as Dead Like Me, Weeds and Huff.  I’ll be interested to see what they come up with, because, while Showtime may be catching up, my heart will always belong to HBO.

Today I went to my first class, realized how beautiful it was outside, and took the rest of the afternoon off to play golf with Greg.  We’ve started playing at least once a week, which is great.  Also, since my Monday class has started the group presentation portion of the schedule I now only have class Tuesday-Thursday!  It feels like I never do anything, except work occasionally.

TV recap: BSG finale was pretty great, especially the last half; I forgot Veronica Mars still has six episodes left, and I think that says a lot about the season in general; FNL keeps getting better and better; with the cancellation of Black Donnellys I really hope they learn from their mistake and bring back Studio 60!; I don’t care what other people think, Scrubs has been consistently entertaining this season; I’m watching Boomtown on DVD and it’s awesome…I definitely recommend checking it out if you get a chance!

Have you guys seen this video from the set of I Heart Huckabees?  As much as I enjoy David O. Russell’s movies (especially Three Kings), he seems like a total dick!  Anyone who insults Lily Tomlin shouldn’t expect any sympathy from me…

Does anyone still read this thing? I feel like I haven’t updated in, well, six weeks. What has happened since the beginning of school? Ohio State is the No. 1 team in college football, North Korea has a nuclear weapon, Mark Foley likes little boys and Ryan Ward is still the most boring student at the #1 party school in America.

Football season has given me something to do every Saturday, but after Texas’ loss to Ohio State the season just isn’t the same. Colt McCoy’s general mediocrity isn’t helping, either. I’m sure he has the makings of a good quarterback, but right now he’s getting by with the help of Limas Sweed and the Texas line. It will take a near miracle for us to make our way back to No. 2, but we will almost certainly play in one of the BCS Bowls for the third straight year.

A few weeks ago my camera broke. Now, whenever it takes pictures there are weird lines across the screen, and it won’t turn out properly if there is too much available light. As a result my Pictures of the Day have only been taken at night, and I’m running out of things to take pictures of in my room. Hopefully I will be able to update the pictures later tonight, but don’t expect anything special. Much like my camera, my pictures of the day have been in a state of shattered depression.

The majority of my time over the past month has been spent away from my apartment, studying in the library or at work staring at a computer screen with nothing to do. With the exception of last week, I haven’t been extraordinarily stressed out, but I feel like I have been consistently busy. Whenever I’m not not being a loser, I have been playing tennis with Joanna, and keeping up with various TV shows thanks to my lovely Tivo.

My latest obsession has been Rescue Me, which is easily one of the best shows on television. Dennis Leary’s amazing portrayal of the biggest asshole in existence has given my life new meaning. I’m getting ready to start the third season, and can’t wait for more…I have also been watching Studio 60, which is easily the best new show of the fall season. It hasn’t done well in the ratings, but I’m hoping the network will recognize its potential and renew it for a second season. I’m still working my way through the consistently entertaining Huff, and loving the new season of the Office. Other shows: I thought Battlestar was pretty good, but I hope they get back to the original storyline sometime soon. SNL is sucking pretty badly, and there haven’t been any digital shorts. At least Chris Parnell is gone. I’m enjoying Grey’s Anatomy, which I started watching with Joanna, and think that Veronica Mars is still good but possibly slipping.

After nearly four years, I finally got my new tooth a few weeks ago. It broke three days later, but I was able to get it fixed here in Austin. Of course, two days later the front of the tooth chipped, but at least it stayed on this time. Brandon’s prophetical predictions have once again come true, and my tooth seems to have brought me nothing but bad luck. However, I did get to see my aunt and cousin Demi two weeks ago! They came to visit us in Houston, and stayed for the whole week. I was only able to come down for the weekend, but they were able to come visit me in Austin for a night. I haven’t been able to talk to them much since their trip, but I think they had a great time. Demi hadn’t been on a plane since he was a baby, so the experience was extra special for him. Hopefully he can make it back sometime this summer for a week or two.

Sorry for the lack of updates. Don’t give up on my website. If I ever decide to stop updating, I’ll make it known on the site. I hope to update more frequently in the future, so look for that. At the same time, if my life doesn’t get interesting there may be nothing to talk about.

No pictures this time.  I blame Leahanne.

I have no idea where this week has gone.  I have done almost nothing of any merit, unless reading books out in the sun qualifies.  I just wanted to update to say that the server Kistenmacher used to host the sites sucks and they deleted everything, but he has risen to the occasion and fixed everything for us!  He’s easily the best web slave a person could ask for.  We don’t even have to provide him with shelter or food.  (Update: what the fuck is up with those banners? If I’m whoring my site out to someone it’s going to be Google Ads or nothing at all)  Anyway, I’ve been busy enjoying the gifts that my amazing aunt randomly decided to get for me and Taylor.  She got a bunch of DVDs, some chocolates and a few books, and I got:

1.  Finding Serenity: the collection of essays about the greatest sci-fi show ever made.  I got to read part of the book on the road trip to California, and it’s amazing.  The perfect assortment of philosophy, fanfare and speculation.  It’s a must have for fans of the show!

2. Rent by Jonathan Larson: the huge hardcover book about the original Broadway cast of my favorite musical.  The photographs are worth the price alone, but the stories of how Rent evolved and the overall presentation make this one of the best theatre books I’ve ever seen.

3. Citizen Kane: the DVD of my favorite film by Orson Welles.  I’ve been growing more and more obsessed with him this summer, and I can’t wait to hear the audio commentaries of both Roger Ebert and Peter Bogdanovich.

4. The Complete Mr. Arkadin: a massive DVD set chronicling every possible aspect of the Arkadin legend.  This include a novel, radio plays, three versions of the movie and an audio commentary, among other things.  I can’t wait to start watching the special features on this!  By the end of the year I’ll probably own every Orson Welles film out on DVD.  I just wish Criterion would release them all, because the other DVDs are seriously lacking in the transfer and special features.

All in all, she’s way up on my heroes list right now.  There’s nothing like relatives who like to spoil you with gifts.  By the way, thea, I keep my Amazon list updated frequently and take things off when I get them…everything on there now is current.  I’ll try to find some other things to put on there (that aren’t Frank Lloyd Wright books or DVDs that aren’t even out yet).

So I’m still here, just in a near vegetative state.  I get up every once in a while to go make a gyro, but that’s really the extent of my daily exercise.  Tivo really is the greatest invention since the Internet.

My obsession with Firefly has been reignited over the past week. It seems like my obsessions just cycle, with one taking over while another takes the backseat for a while. For example, when I stopped listening to Rent five times a day I began rewatching Firefly with Matt. This was then replaced by Orson Welles movies and documentaries. Last week was Rent-tastic, and now I’m back to Firefly. I just love the show so much that it actually makes me want to hurt Katie for not sharing in the love. I wish there was a way fans could contribute money to continue the series. Sure, there are DVD sales, etc. but I’m talking about something completely different. I want something where fans can donate to an account that would only be used if the second season or movie was greenlighted. This would prove to executives how much support they have and it would be backed up with hard cash instead of unreliable internet polls. This all came about from a Fireflyfans.net poll about how much you would be willing to contribute to continuing the show. Needless to say, I checked the $100 or more per season box. I’ve thought about it before, and the amount of money I would seriously give is borderline irrational.

In a geeky fit of joy, I pre-ordered the Firefly documentary DVD “Done the Impossible” this week. It’s basically a labor of love by hardcore Browncoats, complete with an 80 minute documentary about how it went from a show to a movie, and hours and hours of special features. Almost all of the cast helped with the DVD through interviews and narration.

I’ve also begun watching Battlestar Galactica season 2. Now it’s a great show, and I’m glad it’s getting recognition but I can’t help but feel some spite. The show basically uses the formula that made Firefly great, but to greater acclaim that Firefly ever saw during its run. They stole the shaky cam zooms, the empowered female heroes, the lack of hope, the realistic portrayal of space as a soundless vacuum (with music always playing over the space scenes). The storyline is undoubtedly different (and much more religious) but a great debt is owed to Joss Whedon.

“Why Can’t I Be You” is my new guilty pleasure of summer. The episodes are short, and focus on building self-esteem so it is not quite as brainless as other crap (like Laguna Beach, the Hills or whatever else Brandon is watching this week). My favorite episode is the one where the gay model helps the pizza boy realize how fabulous he really is. The only problem with the show is the host, Nick Zano. To quote from my IMDb board post, “I think the host is a total tool. He condescends to all of the people on the show, as if they should be honored by his talentless presence. The guy makes situations more awkward than they need to be, and makes geeky kids feel like there is something wrong with them because they don’t look like him…MTV, please find a better host who doesn’t make the participants feel like *beep* They’re the ones taking a risk and putting themselves out there…don’t let this jerk knock them back down.” This was met with a badass response from bitchy_br: “You take it too seriosly, how does he make them feel like *beep* He just asks them about themselves and what they want to change and if they did.” Normally I would just have “bitchy” shot for sticking up for Zano and misspelling seriously, but I thought I might instead offer some examples of his degradation. Most of these are obvious to ANYONE who has ever seen five seconds of the show, but some retards can’t pick up on the obvious. Zano always makes inappropriate sexual inuendos, slapping asses, proding people about their sexuality and staring the girls up and down. These are not that bad, however, because they don’t directly take away from these kids’ self-esteem. Zano constantly pokes fun at people’s weaknesses in front of their faces, as if they weren’t standing right next to him. They’re left to stand there foolishly while Zano just smiles and makes another ridiculous joke. He is also far too honest in telling people how much better they look as the “new” them. His comments make the person feel as if there really was something wrong with them before, which is a terrible message to give any of the contestants. For a show about self-esteem, MTV has chosen a cocky, arrogant host who ultimately hurts the show. May he burn in F-list hell.

Are we ever going to have an Unseen Movie Marathon? I still think we should, even if it’s just Brandon, Merbitch and me. It’s already gotten out that my movie is going to be Battle Royale, but I was also thinking about showing A Bronx Tale. This week I realized that the kid who plays ‘C’ at age 9 is Francis Capra, from Veronica Mars! He’s actually amazing in the movie, and I can’t believe I didn’t put the two together earlier. Funny side story; Lillo Brancato, who plays ‘C’ when he’s older is currently in jail facing murder charges for killing an off duty police officer. The kid was plucked off the streets and given the opportunity of a lifetime (by Robert DeNiro, no less!) and he just ends up becoming a drug addicted hack.

No matter how many movies I have to watch or TV shows I have downloaded, I keep putting them aside to watch and re-watch episodes of Scrubs. I also spent most of yesterday watching disc 1 of Arrested Development season one. This brings me to my next topic: I have ranked my top five favorite television shows of all time. This list was made in about ten minutes, and I’m sure it will change a lot over time, but all five shows are incredible. Let’s begin.

5. The Sopranos
This show probably has the best acting of any show on the list. James Gandolfini turns in one of the most nuanced and quietly brutal performances ever seen on television. Many critics have compared his powerful performance to those of Marlon Brando, which is pretty much the best compliment you can give an actor as far as I’m concerned. The storylines for the first five seasons are possibly the best dramatic writing in the history of television. The sixth season was hit or miss, but still better than almost everything put out. Of course, I love anything to do with the mafia, but the show can appeal to almost anybody (*Hint hint* people who claim to be my friends need to start watching this).

4. Seinfeld
This show about nothing that was so much more than that. I purchased the first six seasons on DVD and think it was one of the best things I’ve ever done. The episodes, while occasionally dated, continue to work incredibly well. The laugh track is occasionally annoying, but the show is so good that I’m usually laughing along with it and don’t notice. I’m sure that I will own ever season of this show eventually. I can’t say that for any other show with nine seasons. No other show with nine seasons is worth it, nor are they as consistently good.

3. Arrested Development
Probably the most quotable show on the list. This is Brandon’s favorite TV show and undoubtedly the best thing I have started watching this year. I saw the first episode of the show three years ago with Emily Driskill and thought it was amazing, but never took the initiative to watch the rest until Brandon encouraged everyone. I really had no idea what I was missing. Almost everything about the show is perfect, from the completely immoral characters to the outrageous plotlines. This will probably go down as the most underappreciated show of the 2000s.

2. Firefly
Joss Whedon’s gift to the world. I have an irrational love of Firefly. Actually, it’s completely rational and well-thought out, but the emotion I attach to these 14 episodes is overwhelming. I love everything about the show, and would do just about anything to continue seeing the stories put on screen, in whatever format. I have always said that if I had millions to spare, it would all go towards producing more Firefly. Unfortunately, as time goes on, it looks less and less likely that we will ever see these characters on film again. I can’t believe I’ve only known about this show for seven months! Regardless, I believe Firefly will remain the most influential sci-fi show of our generation. “Out of Gas” is an incredible accomplishment in every way.

1. Scrubs
This is a completely personal choice. This show probably doesn’t have the consistent greatness of Firefly or AD, but it is undoubtedly my favorite. I could watch Scrubs on repeat for the rest of my life and never get bored. The characters are all so rich with detail and the actors really bring them to the next level. I absolutely love every major character, which is rare for a sitcom. Bill Lawrence set out to make a live-action version of the Simpsons in a hospital, and he ended up with something far greater. It is the perfect blend of humor and tragedy, with enough quirkiness to last a lifetime. “My Screwup” is possibly the best 30 minutes of television ever filmed.
Hopefully this will be posted sometime in the next month, but it’s very likely that everything I wrote will be outdated by the time you are reading this.

This week was shorter than the list of boys Lea-whats-er-bitch has kissed.  Nothing of interest happened, and I wasn’t able to watch any of my favorite television shows.  I haven’t heard anything about the Scrubs episodes, but I heard Lost was amazing.  I still have to catch up on three weeks of Veronica Mars, and no one cares about the O.C.  The only thing that matters to me right now is the two hour finale of Arrested Development that airs in a few hours.  I hear that the show might not continue, because the creator is unsure whether or not he wants to keep making them.  Let’s all hope that that changes, because I would cry if this is it.  Besides, so many shows have been cancelled in the last five years only to find a huge audience on DVD (Family Guy, Firefly, etc.).  The show would be perfect on Showtime, where the actors would be free to do whatever they like.  If you don’t know if the show would work with swearing, just watch the extended pilot…there’s tons of swearing in it and it’s all hilarious.
I just started watching the three hour Battlestar Galactica mini-series today after school.  It’s much better than I thought it would be, but I really wish they would stop wasting money on sound effects associated with space battles.  When you make a show for nerds, they don’t expect for there to be any sound in space.  Why can’t people just learn from Firefly and create a show that is both realistic and entertaining?  Regardless, the camera work and story in Battlestar Galactica are good enough to keep my interest.  There are a lot of shaky zooms in the space scenes that look like they were pulled directly from Firefly.
Note:  It seems like some of the scenes actually are muted in space, while others are obviously not.  Regardless, it’s unnecessary.
In other, less nerdy news, The Valentine’s party/excuse to get drunk and hook up with strangers is tomorrow at the girls’ apartment.  Hopefully there will be lots of alcohol, because if I’m not plastered I’ll be very annoying and awkward.  Katie and I stole about 100 salsa dishes from Baja Fresh today that will be used to make jello shots.  Speaking of alcohol, how are you, Leahanne (Merbitch)?  Sorry, I just automatically associate you and your favorite substance.

Also, in regards to my new nickname (Miss Independent for those of you who don’t read Brandon’s website), I think it should be Mizz Independent, to add some edge.  I can’t really change my own nickname, though, so it’ll have to be up to Brandon.

Leahanne needs to update her website.  That’s all I’m going to say about that.

I don’t think this is going to get posted until tomorrow, when I can actually edit it and think of something interesting to say.  Actually, that’s a lie, I’m not going to edit anything; I’m just going to add some pictures.

So how does everyone else feel about the Danish cartoon scandal?  As someone who is not religious, it’s hard for me to not be extremely critical of the whole situation.  Once again people are calling for violence and murder as a result of their religious beliefs.  It’s scary, but incidents like this remind me of the huge gap between the fundamentalist Islams and the West.  It’s also scary how Muslims have been attacking governments for the actions of a few individuals.  The Danish government did nothing to offend Muslim countries, yet their embassies are being burned to the ground as a result of a newspaper’s actions.  I can’t help but think what would’ve happened if the cartoons were first published in America.  Frankly, I’m surprised they weren’t.  Regardless, I believe the response is outrageous.  Mohammed was simply a man and much of the Muslim world is worshipping him as an infallible God who cannot be criticized.  Islam is a transcendent, monotheistic religion and this treatment of Mohammed would seem to me to be diverting attention from the One True God.  Anyway, I thought this quotation from Wikipedia was interesting:

Daniel Pipes argues that the pattern of events shows Muslim hypocrisy and supremacism: “…will Westerners accede to a double standard by which Muslims are free to insult Judaism, Christianity, Hinduism and Buddhism, while Muhammad, Islam and Muslims enjoy immunity from insults? Muslims routinely publish cartoons far more offensive than the Danish ones… …. …. The deeper issue here, however, is not Muslim hypocrisy but Islamic supremacism.”

I just don’t understand why violence or death is an acceptable punishment for insulting a prophet.  If what I am doing is wrong, then God will judge me so.  We all need to realize that people can believe whatever they want, and if they are wrong or blasphemous then God is the only one with the power to decide this.  As long as you are leading your life in the way you believe is right, there should be no conflict of interest.  Unfortunately, a large section of the religious world (both east and west) seems to disagree.

It’s sad, because I don’t think the Middle East will ever see true democracy or freedom until they are able to accept true freedom of speech, including blasphemous and critical views of their own culture.  The church is so deeply rooted in these countries, however, that it will take generations for such change to occur.  I wonder who the Voltaire of the Middle East is going to be?  I know I’m desperately awaiting his arrival…