Weekly Wodehouse #29

"A spasm of Napoleonic energy seized Sam. He dropped silently to the floor and concealed himself under the desk. Napoleon was always doing that sort of thing."

~P.G. Wodehouse

Unferth and Grendel on Heros (Grendel)

"Go ahead and scoff," [Unferth] said, petulant. "Except in the life of a hero, the whole world's meaningless. The hero sees values beyond what's possible. That's the nature of a hero. It kills him, of course, ultimately. But it makes the whole struggle of humanity worthwhile."

~Grendel by John Gardner

Rowen Atkinson's Guide to a First Date

The Hug

I hug you, because we're friends,
but when I go to pull away,
you still hold onto me.
And I'm trapped for a second
in the gentle warmth of your embrace.
That one second felt like an eternity
because I sensed something from you
that I could not feel in myself.
But even so...
I think I'd still hug you again.

OMG!!!!!! 200 blog posts! :D

Thanks, everyone, for sticking around this long :) Especially want to say thanks to my most devoted followers:


-Javmango
-Steven Cain
-OldFool
-The Soviet Chairman
-Chester
-Sarahkasper
-Robby Spratt


You guys are all awesome! :) *Warm fuzzies inside*

The New Blog

Hey, guys! Here's the link to my movie review blog...

http://www.cinemasweetheart.blogspot.com/

You don't have to subscribe if you don't want to...this is mostly just for people who are really interested in learning about new movies. Currently, I just have an introduction post, but I'm going to have movie reviews up very soon, so check in ;)

Don't worry...Ramblings isn't going anywhere...Cinema Sweetheart is just a side project that I wanted to work on since I joined my school's film club.

Have a good night, everyone!

Movie Blog

Thanks to a display of interest from several of you, I've decided to do the movie blog. I just have a few questions for you guys...First, do you have any ideas for blog titles? And also, do you have any ideas for profile names? I was hoping for something catchy, like a cooler version of "Movie Girl" or "Film Fan". Any ideas?

Another Blog?

I'm thinking about starting another blog...this one completely devoted to movie reviews, trivia, clips, and publicity stills. The question I have is this: how many of you would subscribe to this new blog? (Don't feel bad if you wouldn't; that's completely okay, I'm just asking). The only thing that would be different is that I'd control this blog via a different account, so I could give out the link to more people I know (I kinda like the anonymous quality of this one...you all know this is Emmy, but just Emmy...and most of the people I write about don't know that this is me. I'd like to give out a link for a movie blog to some of the people in the Cinema Society I belong to, but at the same time, I don't want all of them to know about what I write here....does that make sense? I'm not sure if it does or not...if it doesn't, please tell me (or tell me if it does, too :P) But, please, either way, let me know if you'd be interested in a movie blog. Not sure yet if I'll do it, but wanted to get some feedback on it all the same.

Weekly Wodehouse #28

If I had to choose between him and a cockroach as a companion for a walking-tour, the cockroach would have had it by a short head.

~P.G. Wodehouse

A Girl's Night Out

The wonderful Roomie and I have been stuck in classes all week, and finally decided that we needed a break. So, when the school offered a trip out into the world beyond the campus for dinner and a late-night showing of Easy A, how could we resist?

The dinner was at a local restaurant/bar, which was either full of smoke (with the doors closed) or had the doors open and was freezing cold. The chicken fried rice was amazing, and I almost learned how to use chopsticks--ALMOST.

Easy A was really funny. Starring Emma Stone, its a hilarious chick flick loosely based on Hawthorne's Scarlet Letter. Olive Pendergrast, wallflower, finds herself suddenly in the center of attention at her high school when a rumor gets out that she slept with a college student. Soon, gay guy Brandon asks her to pretend to have sex with him so that people will stop picking on him because of his sexuality. And the rumor starts to grow out of control, as Olive pretends to sleep with guys for gift cards, and begins to wear a red letter "A" on all of her tops in her slutty new wardrobe. But, when she realizes that her life is falling apart, is it already too late to change things? Watch the movie and find out :P

I had a wonderful time tonight, but the strangest thing was this: when I left the movie, there were two guys in my head. One you might have heard about, I won't say for certain...the other one...well, I KNOW I've never mentioned him before. It's going to be interesting I guess. Well...I'm tired; g'night!

Is It Bad...

That I grab the daily paper every day after classes, but only read the comics?

Hrothgar--Where is Grendel's Mother (Beowulf)

"A few miles from here
a frost-stiffened wood waits and keeps watch
above a mere; the overhanging bank
is a maze of tree-roots mirrored on its surface.
At night there, something uncanny happens:
the water burns. And the mere bottom
has never been sounded by the sons of men.
On its bank, the heather-stepper halts:
the hart in flight from pursuing hounds
will turn and face them with firm-set horns
and die in the wood rather than dive
beneath its surface. That is no good place.
When the wind blows up and stormy weather
makes clouds scud and the skies weep,
out of its depths a dirty surge
is pitched toward the heavens. Now help depends
again on you and on you alone.
The gap of danger where the demon waits
is still unknown to you. Seek it if you dare.
I will compensate you for settling the feud
as I did the last time with lavish wealth,
coffers of coiled gold, if you come back."

How Beowulf Should Have Ended

Today is President Taft's Birthday...

He would have been 153 years old today. And I've been wanting to post this video for a while...Enjoy!

Fruit Fast (I'm sorry)

I know that everyone was curious about how my fruit fast was going to go, but I'm sad to say that after one day, its off. Sadly, as a college student, I don't have the funds to buy truckloads of fruit. The fruit fast is an interesting idea, but I have to pay for a ton of fruit, because I'm hungry if I don't. You actually have to eat double your usual meal amount in fruit to compensate for the lost calories. I've been starving all day, and I'm so sick of apples! We have like no fruit...just apples and fruit salad and some really nasty looking oranges. Yes, I know its only three days, but I have had such a craving for like everything besides fruit that its not even funny. Ironically, I've fasted before; no problem. I'm Catholic, so I fast at least twice a year. However, fasting was easy compared to this. Its strange; you wouldn't think that it would be so hard to go a whole day and only eat fruit...but strangely enough, it leaves me hungrier than when I pretty much starve myself. Huh. Maybe after I graduate and have the time and money to try again, I will. Just, not for right now.

Fruit Fast Update

Okay, so today is the first day of my "fruit fast" which, for those of you who didn't read yesterday's post, involves going three days eating nothing but fruit, and drinking nothing but fruit juice and water. I'm going to post a day to day "log" for the next three days, detailing to everyone what I eat, how I feel, and if I'm satisfied with the results of the experiment. The fast is supposed to help improve your skin, eyes, hair, and just about everything else. Its sort of a "body cleanse" and the body is supposed to have an easier time absorbing the nutrients from the fruit since there is nothing else in the stomach to prevent this. Also, I want to give a quick "shout out" to John Romeo Alpha for requesting the results of my study.

The results of Day One will be posted later tonight, just before I go to bed, so I can give you a complete listing of my results. :)

Fruit Fast

Today I got an email from my dad about the benefits of fruit. Stuff like "eat fresh fruit on an empty stomach" and how fruit has been shown in some studies to cure cancer. Toward the bottom of the email, was a detailed little bit about a "Fruit Fast," which basically involves eating nothing but fruit (fresh, not canned) and drinking nothing but fruit juice (again, fresh) for three days. I'm going to supplement it by also drinking water, but apart from that, I'm going to be eating nothing but fruit. From the email...

But eating a whole fruit is better than drinking the juice. If you should drink the juice, drink it mouthful by mouthful slowly, because you must let it mix with your saliva before swallowing it. You can go on a 3-day fruit fast to cleanse your body. Just eat fruits and drink fruit juice throughout the 3 days and you will be surprised when your friends tell you how radiant you look!

So, today I stocked up on some Red Delicious Apples and fruit juice. Of course, the dining hall has fruit, so this is just stuff is just for breakfast and perhaps a snack. I'm going to start as of now, I think. I'm very excited. Its going to be a little over three days (three days morning to night plus one afternoon/dinner) but I think it'll have the same effect. After my fruit fast is over, I'll be able to tell you all about how it turned out :)

What a Night!

Okay, so the wonderful Roomie and I are just chilling in the dorm, trying to do homework (or not) and I was swatting away at the occasional midge from in front of my computer screen or flicking it off the pages of my book, when suddenly, I decide to turn around and simply look at the wall above our beds. I don't know what provoked me, but when I did look, I really wish I hadn't. There were about a gazillion of these nasty little bugs, all midges like this:

all over the walls and ceiling! (Now, of course, this picture is greatly magnified; they aren't super huge bugs, but still, they're disgusting, and they were crawling on the walls and ceiling, and some were in our beds! So, the Roomie and I did the only thing we could think of. We went to the neighbors and asked to borrow a vacuum.

Hmmm...Apparently, the vacuum doesn't solve this problem; we were welcome to use it, they said, but they tried yesterday, and it didn't do to much. So, being the wonderful neighbors that they were, they threw of pack of Lysol wipes at us and said good luck.

When we got back to the room, we set to work attacking the nasty little pests with painters tape, simply sticking it to them as we smashed them into the wall. We climbed on beds and desks to reach all of them, and then afterwards, we used hairspray and a blow-dryer. It was the insect equivalent of the Battle of Thermopylae; we were the Persians beating the shit of the insect Greeks.

To celebrate our victory, we went into the lobby, each with a can of Orange Crush. And we were having a pleasant time, too, talking to some of our neighbors from down the hall, when the fire alarm went off for the third time in a week! The first time was dust, the second time was (and I quote) "a dust," and this time was some idiot who didn't realize that you don't cook popcorn for FOUR MINUTES! We had to stand outside without coats in the chilly weather, the Roomie in her pajamas, and me in a low cut tank top. I felt kinda skanky.

I can't believe what a night this has been! AND, I still need to do my homework....ah well, Beowulf can wait until tomorrow, I guess.

A Poem in Old English

N.B. Please pardon my grammar; I'm sure that its not correct, although I've tried to translate to the best of my ability using an online dictionary and an online translator. So, please don't smite me down for improper grammar, word order, cases, or whatever else should earn me a prompt smiting. Mostly, I wanted to write a poem, I wanted to write it in Old English, but, I haven't taken the Old English Language course yet....Oh well...Enjoy the poem :)

Ic i wéne sum cniht

eac wyrtgernang meolc æðm,

eac pylecan brúnne feax

ond déop brúnne heáfodsiéna;

ond twelf Johnny Depp rósan.

Of Mice and Men Fan Art

Is It Enough to See You?

I saw you from a distance, walking the edge of the beach.
Your men were nearby, and yet you were not with them.
I was scared, but I approached you anyway,
My gut clenched into too many knots, because I feared what would ensue.

Your whispered name escaped my lips,
And you turned to me at once...
And you smiled. You smiled at me!
I never expected that.

You were kind in your words, gentle, even
And I admit that I was blown away by this reception.
My heart was beating too hard, pounding in my chest
So hard that I thought it bruised my ribs.
You bruised my ribs; bruised my heart.

Nectar lost its sweetness tonight,
Ambrosia tasted like sand in my mouth.
But it was enough to see you,
Your eyes the green of the ocean
And your hair dark with the spray of the sea
And when you looked at me, you consumed me
Body and soul, if only for a second.
I guess I should say thank-you
Because this gave me closure.

And most of all, you remembered me,
Remembered whispered secrets I had given
And you had kept them all this time.
Thinking of that now, I almost want to cry
Because all I could remember is the deepness of your eyes
And the touch of your hand.

I remembered your body
But you remembered my soul.

~Calypso

Weekly Wodehouse #27

“He felt like a man who, chasing rainbows, has had one of them suddenly turn and bite him in the leg.”

~P.G. Wodehouse

Lennie and Crooks

Crooks scowled, but Lennie's disarming smile defeated him. "Come on in and set a while," Crooks said. "Long as you won't get out and leave me alone, you might as well set down." His tone was a little more friendly.

~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

George and Lennie

"Guys like us, that work on ranches, are the loneliest guys in the world. They got no family. They don't belong no place. They come to a ranch an' work up a stake and then they go inta town and blow their stake, and the first thing you know they're pounding their tail on some other ranch. They ain't got nothing to look ahead to."

Lennie was delighted. "That's it--that's it. Now tell how it is with us."

George went on. "With us it ain't like that. We got a future. We got somebody to talk to that gives a damn about us. We don't have to sit in no bar room blowin' in our jack jus' because we got no place else to go. If them other guys gets in jail they can rot for all anybody gives a damn. But not us."

Lennie broke in. "But not us! An' why? Because....because I got you to look after me, and you got me to look after you, and that's why!" He laughed delightedly.

~John Steinbeck, Of Mice and Men

Curly & Curly's Wife

Of Mice and Men Cover Art