And we're back...

Whew! Been a long time. But I'm feeling like I don't want to work SO here I am.  Haha apparently, finding new jobs, finals, having children, etc. really fills up our lives!  But I thought I'd lighten the mood and give a review of a movie I know at least two of my other Hackers has seen. 

Now I did not see the 3D version, one because they are 5 extra dollars here in Michigan, and also because I truly dislike 3D movies.  But I did go to a late night version with my friend and a blanket and it was awesome.  This movie was super cute and I totally adored all the voices in it.  The dragons were SO dang cute and I loved that they didn't talk.  I think it totally would have ruined the movie if the dragons had talked.  And it allowed them to have such cute facial expressions.  Overall it was just a super cute cartoon and is added to my growing list of favorites.  What can I say, I'm just a kid at heart always.

Some other things that I've been enjoying lately are the abundance of good tv shows on.  My favs include:
*In Plain Sight.  Honestly I just can't get enough of this show.
*Cougartown.  So funny and I love Courtney Cox and the neighbor.
*Modern Family.  Funny. The. End.
*Justified.  Oh my Timothy Olyphant.  Him and his Southern accent I could watch all day and night...
*Glee.  As always.  Love the singing and love that crazy Sue Sylvester is back.
Love it.

April 30th

This is coming to Phoenix's Dodge Theater April 30th:

Possibly the best tour title ever (his exit agreement with NBC even prohibited him from giving interviews until September, they really don't want him spreading any stories about what horrible people they are. Fortunately Andy Richter is doing it for him- did you see him guest hosting with Kelly on "Regis & Kelly" last week? It was awesome.) Also, Conan is not making any money off of this personally- he's doing all right with his $32.5 million from NBC, of course- but instead is employing his former staffers to work the tour.

So, I'm going to be 32 weeks along in this pregnancy tomorrow, and because of the horrible ending of the last one we're looking at inducing at the earliest at 36 weeks (April 12th) or at the latest April 26th. How bad would it be to take 5 day old, 1 week and 5 days old, or 2 weeks and 5 days old baby to a Conan show? It's never too early to teach them what's really funny in life, right?

Jane Austen is a Genius

Last night I was reading "Northanger Abbey," the fifth book of my journey through the writings of Jane Austen that I've undertaken this year. So far, its proving to be my least favorite; she uses a different writing style, the characters aren't nearly as likable, and the women are even less engaged in useful activities than her previous works.

But then last night, I read a passage that absolutely cracked me up and I had to get up in order to not wake up my sleeping husband. Silly young heroine Catherine Morland is talking to two of her older (and obviously wiser) friend:

Catherine begins with "I can read poetry and plays, and things of that sort, and do not dislike travels. But history, real solemn history, I cannot be interested in. Can you?"

"Yes, I am fond of history."

"I wish I were too. I read it a little as a duty; but it tells me nothing that does not either vex or weary me. The quarrels of popes and kings, with wars and pestilences in every page; the men all so good for nothing, and hardly any women at all, it is very tiresome; and yet I often think it odd that it should be so dull, for a great deal of it must be invention. The speeches that are put into the heroes' mouths, their thoughts and designs; the chief of all this must be invention, and invention is what delights me in other books."

"Historians, you think," said Miss Tilney, "are not happy in their flights of fancy. They display imagination without raising interest. I am fond of history, and am very well contented to take the false with the true. In the principal facts they have sources of intelligence in former histories and records, which may be as much depended on, I conclude, as anything that does not actually pass under one's own observation; and as for the little embellishments you speak of, they are embellishments, and I like them as such. If a speech be well drawn up, I read it with pleasure, by whomsoever it may be made; and probably with much greater, if the production of Mr. Hume or Mr. Robertson, than if the genuine words of Caractacus, Agricola, or Alfred the Great."

"You are fond of history! And so are Mr. Allen and my father; and I have two brothers who do not dislike it. So many instances within my small circle of friends is remarkable! At this rate, I shall not pity the writers of history any longer. If people like to read their books, it is all very well; but to be at so much trouble in filling great volumes, which, as I used to think, nobody would willingly ever look into, to be labouring only for the torment of little boys and girls, always struck me as a hard fate; and though I know it is all very right and necessary, I have often wondered at the person's courage that could sit down on purpose to do it."

"That little boys and girls should be tormented," said Henry," is what no one at all acquainted with human nature in a civilised state can deny; but in behalf of our most distinguished historians, I must observe, that they might well be offended at being supposed to have no higher aim; and that by their method and style they are perfectly well qualified to torment readers of the most advanced reason and mature time of life. I use the verb 'to torment,' as I observed to be your own method, instead of 'to instruct,' supposing them to be now admitted as synonymous."

"You think me foolish to call instruction a torment; but if you had been as much used as myself to hear poor little children first learning their letters, and then learning to spell, if you had ever seen how stupid they can be for a whole morning together, and how tired my poor mother is at the end of it, as I am in the habit of seeing almost every day of my life at home, you would allow, that to torment and to instruct might sometimes be used as synonymous words."

"Very probably. But historians are not accountable for the difficulty of learning to read; and even you yourself, who do not altogether seem particularly friendly to very severe, very intense application, may perhaps be brought to acknowledge that it is very well worth while to be tormented for two or three years of one's life, for the sake of being able to read all the rest of it."

If only I had read this before going to grad school and spending six years getting a Ph.D. in history! I think Catherine's perspective gives me a little insight into the minds of the Arizona Board of Regents, and the State Legislature. And its really too bad they aren't as smart as Mr. Henry Tilney. This would be a much better state to live in if they were.

? of the Week

Ok guys it has been a while since we had a ? and so I thought I would post one. Ok here it is a simple ? from me for once barely any thinking to do. You can answer as much or as little as you want. I am going to call this ? The Roll Call.

What are the last books, CDs & movies you have read, listen to or seen? And what did you think about them? Or what are you in the middle of right now?

I will post my answer tonight, but I love to know what people are in the middle of so that is my ?.

ABBEY. Oh em gee, stop the presses, I am blogging. My brain has been back on static mode and I can't see through it to think about much. It's tuning back in though, so, phew. Here we go *rubbing hands together*:
Books: Slashed through the Vampire Diaries books finally, and I thought the books were lame. The show is 1000 times better, I hate Elena way less on the show than I did in the books. Cdub did a fantastic job with this one, I heartily commend all the (numerous) changes they made. I also read a book my mom gave me a yearish ago called the Whistling Season by Ivan Doig. The writing was probably some of the best descriptional work I've ever read, and I felt myself swooning as I do when I listen to piano music. It was magical to read. The problem was that the story was boring. So boring. Conflicting feelings on this one because it was so great to read, but I wished the entire time there was a little more action. If you're hungering for lovely reading though, then I recommend.
Movies: Saw Couples Retreat, hahlarious. Vince Vaughn is creeping up my list of favorite comedians, I love all the words and the smart stuttering. Plus "There isn't much to say" is probably one of the best lines I've ever heard. The girls were good on this one too, I thought Kristen Bell (new fav girl) was great as a neurotic organized person. I got to see When in Rome (with Kara!), and it was super cute. Josh Duhamel is super cute and a great comedian as well. Plus I enjoyed the return of Napoleon, and Dax Shepard was totally awesome as someone suffering greatly from narcissism ("I'm going to have to say I didn't really learn much from this experience, but I'm glad I got to help you grow!..."). Nice abs too, Dax. Mmmm.
Music: Adam Lambert is still unreachably high on my playlist, and if my computer hadn't contracted a virus no antibiotic would touch, I would also do that review right now too. But since I have a sad pathetic memory, I'll have to wait until I have 3.7 hours to put my music back on this machine. I just moments ago downloaded Ray LaMontagne, and I fully recommend taking a listen to him on iTunes. I don't know why, but I am a super fan of the breathy, raspy men (Matt Wertz is a frickin' fantastic example of this, do yourself a favor and check him out as well). I totally just want to chill whilst listening to my new best bud Ray. I feel calm. Now if my husband were home, we'd totally pull a 1950's married couple and dance together swaying in the middle of the living room.
I need recommendations for books girls, so get 'em up here!

Cory
Ok here we go on the nightstand at the moment The Historian digging it greatly, hardly in but this story is mesmerizing. And all the little European towns in it are very enchanting love to read about places where old meets new. It is also about vampires, but so not! More of an academic mystery. Vamp D books I heard were awful so sorry you had to go through that Abbey. 2 fave authors I recently rediscovered were Alice Hoffman and Billie Letts so check them out as far as recommendations go.

I know I did not say but TV, add that in. Ok I am currently obsessed with Supernatural. I always wanted to watch it but never got the chance, but since there is now cable & syndication & the lovely DVR!!! I got my chance and I am loving Jensen Ackles his whole cocky but actually really sweet guy thing works for me in all the right ways.

Last movie I watched was Kinky Boots a British comedy about a shoe factory that starts to make ummm shoes for men who dress like women. Because it is a market they can sell too and also it might keep their factory open. Besides they too need well made shoes in the latest fashions As always the people in it have more layers than thoughts and the human spirit wins so yay! I also saw When in Rome and agree with all of Abbey's comments. Kristin Bell will always be my girl because of Veronica Mars.

Music V.V. Brown has an amazing CD out it is upbeat and fun yet still smart and the more I listen the more I dig. Brenden Bensen also has a great CD, if you want a more alternative option. Plus I swear at times he sounds just like Paul McCartney which freaks me out in the good way. Ok that is all I got- what about the rest of you?

Kara

Books: I'm working through the collected works of Jane Austen this year. It started over Christmas when I began reading "Sense & Sensibility," but then forget it at my mom's house when I came home. Then I realized my grandmother had given me some of her old classics when she and my grandpa downsized to a smaller house, and she owned a book that has all 6 of Austen's novels. "Sense & Sensibility" was the first one, so I finished it and then kept going. My goal was to finish them all by the end of the year, but its the end of February and I've already read 4, so I may beat that! Although that means I've gotta get through "Mansfield Park" & "Northanger Abbey" before the baby comes . . . probably not going to happen. I love them, I think they're fabulous, but I constantly think, "My word, these women do nothing." Their entire lives consist of visiting people and planning picnics and playing the piano or drawing. It's absurd and totally confirms my opinion that for women, there are no good old days. So far "Pride & Prejudice" is my favorite. Nobody writes smart, opinionated women like Jane.

Music: I haven't been doing too much new with music lately, sad to say, but tonight on the way home from my friend's mom's funeral, I heard a wonderful Pearl Jam song that made me cry. The DJ said its called "Just Breathe," which is a lame title, but it was beautiful. I'm about to download it off iTunes so I can memorize it (and probably cry again) but the line I'm remembering right now that stood out to me was in the very beginning, and he sings something like "I'm lucky to be able to count the people I love on two hands, some people can do only one and some people have none."

Movies: Again, not too much new here, but Abbey and I had a much needed girl's night last week and saw "When in Rome" and I totally loved it. Jon Heder is a genius, and Dax Shepard's line "I'm glad I got to help you grow" (see Abbey's earlier post) still makes me laugh. I'm constantly on the lookout for a chance to use that quote in my life. This isn't particularly a review of one movie, but I'd like to give a shout out to Netflix for making my teaching life significantly easier this semester. Thanks to their vast selection of historical documentaries that are all available for instant streaming, and ASU Poly's super mediated classrooms I teach in, I have been able to stream said documentaries from my personal laptop into the classroom's computer system. This is fantastic, because it allows me to only lecture for 45 mins then do portions of documentaries for the last half hour, and thus allows me to eat on my marathon teaching day. God bless Netflix.

HEIDI - Alright I guess I'm just a massive slacker this past week.... but I'll try and make up for it.
Okay I'll start with Books. I've got nothing. Really in the past two and half months since Christmas I've only read the entire Percy Jackson series (this is really not that impressive because I think each book took me about 4 hours each....). Well I suppose I also read Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom and I totally loved(!) it. I start the Poisonwood Bible on my trip to D.C. and it's interesting but I just haven't been in the mood to read much the past few weeks. Cor told me I should read The Help though so I'll check into that.
Music, I've totally been digging Kesha. I know she's super dirty in most her songs, well the ones on the radio, but if you search through her cd to Boots and Boys and Blind then you'll love it. Her beat is so catchy and just fun to rock out to. I've also been Lada Gaga obsessed a little bit, especially Telephone. And of course Adam Lambert. And I've rediscovered my love of punk rock in the form of my "reject boy" playlist (yes Abbey I am playlist obsessed but this playlist combines my love of Fall Out Boy, All American Rejects, Bowling for Soup, Hawthorne Heights, Green Day, and many others).
Movies....um ya sad to say but the last movie I saw in theatres was Holmes. Totally loved it though! Oh wait haha just a couple days ago Ab, Ben and I saw Valentine's Day. I was all ready to be skeptical of this movie but it was actually super funny and I totally loved it. On netflix I recently got Gamer, which was violent but I really liked it. It made me think in the way that Law Abiding Citizen made me think and love that. Plus the guy who plays Dexter was so amazingly fantastic I can't even describe. So violent but really intriguing. Oh I also watched Couples Retreat and totally agree with Ab on Vince Vaughn. Funny guy. And I watched the end of the world movie with Keanu Reeves as an alien.... can't remember the name right now...dang. It was actually passable. It was definitely about how we're destroying the earth but still had it's interesting parts... Tonight and tomorrow I'll be seeing Shutter Island and Alice in Wonderland so we'll see how those go.
Alright tv shows, on Netflix I've been working my way through Moonlight which is about a vampire who is a private investigator. I like it. I think I may be becoming a genre person in my like of vampire dramas but really they just intrigue me especially the different takes everyone has on the same horror. The past two weeks was taken over by the Olympics and I had to forego all other shows in an effort to keep up with what was happening. It was fun but I will be happy to go home and work through all those shows I've missed. Although I did keep up with The Soup because I can't go without it for a week. Ya I think that's all.

The Olympics

I don't know if this counts as a tv show or not but....I don't know what else it would be. Special feature maybe? Oh well, anyway, since my entertainment life has been entirely taken up by the Olympics in the past week and a half I thought I would mention a few of my thoughts about it.

 - While I love the Olympics and can't wait for every other year when they come around, is it really necessary for all my other shows to quit for two weeks (or in the most grievous case a month and a half)? Trust me, my tivo can handle it!

- Cross country. Honestly I think it's on every day. And to me it all looks like the same event. I can't tell the people apart, much less if they're men or women, and it just looks so unbelievably hard. I commend them greatly on their endurance (my Heaven their endurance and leg muscles!) but really I find you boring cross country. A contributing factor to this may also be the fact that the United States is really terrible at it. However, the announcer for cross country events gets SO excited about everything that is slowly happening, that each time I'm sucked in thinking it's interesting, and then I realize I don't know who he's talking about because he's using the people's names, and I need him to bring it down to my level and use the colors of their uniforms and poles. And the mass start biathalon is just sheer chaos! You have 20 people at one time on the shooting range and people are missing you don't know who's who and you just really need to give up.

- Men's figure skating. I'm curious as to when this sport changed from something that really strong, small men did, to where it's now somewhat of a make-up and costume competition. Don't get me wrong they're still amazingly strong but it just seems there's a higher percentage of guys batting for the other team then there used to be....

- Ice Dancing. Really this is a cool sport. I think that it flows really well and I like watching dancing on ice because the moves and turns seem so much smoother and just generally prettier. But the woman announcer just about drove me to insanity. She was a little to intense about her sport and how it is harder than any other Olympic sport....rrriiiiigggghhhhtttt. I think I should just watch it on mute. And the Russian pair really scared me. They are not people I'd like to meet in a dark alley because they strike me as completely psychotic. Did you see their creepy facial expressions while they were doing the weird Aboriginal dance????

- The snowboarders are my absolute favorite. Watching their interviews is just awesome because they're all so laid back and happy! You kind of wonder whether they care about winning or if they're just happy they found some snow they can ride on. Shaun White is AHmazing. And Johnny Moseley (yes I know he's skiing) is my Olympic crush....

 - I love Chris Collinsworth. He's my favorite NFL announcer and every fluff personal piece he does on random athletes I have to watch. I love his voice and he's just a funny guy. And Steven Colbert makes me laugh out loud. Especially with his moose.

- Why do they have to show the qualifying rounds of some of these sports? I honestly don't really care and isn't there other sports you could put on that aren't qualifying? Like a curling match or a hockey game.... I don't need to watch the quarters, semis, second semis, and two final rounds of short track speed skating (I'm not kidding that's how many rounds there was). Just give me the finals. Maybe this makes me impatient but I'd rather see a short time of a lot of different events then just one for 2 hours.

Okay this probably sounded like a lot of complaining. It really wasn't, just some observations I had and ideas on how to make it better. Because we all know the IOC and NBC wants my opinion. I do love the Olympics and will be sad to see them go for another two years....but happy to have my other shows back too :).

News?

I don't know if Jon Stewart qualifies as entertainment or news. I know there's been debate about this for awhile now, but I'll be totally honest here- I get way more of my "news" from his show than any other so-called news source. And it's much, much funnier- or at least intentionally funny. I often laugh at CNN and Fox News, but I don't think they'd appreciate the parts I think are funny.

But anyhow, I think because this clip is so funny, it can be on a blog related to criticizing all forms of media. But I also found this story both hilarious and disturbing, so of course I needed to share it. As Stewart says here, I now understand why South Carolina didn't try to impeach Governor Mark Sanford after he disappeared for a week to meet his Argentinian mistress (under the guise of "hiking the Appalachian Trail"- even his staff couldn't find him.) Their Lieutenant Governor is a nightmare! And he's now running for governor- and I believe is the leading Republican candidate. What?!? I would be okay with letting South Carolina secede (again) if this guy wins. There may be a good argument about not creating a dependency culture, but it should NOT involve starving children. Sheesh.

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I'm WIth Coco

I just finished watching Conan O'Brien's last "The Tonight Show" (which, incidentally, is probably the last time I'll watch that show myself) and man, I totally heart that guy.

I was at Abbey's house ridiculously late one night this week because of weird house title/deed stuff we had to get done, and as luck would have it our internet was knocked out by the storms we've been having in Phoenix. (Four inches of rain equalling is a storm is a little pathetic, but what are you gonna do? Us desert dwellers can't handle it.) I had her turn on Conan since Joel McHale was on- and I think we've pretty well documented what fans we HACKs are of McHale.

We started talking about what was going on with NBC deciding to essentially just blow up their late night programming schedule, and I was telling her about this clip that Conan showed when the whole debacle started going down. (Yes, I'm excited that I've finally learned how to embed videos! Welcome to technology that was available about 2 decades ago, Kara!) This sums it up pretty nicely, I think:

So basically, NBC is the heartless pimp (although is there any other kind?) out for profit, which is interesting because they're not really making any right now anyway, can we say 4th place network? And Conan is the nice ho who's getting screwed.

I've always been a big fan of Conan, I started watching Late Night with Conan O'Brien when I was old enough (ie when I went to college and could stay up as late as I wanted) and have loved him ever since. I don't think he was as funny at the 10:35 time slot yet as he was a little later (lets face it, not all jokes play well at that time slot and you have to kind of tone it down- or go to cable- speaking of, might I propose some sort of Comedy Central venture with a Conan/Stewart/Colbert lineup?) But he was still hilarious. I watched Leno's 9pm show about twice and its not funny. I didn't think he was particularly funny when he was on "The Tonight Show" and never really watched then- so I guess the fact that I will probably never watch the show again isn't really going to hurt NBC's numbers too much, given I've only been watching for the past 7 months. Eh. I don't think Letterman is funny, he's always struck me as sort of a dirty old man (which apparently is true, if his recent tabloid struggles are any indication) and I find Paul Schaefer grating. Jimmy Kimmel is funny, he's better at taped gags or pre-recorded stuff than a monologue though, but since he comes on after Nightline and I'm not a huge fan of our local ABC news station, I'm never watching that channel and usually only see his stuff online. I recently was told I would like Craig Ferguson, so I checked out his show after Letterman and I do indeed think he's pretty funny. I also would've guessed he was drunk, except apparently he doesn't do that anymore. But his show conflicts with my viewing of "The Daily Show" & "The Colbert Report," which are my late night priorities, and the reason why I never watched all of Conan when he was on so late.

So, all that to say, I was thrilled when he got "The Tonight Show" gag because it really filled in that hour of television-less time in my late night schedule. Goodness knows I have nothing else to do with that time period, and Conan is a great way to end your day. Right before Stewart and Colbert, if I can stay awake that long. If not, its great online naptime viewing! Cory and Heidi are big fans of making top ten lists, and I'm not sure if I'll get all the way to ten, but over the past few weeks I've been thinking of all the ways I love Senor Conando, so here's a list:

1. He's smart. Like, ridiculously smart. Dude went to Harvard, wrote for SNL, The Simpsons, then got the Late Night gig when Letterman got hosed out of "The Tonight Show" (by Jay Leno too, hmm, pattern?) and had a terrible early run, but found his stride somewhere through the second season and rocked it for 16 years. He knows historical and pop culture references and uses them with ease, which also makes him cool (well, in my book, and I hold a Ph.D. in history, so we all know how cool I am.)

2. He's self-depricating. I guess maybe you have to be, with hair like that, but I'm finding that the older I get in life, I just can't deal with people who can't be self-depricating. They're annoying. They take themselves too seriously and that makes them irritating, and often exhausting, to be around. Leno's humor is actually kind of pompous (things like "Jaywalking," while admittedly funny, are designed to put himself in a superior light to the poor saps he accosts on the street.) Conan doesn't do that. He does gross (Masturbating Bear- or Self-Pleasuring Grizzly, as Robin Williams suggested he rename the bear when he goes to another network because NBC claims to "own" all of his "intellectual property.") He does weird physical comedy (string dance, funny spin and jump thing he opens his shows with, sometimes he just hops around the cameras.) This annoys some people, who find him juvenile, but its actually brilliant because he is perfectly comfortable being the butt of the joke himself. Everyone watching can just be entertained, and nobody needs to feel belittled. Well, except for NBC lately, but some people just deserve it.

3. He supports new artists. I've seen a lot of new musical groups and bands on his Late Night show, and he continued the pattern with "The Tonight Show," making sure he booked up and coming guests as well as established, crowd pleasing names. Neil Young said as much after he played "Long May You Run" on Conan's last show.

4. He invites guests just for the fun of it. Yes, late night guests are plugging new projects, and we all know that when we watch, but it can get annoying. Conan does it too, he has to, but he also brings on friends who are just funny to watch him interact with. I don't know when the last time I saw Norm McDonald doing anything was, but he was on Conan's show about 3 times and was hilarious each time.

5. He has fun. When he signed off on "Late Night," he said a lot of people have done better shows than he has, but no one has had more fun doing it. And I think that's obvious when you watch his show. He's so happy doing his job, and that he can be as goofy and ridiculous as he wants to be, and that life has worked out so well for him, that its a pleasure to watch. The only other late night host I see the same enthusiasm from is Craig Ferguson, which is maybe why I enjoyed his show.

6. He's kind. On his last show, he said nobody gets what they think they're going to get from life, but if you work hard and you're kind, amazing things will happen. Right now, I'd say that it seems like if you're kind, you're gonna get screwed, but Conan would rather do the right thing to his own detriment than be unkind to others. Leno is getting his old time slot back because his show was a huge, unfunny failure at 9 pm. The network's first brilliant idea was to move Leno to a half hour show at 10:35, then have Conan air at 11:05, followed by Fallon and then I guess Carson Daly, although I have no idea what on earth he does at 1:30 in the morning or whenever he's on. Conan felt like this would fail (he was right, his show would seem repetitive after half an hour of Leno, and what on earth would Leno do with a half hour comedy show?) and rather than ruin the franchise, and probably muscle Jimmy Fallon out of a job too, he stepped aside. Because he's kind like that. I've heard people defending Jay Leno, saying he's such a good guy, but there's been two big late night wars, and he's been at the center of each of them. I'm kind of inclined to agree with Letterman and say, "This is vintage Jay."

Conan's getting over $30 million from his severance package (and paying his staff over $12 million personally- he did the same when the writer's strike aired, paid everyone who couldn't work out of his own pocket) and its not like he's going to be hurting financially ever, so I don't feel sorry for him in that sense. But money isn't everything, and watching his dream die and seeing him lose his dream job for such odd reasons is still kind of heartbreaking- even though he can laugh all the way to the bank.