Another fun film!

Hooray for back to back good films! First Stardust, and now The Nanny Diaries. First let me say that I have not read the book. I know. I know! But, I love Scarlett Johansson and Laura Linney so I thought it would be a good risk. (It's the same thing I thought about Evening and all great women touted in that film, and I got burned, so I was cautiously optimistic.) The set up is interesting, not at all like anything I've seen before. Annie's anthropological perspective is a refreshing blend of truth and whimsy and naiveté. Nicholas Reese Art is awesome as Grayson, Mr. and Mrs. X's son and Annie's charge. Laura Linney as Mrs. X is my favorite by far, beautiful, cold, and completely vulnerable. Completely enjoyable.

Also, I saw two previews of movies I am definitely going to try and see when they come out. The first is Martian Child, with John Cusak, about a widowed sci-fi writer who adopts a kid who believes he's from Mars. It looks like a great cast, and an interesting concept.

Also, Feast of Love looked really good. Another good cast including Morgan Freeman and Greg Kinnear, both of whom I love. Love Actually was such a great movie, and nothing has really matched it for me since. With this ensemble and Robert Benton directing I have high hopes that I may be able to add another favorite movie to my personal collection.

Computer Woes

I reported problems with my computer, specifically, I thought my hard drive was crapping out. The problem is related to the hard drive, a cable connection from the hard drive to the motherboard. This is a known issue with this particular model and there are no great fixes. Replacing the hard drive is not the issue. The one fix that seems reasonable...found on Epinions.com...taping the cable down. I opened the back of my computer exposing the hard drive. I had no idea what I was looking at. I poked around then gave up and closed it back up. I'm not sure what if anything I did, but I turned it on and it started up right away and has been working since. I'm pretty bummed about this problem because I love this machine. It's less than five pounds and super speedy. I guess all the traveling around I did with it is coming to an end. I am afraid any jostling will cause the cable to loose contact once again.


Cool Movie

I saw Stardust last week and I really enjoyed myself. Great characters, good story, and a lot of laughs. How refreshing! I loved Robert De Niro in this, he was awesome as Captain Shakespeare, a kick ass pirate with a softer side. When his character was first revealed I worried that it was a concept that could go completely wrong. I was wrong. Great stuff, good messages without being too preachy. I also liked the combination of old and new...set in a time not our own...the fantasy relm in a place not our own...and yet the language was a fun and modern contrast. A charming love story, Charlie Cox, Claire Danes are so good together on screen. Good action, the film doesn't lag anywhere. I think besides De Niro...I loved the crazy princes the best, but I can't discount Michelle Pfeiffer as the perfect witch, beautiful and deadly.

New Mexico Burn

We went to see the Burn play this weekend...New Mexico's pro women's football team.
Yah, that's right, women's football! The down side is that the ladies have yet to post a win and could use some assistance in the relm of punt return and offensive production. The best part, seeing these women lay on some wicked hits. There was some pretty excellent body crunching hits, which is why I love football anyway. So I am looking forward to seeing their next game. Go get that W ladies! Go Burn! Aside from watching the game, the fans, particularly the ones sitting behind us were great, yelling themselves horse, ringing a cow bell. Also all the kids. One little girl who sat in front of us with her dad told us her mom was one of the players. So cute! And she was so excited to cheer for her mom. Women's football is my new favorite thing.

Hi, hello there. A small hiatus while we were getting ready for Steph to head out to Minneapolis. Also my computer hard drive has crashed and so no computer for now. I'm house/dog sitting for some friends who kindly offered me the use of their laptop.

So several things I've been meaning to blog about.

First, and most important, Steph's dissertation defense was great. It was hard waiting all summer, but it was great. Like we thought, Greg Martin gave her amazing feedback and they were all incredibly encouraging. They said she needs to publish it, and that it oculd be career making. Yay Steph! The cool thing, and I think something that really put her mind at ease was that the majority of suggestions they made she had already talked to me about. She knew what needed to be done to move the project forward. She a total academic, and now she knows it and believes it of herself. She's humble. I'm not. She kicks so much ass! And I am so excited for her. So she is off to Minneapolis for a 9 month teaching gig. She left a couple of days ago and even though we are old hat at this long distance thing, we're still pretty sad about having to be apart once again. I'm more worried this time because it's me keeping our home base...taking care of the animals and such. But I know I can do it and staying here means I can keep my job, which I really like. Her next step is getting applications out there for assistant professor positions this fall. I am going to try and meet her in Memphis for a conference she's presenting at as well as a week/week and a half over the Christmas holiday in Chicago and Minneapolis. It should be fun. And even though it will be cold as hell, we love Chicago!

So my plan, once my trusty laptop is again up and running is to write a novel in nine months.

I am not excited to be bussing it around Albuquerque again, though I have to say, after being stuck ten miles outside of Roanoke, VA it's great that I can pretty much go where I want when I want. Also our neighborhood is so great, the studetn ghetto, but tons of coffee shops, great/cheap eateries, etc. Also the beautiful grassy campus is Chloe's backyard really. Great for long walks.

Before Steph left we joined Aggie and Sally at the Keb'Mo Robert Cray concert at Isleta Casino. It was an amazing concert. The venue was such a pleasant surprise. Once we picked up the tickets at will call we were told we would need to bus it to the location. We stepped outside and and boarded the bus. We'd never been to Isleta before and with the monsoon season at hand we had several concerns because it was an outdoor event. We didn't realize it and so weren't really dressed for sitting in the grass, if there was grass. It turned out so great. There were chairs set up outside and when they played we could see a sky full of stars, large moths and fireflies danced around in the light from the stage. It was pretty spectacular, and then the music, which was so amazing. The tickets were super affordable and I feel like we got more than our money's worth.

Well the ladies are home. I'll blog more when I have the chance.