Good Grief...

So, it has recently (30 seconds ago) come to my attention that I have not yet watched any Charlie Brown holiday specials. Usually I hit "It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown!" and I'm good til Linus gets to tell me the true meaning of Christmas... but... I missed it this year. It was on TV... and I missed it... AUUUUUGH! Now I have to wait until Christmas to get my fill of Snoopy and the Gang. I'm seriously bummed out.

However I did get my first Christmas movie in last night. I sat myself down (and the boyfriend too, who considers Die Hard a Christmas movie, so you can imagine how pleased he was) and watched Love Actually... which is so so cute; it's one of my favorite movies that pretty consistently makes me cry. It's cool if you're all "Love Actually is not all that sad! Do you really cry at that?!" A lot of people find it hard to believe but I cry very easily at anything that even lightly tugs at my apparently very delicate heart strings. I cry less about things in real life than I do about movie things, but... there you are. Love Actually makes me cry.

This whole post has been about Crizzymas, which is lame of me as Thanksgiving hasn't even happened yet. I shouldn't be neglecting Thanksgiving because I am totally stoked for Thanksgiving. My friends all have separation anxiety, so going home will be good. I'm hosting my first ever Thanksgiving dinner, and in my desire to be a Stepford Wife, I am in serious need of recipies and shit. Maybe some pinecone centerpieces too...

That is just lovely.

If you have any recipe ideas I'd LOVE to hear them, as suddenly I'm cooking for 8. Holy stuffing Batman...

Oh man... college...

So sorry I took a little break. I promise I'll post something more extensive in a little bit. I have a few papers to write, what with break coming up soon, and them being due... tomorrow morning I'm a little behind, but I just wanted to say something:

Dear Upstairs Neighbor,
Hi. You live above me, which is totally cool. Usually you are pretty quiet except on Thursday nights, but we have overcome that hurdle and things were great... at least I thought so. Until this weekend. This weekend you betrayed our already shaky trust by bringing a creature into your apartment.

I don't mind creatures, upstairs neighbor. They are pretty generally cool by me, except the creature you brought in sounds like a rabid 15 pound squirrel that does a hell of a lot of scampering across the hardwood floors in your apartment. If the sound of scrambling claws does not stop waking me up at 3:45 AM I am going to give your giant squirrel a rabies shot... or I'm just going to shoot it. Make it shut up. I'm pretty sure our lease says we cant have animals like/ that sound like giant clawed rodents... although I may have to give it another read.

Thanks,
Em

PS: Your speakers have sweet bass, what kind are they?

Guys, I am pretty sure my upstairs neighbor, nor the mystery beastie read my blog, but if you live above someone be considerate about it. For real. I live above someone too, and I try not to stomp around too much or walk around in high heels or scrape my fingernails against the floor. Its just not cool. Sorry. I just had to get that out. I'll post more exciting things later. Promise. XOXO

Christin Fox

Making her second fabulous appearance on my blog is the amazing Christin Fox (Campaign Slogan: "She'll slap your grandma!") We talk about all sorts of things and she gives fantastic and insightful answers. She is currently a sophomore at Towson University.

S4L: Alright, so you're in a sorority, do you think the "traditional" image of greek life that's always presented by Hollywood is accurate? Or is it over exaggerated?
CF: It's definitely over exaggerated. or at least definitely for mine. I'm not in what seems to be the "typical" sorority. i don't think that the ones portrayed in movies truly represent the ones on my campus either. it's true that there's drama, but not that much.
S4L: I mean, theres sort of this stigma in popular culture surrounding greek life, but from what we've talked about in our conversations and even what you just said, it seems that this really isnt the case. Do you think there's sort of this image perpetuated in pop culture? And if so does it affect your sorority? I mean, do you get people who want to pledge because they think its going to be one huge party?
CF: There's definitely that stereotype, I mean, a lot of my friends never thought I'd join a sorority because of the image of greek life. and after going through rush, there are definitely some girls who come in expecting it to be a big party, but it's a lot of business too. some girls get it more than others, but then again, some sororities do party more than others. it really depends. but for the most part, girls kind of get a reality check about the partying after going through rush. there's a lot more than partying that goes along with being in a sorority, from sisterhood to philanthropy and community service to the business aspect.

S4L: Cool cool. I love talking to you about this because I feel like its good to set the record straight from someone who is there right now. But we can talk about other things now... Like, are you going to vote on November 4th?
CF: yes actually. I'm driving back home to vote because I wanted to make sure that my vote counted and didn't get lost or disappeared or something, y'know how that stupid stuff happens sometimes.
S4L: really?! Me too! hooray voting! Do you have any opinions on the candidates? I mean, I'm not going to ask you who you're going to vote for... but...
CF: Haha I do, but if I start talking about it you'll see my bias

S4L: That's true, so we'll skip it. ok, have you read anything fantastic recently? and if so, what is it?
CF: I haven't had much time to read BUT! did get two books that I can't wait to dig into!
S4L: oo what are they?
CF: one is called Timequake by Kurt Vonnegut, which was actually recommended to me by two of my friends. they say it's modern/satirical, so i'm excited to read that. the other one is called The Writing Class by Jincy Willet. I saw it in the store and the cover looked really interesting.
S4L: I've never read any vonnegut, but I just got this book called "The Best American Non-Required Reading" and it had a whole selection of his quotes in there. I just finished reading them. They were fantastic. I'm glad I'm not the only one who judges books by their covers. Was that the main reason you bought the one by Jincy Willet?
CF: pretty much. it has a bunch of different pens and pencils on it, each labeled with their owner. each has personality, and I thought that was really cool. I read the inside cover and it seemed interesting. a little juvenile, but still interesting. it's the story of a professor and her writing class, but it evidently turns dark with a phone call and threats that lead to a murder. the professor has to analyze all of her pupil's writings and work with them to find out who the murderer is.
and although it may seem dark, the reviews claim it to be extremely funny, so i figured I'd buy it

S4L: That sounds really really good actually. I'll have to borrow it after you're done. I hate not having time to read what I want to read. School is so time consuming. I'm sure we've talked about this, but are you going to do grad school or something?
CF: I'm going to have to go to grad school if I want to get the job I'm set on. I was hoping to prolong it, but my advisor (though I'm not sure if i should trust her) claims that I'll have to go straight into school again.
S4L: Crazy... I think we should just leave school and take up our dream of pirating and being saucy wenches. What do you think?
CF: Perhaps. but then again, it might be nice to have something to fall back on. but there definitely should be some pirating and sauciness in our futures

S4L: I'm sure there will be. No doubt. Is there anything you'd like to throw out there before the interview ends? Any last statements or anything that you think the whole world needs to know?
CF: There are many things the world should know, especially about how I'll slap their grandma when I gain control of the world. but until then, I just would hope people start realizing there's a lot more about people that they don't know about, so even if they think they know someone pretty well and can "judge" them, I'm sure there's a lot more that they don't know that factors into that. does that make sense? I guess just you don't know someone's situation, so don't assume... oh! and one last thing! to everyone: Your life is beautiful.
S4L: Wow. that was very insightful and... nice. Good ending Christin! Now you just have to tell everyone to read my blog.
CF: I will! haha

Alright, well there's another sweet interview for you. Again if you have anything or something to say and you want it to be here for all the world to see shoot me an email at bellamorningglory@yahoo.com subject line "Interview" Thanks for reading! Look for some updates from the glorious land up north sometime real soon.

Amanda Bender

This is my interview with my "good friend" (read: sworn enemy) of many years, Amanda Bender. She is tops at being crazy awesome and is a sophomore at University of Maryland. She's my first interview, and probably not my last:

S4L: Can I interview you?
AB: Absolutely

S4L: Sweet. So, first question: As a college student, do you really care about world issues, or do you follow them to seem like you know what's going on?
AB: The first.

S4L: Ok, so what issues matter to you? Name like.. two?
AB: Hmm.. having soldiers in Iraq still, and overusing our resources

S4L: So if it bothers you that we still have soldiers in Iraq, you're probably also pretty peeved about the possibility that we might invade Iran?
AB: i don't exactly know the situation there, and what we would actually be doing there, how the people would think about the soldiers being there and treat them... so i cant say for sure

S4L: That makes sense. You are so levelheaded. I'm just grumpy. Anyway, if you could suggest one book to one person, what would you suggest? for who? and why?
AB: Hmm...good question..
S4L: Thanks.
AB: I haven't read for pleasure for a good while
S4L: That's okay, it doesn't have to be something you've read for pleasure. How much reading do you do in your classes anyway?
AB: Depends on the class. two chapters twice a week for film, a paper or two a week for linguistics... I'd say... the book you gave me. The Realm of Possibility to anyone..
S4L: Why?
AB: It's very thought-invoking

S4L: Whats the difference between invoking and provoking?
AB: Provoking's the one i was looking for
S4L: But aren't they the same thing anyway?
AB: I think invoking is calling on something for support, like invoking the right of such and such
provoking is stimulation

S4L: Good call. OK, is there anything you want to say before we round off our interview?
AB: Not that i know of. What is this interview for?
S4L: I want to interview people, I just thought I'd try it out. I might put it on my blog if that's okay with you?
AB: Sure.

AB: Are you curious about people's responses to those particular questions? or just want to ask people different questions about different things?
S4L: I want to ask people about anything. I'm starting with people I know first, and then I'm hoping to talk to anyone. Probably just people around. I'm trying to become a better listener... and I like to talk to people.
AB: okay

S4L: Does that sound silly?
AB: only a bit. People you don't know might not be willing unless you have a purpose
S4L: yeah, but some of them might, and who wants to interview grumbly people anyway?

AB: You can't be prejudiced like that =P
S4L: You can interview grumbly people if you want. I'd rather not, that's all I'm saying.
AB: Fair enough.

So, that was it. I also interviewed myself via introspection and my inner male pirate... but that hasn't posted yet. I don't really care who you are or what is up, but if you want to be interviewed, let me know. Shoot me an email at bellamorningglory@yahoo.com subject line "Interview."

kthnxbai.

A Brief Overview...

...of thoughts that I have recently been having:

1. I love reading Hemingway. I don't know when or how this happened because I used to hate reading Hemingway... now I think that he is rockin'. Go Fig.
2. Maybe we should live life with more enthusiasm... it would probably make things easier.
   
3. People who pronounce "poem" "poI-em" with that I/Y sound in there, really make me grumpy. Do you really have that big of a desire to sound like a d-bag?
   
4. Watching old episodes of The Addams Family (the original series) makes me want to be Morticia Addams. The way Carolyn Jones plays Morticia, with the walk and the hands... it's very cool. I want to be like her. Kudos Ms. Jones!
5. The song "Love Will Tear Us Apart" is more beautiful and sad than a song ever needed to be. Thanks Susanna and the Magical Orchestra! Thanks for making me depressed fairly consistently!!!
6. Everything cool in Toronto is happening two weeks before I go there. Some of my favorite artists/writers are going to be at Word on the Street all together in one spot!! I will be in Baltimore, and not even at the Baltimore Comic Con... BUMMER.
7. I am pretty much done with hanging around here. I might have to go on an adventure soon.
   
   Good luck with whatever you're up to right now. Do it to it.
   

It's the Economy, Stupid... and It's Politics and Comedy

What is up, my peeps?

Today we're going to talk about all sorts of things, as I have the afternoon off, and I haven't blogged in awhile, which is a shame.

1. The economy: WHOA!! What happened there?! I mean one minute things were slowing down but now they're crashing and burning like cars in "2 Fast 2 Furious"- quickly, and furiously!! I'm not sure that I really have much to say on the situation except for maybe, "oh crap" and "I'm glad I didn't invest that money in stocks last year."
   
   
2. The Presidential Race: I don't know who I'm voting for. I'm registered as a democrat, but not wild about Biden, and I wouldn't mind McCain but I cannot STAND Palin. Ooo she makes me angry with all her hypocrisy. In my perfect world it's an Obama/McCain ticket, but that would never happen for real. I know, I know, that's taking bipartisanship too far... but think about it. Wouldn't that be a fantastic ticket? It would. You know I'm right.
   
   
3. John Oliver: He's a Daily Show correspondant from across the pond and is downright hysterical. He did a show recently at Loyola College in Maryland (soon to be Loyola University- rock on Board of Trustees, rock on) that I was lucky enough to snag a ticket to and it was fantastic. One of the funniest people I've seen live in a long time. After the show he and a Daily Show producer (who was also very funny) offered a Q&A session which most everyone stayed for. All night the producer had been ribbing Oliver for not being American and there had been a lot of talk on what it meant to be an American versus anything else. I say that because without it someone might be offended by one of the answers to the last question of the Q&A which was, "When did you lose your virginity?" Classy LoCo... very classy. (I can say that because I don't go there anymore) Oliver blushed madly, and then responded with something along the lines of "I'm not really sure I want to talk about it," but then continued by saying that he remembers apologizing to the girl under the assumption that "That must have been terrible" for her. The producer's answer: "I lost it at age 12 on a pile of American Flags." ROCK ON! +10 for America.
   
   But seriously, it was a great show, and they we're both very funny and good humored. Definitely try to catch them live some time. I still need to get tickets to the Daily Show, or the Colbert Report to see one or the other live sometime. I think it would be a blast. Oh Politics/News...
   
   I was going to have 4 and 5 but this is getting long and I think I'll just post them tomorrow. That will be better.
   
   Have a fantastic time!!
   

The VMAs and Writing For Business and Industry

What is going on in my life? I am watching the VMAs while I'm supposed to be doing my Writing for Business and Industry homework.

What do I think of the VMAs so far this year? To be quite honest... they kind of suck. It seems like everyone there is taking themselves a little too seriously. Poor host Russell Brand is working with a dead audience! DEAD. They will not laugh at him, they will not applaud each other; there seem to be a lot of technical problems mics not working and people not being able to read off the teleprompters. Also the venue seems really small, and kind of warehouseish. It certainly isn't living up to the hype. The Miley Cyrus segment with her playing Rock Band with Tokio Hotel was kind of cute, and the performances have certainly been the highlight of the night. If anything I'm worried that Russell Brand is going to get panned because everyone is taking themselves too seriously. He really is very funny. Check this out. Hysterical!!

"Youthful folly, jubillance, and highjinks." Honestly... does it get any funnier?

So everyone just needs to loosen up and try to enjoy the VMAs. What happened to crazy funky sexy MTV now its all, "Don't offend anyone! Politically correct!!" *sigh* MTV is definitely something for a generation younger than me. I can't do it anymore.

Yankee Doodle Dandy!

Doodling- is so much fun, and I do it all the time. All the time. In class, on the bus, in cabs, everywhere. If I could send doodles in text messages, you can bet I would. Depending on how much you bet, and the odds against my doodling, you could probably win lots of money.

What cool things do I have to tell you about today? What TV shows do I have to pitch? No TV shows today friends!!! Today we're going to talk about collections... and maybe a little TV...

Recently I have been watching a sweet show called "Clean House" which runs on the Style Network at (as far as I can tell) various points throughout the day. It's about different families that have gross cluttered houses that get them totally made over by professionals once they sell a bunch of their old clutter. It is a pretty sweet trade. Thing is: a lot of these people claim that a lot of their clutter is part of a "collection."

Collection? Really? That looks like... suck...

This is probably the first time I was introduced to the concept of a "collection" and I thought it was LAME. I mean, come on Bert, for real? Bottle caps?! No wonder Ernie makes you crazy, he has more pressing things to do (like play the sax and hold a duck at the same time!! or at least try to...) than collect household items!! I mean, it was household items... bottle caps and paper clips! What an imagination. It's no surprise that this turned me off of collecting things for a long time. Until lately....

I have now started a grand collection of dinosaurs. I love dinosaurs. I think they are awesome, and they are pretty simple to collect (the miniature ones, that is.) I don't really understand my sudden fascination with them. They used to scare the crap out of me as a child, probably because I grew up in St. Louis where they have a great Science/Natural History museum where you walk in and a two story tall giant T-Rex looks at you and growls. But I haven't been to that museum in years... 16 or 17 years, and my fear has waned and now... dinosaurs, they are pretty sweet.

My first dino!!

I am just concerned that this new found love of the ancient lizards will somehow take over my house. I mean, I only have 5 or 6 now, but as far as I can tell its a pretty short jump from that to "Holy crap lady, why is there all this dinosaur themed junk lyin' around your house? You crazy or somethin'!?" And I will sobbingly refuse to let them go claiming that I LUUUURVE dinosaurs and no one understand and wah wah.... and this makes me nervous. If the collection gets out of hand it will have to go. I will collect sparingly. I don't want to want to be on "Clean House."

I Thought All Writers Drank to Excess and Beat Their Wives...

You know who I love? Cary Grant. He is hilarious, and makes me very happy, almost as much as this nice weather- Thank God the rain went away.

Yesterday I went on an adventure to the Baltimore Summer Antiques Show, which was held at the Baltimore Convention Center. The BCC is not a foreign place to me as I have been attending the annual Otakon (Japanese pop culture/ sci-fi nerd joy) at the Convention for the past five years. I've seen the BCC empty and I've seen it jam packed with people with odd hair, but until yesterday I had never seen it so full of people with fanny packs willing to buy overpriced old items. Never. People in costumes willing to buy overpriced stuffed animals, yes. People with pensions seriously considering buying 1.2 million dollar brass church doors, no.

The brass doors were beautiful... but honestly... what are you going to do with 1.2 million dollars worth of door? You know what you could do with 1.2 mil... A LOT. You know what you can do with a door... open it and close it.

In all seriousness though, the show had some pretty sweet stuff, that, had I hundreds of spare dollars, I MIGHT have considered getting. I mean, who doesn't want a cane with a sweet spyglass ontop ($650) or some first edition signed Hemingway novels ($2250.) It was very cool.

My favorite though, were some antique Pulp novels from the 50's and 60's. I mean, these are some pretty scandolous works here. With titles like "Sin Chains" and "The Green Woman" and story mags like "Murder Mystery Monthly" and "Spicy Detective" how could you not want to read and collect every single one? Really.

WHOA!! And also, why is she tied to a banister?

So apparently University at Buffalo has a pretty sweet Pulp collection that I'll link to here. But I think I'll keep an eye out for more, and if I see anything good, I'll be sure to post it.

The end of the Cary Grant Quote that is the post title is, "You know at one time I think I secretly wanted to be a writer." (The Philadelphia Story) I have no idea why damsels in distress and misogyny are so entertaining to me, but they really are. I think it's just so absurd that I either embrace it fully or become insulted. I've chosen to embrace it. There's nothing better than a little objectification to brighten someone's day.

Bug Bites and Johnny Quest Totally Suck

So, before I go grocery shopping, there's something I want to talk about. It is called, "being bitten by a ton of bugs and then having an allergic reaction to their bites," and it happened to me as recently as Wednesday. Today I am in a terrible itchy nasty state. In an attempt to remedy this I went to the doctor, who vaguely reminded me of House, but without the mean... so nothing like House.

He gave me a drug called Prednisone, which according to the internet... does terrible things to your body while you're busy thinking that you're getting better. It is a sneaky little pink pill that, while it makes your itching subside, makes you gain weight, lose sex drive, and could potentially be habit forming if taken for more than 7 days.

There is a variety of other things it can do to you (and I have no personal experience as I took my first one 5 hours ago) but I don't want to talk about them here. What I do want to look at is the fact that my doctor didn't mention ANY of these things AT ALL. I'm not really upset (You're blogging. You MUST be upset! ... no, not really) it just strikes me as REALLY ODD. Does your doctor give you things without telling you about the side effects? My old one didn't but apparently... now it's up to you to find out!!

And I know, I looked on the internet to figure out what the drug's deal was, so my information may be sketchily accurate at best. I have also had doctors tell me that the internet is the worst thing that doctors have to deal with (even worse than stinky people!?) because everyone self diagnoses and freaks themselves out. But, I was forced to since my doctor did not tell me all the facts. *sigh* Now I'm afraid I'll gain 20 pounds and lose all sexual desires because of a tiny pink pill, but hey, no risk of dependency as I only have 5 days worth of the stuff. Little victories.

Speaking of Doctors, we need to talk for 67 seconds about "The Venture Brothers." This TV show kicks wild ass. (Is all you do watch TV?? No. I do a lot of other things, but it's the end of summer break and I am squishing in all the TV I can.) Venture Brothers is "essentially" a parody of Johnny Quest, that is (in my opinion) 1000 times more entertaining than Johnny Quest. I really don't like Johnny Quest at all but that is a different story for a different time. Venture Brothers is about Hank and Dean Venture, a set of fraternal twins, who love to do all sorts of crazy things and have adventures-ish. Their father Dr. Venture (see the Doctor tie-in? Yeah...) is a super genius scientist who may or may not have a moderately sized army of his cloned sons. And then there is Brock Samson who is Dr. Venture's bodyguard, and possibly the manliest cartoon man ever. EVER. The season 3 finale aired last night (Saturday) on Adult Swim (Cartoon Network) but there are full episodes on Adult Swim. com, so since you aren't doing anything on the internet anyway, why not watch one?

Totally Awesome

Now I have to go get milk and food. Toodles!

Oh and I almost forgot to mention...

I added, a pretty sweet Vintage Pin Up Girls side bar, to this blog.

Why?

Because, it is my personal opinion that Vintage Pin-Up girls are pretty awesome. In fact, while some girls aspire to look like Kate Moss or Paris Hilton, I aspire to look like these lovely ladies. And also it's cool to look at what passed for scandalous 60 years ago compared to what passes for scandalous now. These are downright prudish compared to some stuff you see today.

I guess it refreshes every time you pull up the blog. So check that janx out!

Believe In Yourself and also Watch Some TV!

Hey everyone out there in internet-land. How is your Tuesday? Mine is going good. Let's talk about something cool.

Actually, before we talk about something cool, I want to talk about goals (which are also cool!) My friend Melody and I were talking about ideas and dreams, and being pressured to do things we don't want to do with our lives, because our goals are... unusual.

It's interesting because a lot of times in your life, you're questioned about what you "want" out of life, what you "want" to be, etc. And if you don't have an answer or your answer is weird, you're handed crap for it. People flip out when you move away from the norm. And I think,, when people flip out, that's when you lose your nerve (because hey, it takes nerve to move away from the norm!) When someone else questions your goals, you do too. Don't. Please. That's all this paragraph is here for, to support you on your quest and tell you that your goal is not stupid; it is probably pretty kick ass. Go you!!

Ok, now something cool... cooler.

If you are not watching USA network on Friday nights at 10 PM... shame on you. You need to be watching because that is when Psych comes on. Psych is one of, if not "the," very best detective shows on TV right now. It is witty, funny, and very cool all while being heartfelt. I like the cynical, crass doctors and screaming, panting CIA agents as much as the next person, but give me excitement, laughs, and a little bit of sweetness, and you've got a show that beats all the others, hands down.


Psych is currently in the midst of its third season, and the other two are out on DVD. If you haven't watching and need to catch up, the basic premise is Shawn Spencer, son of a very serious former Santa Barbra cop, was trained by his father to be hyper aware of things. Shawn notices small details where others don't or can't and uses this skill to pass himself off as a psychic. He and his bff Gus take jobs for the Police Department and solve all sorts of crimes and the such like. That's as basic as it gets and if you want to know more, watch the show, it is fabulous.

I'll be back Thursday to talk about something else.

And Almost One Year Later... The Olympics Are On!

Wow, I'm sorry about that. I could chalk it up to technical difficulty, but that's kind of a long stretch of nothing for you to believe that I was having problems starting my computer. The honest to Jeebus truth is that with a combination of my first year of college and all the surrounding issues I ran out of time, and in my mind, interesting things to say. BUT I'm back now, and hopefully full of cool things to say and do. Let's start with the Olympics.

I, like almost the whole world, watched Michael Phelps' last swim yesterday night, and it was amazing. The man is a machine, he churns water like a waterwheel and pushes himself forward like a squid on steroids, it's fantastic to watch.

And of course, now I get to take some hometown pride in his victories. I transfered to Towson University or classes this fall, and now I live in Baltimore. So yay Michael Phelps!! Good show, hon.

But after Michael Phelps, if you didn't shut off your TV and go to bed, there was another medal match, which also had the power to astound. Usain "Lightning" Bolt ran the 100 meter in 9.69 seconds. His legs were like Scooby Doo's after a ghost showed up. The neatest thing about his victory was that he didn't stop after the finish line, he ran. He ran halfway around the track to where his mother was jumping and screaming. I think family reactions are one of the best things about the Olympics and Mrs. Bolt came up in spades, running over fellow spectators and hugging everyone. Reactions like that make the Olympics worth watching. While a gold medal for a man from Jamaica may mean nothing to you, it means so much to him and his family, and being able to see that and experience that moment with them makes the Olympics worth watching. And it makes me cry, but I'm a big baby, so whatev.

Anyway, sorry for not updating. I'll do better this time, I swear.