All-important questions (XLJ)

Would you watch seven seasons (seven seasons) of a television show that you are only mildly interested in, just for the sake of catching a celebrity you love in something like 4 episodes in the middle of the very last season? Think carefully about that. I just can't countenance it, somehow, and people who know the show seem to think I'll be terribly lost and confused if I just watch those 4 or 5 episodes.

...No, I'm not going to tell you. I'll be impressed if you can guess, though.

Five times?

Maximum Strength Mick asks, "What movies have you watched five times?"

I am totally on board with this. My favorite movies aren't all classics, they're just movies that I love, that never fail to touch me or make me laugh or just have some kind of effect. As such, here are five movies that I can always watch.
Singin' in the Rain
Sense & Sensibility(Ang Lee/Emma Thompson)
Clueless
Amelie
Notting Hill

Some of 'em won Oscars, some of 'em didn't. I love them, though, and I'd totally give them awards. S&S would get the Best Declaration of Love award (Edward to Eleanor), as well as the Most Moving Moment, Non-Verbal award (Brandon after he brings Marianne's mother). Clueless totally gets the Best First Kiss award (Josh & Cher), Notting Hill wins the Most Absurd Storyline that Still Actually Kind of Works award. Singin' in the Rain is just the best movie ever, I think. Amelie has the distinction of being a movie that I can watch and then, as the credits begin to roll, think to myself "I could watch it again..."

So yeah. I'm all for Award Season and celebrating a bunch of movies that very few people outside of Academy members saw, but let's be honest. Who's really gonna buy There Will be Blood on DVD and watch it over and over again? Last of the Mohicans, now, there's a Daniel Day-Lewis movie I've seen five times.

Long live the arguably lowbrow but always enjoyable movie. I'm gonna go home and watch the rest of The 10th Kingdom.

Warm-up

So, I went to a tournament last night. A nearby club hosts monthly, Wednesday night tournaments, not really big affairs, but I think you'll find that it wasn't noticeably a slouch tournament. For the non-fencer, all those Bs and Cs mean pretty decent fencers. Add to that the fact that most of them were men, and they're generally stronger fencers (both literally and figuratively) than a woman of the same ranking. Not always true, but a reasonable guess.
In my pool, I broke even, 2-2. I beat the two other women handily (5-1 in both cases). I lost to the two men 5-3 and 5-4, which I'm perfectly happy with, under the circumstances. Neither of them was completely unbeatable for me.
I actually won my first DE, which I was very happy about, given the guy was quite easily twice my size. And apparently a C himself. Go me! 15-14 makes it look like a crap shoot, but I will say that I fenced well the entire bout, used my head, and was just making less mistakes than he was.
I lost my second DE to the eventual winner, who I'd call a pretty strong B, and I don't think he was unbeatable either. He was doing a lot of showy moves that, had I been focusing on the correct target, I would have made him pay for. I don't think I was what he was expecting at all. I'm really, really happy with 15-10 on a solid (male) B.
So, I finished in 8th. I'm totally happy with that result.

All this is leading up to the fact that I will be in Atlanta this weekend, fencing at the Div I NAC. Again, for non-fencers, a Div I means that you have to be at least a C to compete, and you'll be competing against other Cs as well as Bs and As. It's not mixed, so I'll just be fencing women. Div Is are the big time; the people who will be on the Olympic Team for this year are at these things. I actually warmed up with an Olympic prospect at my last Div I.

What this all means, in very simple terms (if you're actually still reading) is that I will most likely get my ass completely handed to me. But I hope to learn something from that, and I hope to do better than at my first Div I, so we'll see how it goes. I'm definitely on a little bit of a high from last night, so we'll keep that momentum going. I stayed calm, I wasn't terribly sloppy, I did a semi-decent job of evaluating my opponents and altering my game accordingly. So, wish me luck.

Mostly, I'm excited to see old friends, hang out with my brother, and buy new equipment. Gotta pick up the rating this year, otherwise it'll go down, and D08 just doesn't have an attractive ring to it.

That's quite enough fencing talk for a while. Tonight there is nothing more exciting planned than a trip to the gym and Waitress with Nathan Fillion. Mmmm. That He ought to get me through the day.

PS: Just got my re-lo reimbursement check from Vassar, so now it's totally a good day. Squee!

Quote of the Day

The Roycrofters were participants of an arts & crafts community in New York in the 20th century. They had a press and published books that look a lot like stuff from the Kelmscott Press. This quote is from the back of such a publication in pamphlet form.

Hate means a hot-box and sand in the bearings, while love lubricates all the affairs of life.

...awesome.

How Can I Keep from Singing?

It's rather frustrating to not have an office; rather, to work in a rather small area ... I listen to music through my headphones, and sometimes, with a song I like, it's all I can do to keep from singing along. Sometimes it's almost a physical discomfort. How ridiculous.

But oh my love, though our bodies may be parted
Though our skin may not touch skin
Look for me with the sun-bright sparrow
I will come on the breath of the wind
~Yankee Bayonet (I Will Be Home Then): The Decemberists

Come on
Without you I'll never feel the love inside of me
Come on, you know that we belong
Come on, come on, come on, come on
~Come On: Ben Jelen

Can he really really
really really really
really really be that bad?
~Really That Bad: The Pipettes

Singing boy pick up that fiddle
And play that steel guitar
And find yourself a lady
And dance right where you are
~Private Conversation: Lyle Lovett

There was a time you let me know
What's real and going on below
But now you never show it to me, do you?
And remember when I moved in you?
The holy dark was moving too
And every breath we drew was Hallelujah
~Hallelujah: Rufus Wainwright