Underdog Millionaire?

Well, I've done it. I've finally done it. 

For 120 minutes on the night of Memorial Day, I jumped on the Slumdog Millionaire bandwagon. 

I had wanted to see this movie when it first came out and everyone started talking about how good it was. I don't like to go see movies at the theaters, though. I hate spending almost ten dollars to get in, and I'm always very cold throughout the movie's entire duration. Mostly, though, I hate spending money. 

Anyway, I waited to see it until my mom sent me to the Redbox, telling me to get her a movie. It's only one dollar that way, AND she gave me her credit card. It's really a no-brainer. 

I see why it won Best Picture. 

I'm not going to go through the entire story, because I'm pretty sure everyone is relatively aware of the general plot. I've heard it called a classic underdog story. Aside from the canine references, however, I found it to be vastly different from that category. Sure, in the end, he wins and gets the girl. But to get there, it took a lot more than is usually shown in "underdog" films. 

Maybe I'm a sucker for flashbacks, but I absolutely loved the way this film related the hero's entire life to his current situation. I like when there are common, recurring elements weaved throughout a story. When a movie makes you think, instead of allowing you to mentally check out for a few hours, it proves that it has  sustenance to it.  

Slumdog was intentionally gruesome. The way it portrayed life in India's slums was shocking and disturbing. But, that was the point of it. That's also why it's so effective. It's not disturbing for shock value; there's a point to it, I guess. 

The acting was so intense. I hate it when a script has potential and then the actors just butcher it. The acting in this film was fairly close to flawless. It was never over the top. It was never under-played. The child roles were especially impressive. The acting made you feel like the characters were real. 

My biggest problem with this film, though, was its soundtrack. I know it won an Oscar for its score, but it ruined itself for me when I heard M.I.A.'s "Paper Planes." I. Hate. That. Song. In fact, I hate it so much that I just ignored the generally accepted rules of English grammar and put a period after each word of that former sentence for emphasis. Actually, though, if you took that song out of the mix, the rest of the contributions by M.I.A. aren't all that terrible. 

I also had a problem with the full scale dance number during the credits. Yes, there was an intense dance number. And yes, I asked the same question when it came on. It felt out of place. I mean,  I guess there's something attractive about large dance numbers, but this isn't Hairspray, Footloose, or High School Musical.

Slumdog Musicalnaire. 

It doesn't have the same ring to it. 

Overall, though, this movie is pretty much awesome. I'm really upset I decided to see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button in theaters over this one. You should see it, because I told you to. I liked it. And since I don't like a lot, that has to be worth something. 

AAAAACHHOOOOOO. Ugh.

I decided I wanted to make a blog post. That's really how most (if not all) of my blog posts come into being. I just randomly decide I want to make one and I just do it. What if children happened that way? Someone just decides they want one, and then boom, there one is. It's a good thing the making of children takes much more cooperation. ahem. 

For the purposes of this post, however, I think I want to ramble about sneezes. 

David has just sneezed roughly twenty times in a thirty second time frame. I believe that is a problem he should go get looked at. 

I hate sneezes. 

I hate having to sneeze when I'm talking to people. And that is always when I have to sneeze the most. When I'm all by myself, sneezes never take the time to come upon me. It is only when I'm in the middle of a sentence or a quiet room that they think I deserve to sneeze. I hate it when people sneeze on me. It's gross. In sophomore year of high school, I had a job watching about fifteen two year olds once a week. They always sneezed on me. Little kid sneezes are far from cute. They're gross. I think that experience scarred me for life, as well as giving me an anti-sneeze bias. 

I always feel bad for people with lots of allergies, who sneeze constantly. Being in a room with them and all their sneezes makes me very claustrophobic. I once knew a boy who sneezed ten times in a row without stopping. I couldn't stand it. 

Whoever invented sneezing anyway? It's really one of the odder functions of the human body. Couldn't we survive with coughs alone? Coughs don't bother me. You and I can cough all we want. Just please, no sneezing. 

The moment leading up to a sneeze is the worst. You know it's coming, and you're frightened. The anticipation leading up to the culminating moment of the actual, physical sneeze is one of the most stress-filled, phobia inducing anticipations one can experience. There is really very little you can do to stop it. Even if you do manage to stop it this time, it's only going to come back in a few hours at the most. And when it comes back, it's going to be bigger and more obnoxious than before. Oh the anticipation. If we could do without the anticipation, then thirty percent of the problem would be solved. The other seventy percent is the sneezes themselves. 

I guess there really isn't anyone I can blame for sneezes, though. I think that's what upsets me the most about them. It's somewhat of a comfort if you can get angry at something or someone in specific. Actually, it's very comforting to be able to do that. I haven't sneezed since last night, though, so hopefully I can go the entire day without sneezing. I'm going to beat the system on this one. I'll let you know how I do. 

Please pull up to the next window for your total.

May I rant for a few moments?

Drive-thrus. While I am opposed to torture and inhumane treatment, I still think that the inventor of the drive-thru window should be hung upside down by his toenails and forced to listen to Taylor Swift and Amy Winehouse all day long. And then, we should give him a life sentence. 

As if it isn't bad enough that people are even eating the food that's most often served at drive-thru windows, now they're given the option to sit lazily in their cars while they purchase said nutritional atom bombs. I thought we were trying to fix the obesity epidemic in our society. How, exactly, is giving people another option to be lazy going to help?

Also, most people don't know how to act at drive-thru windows. No one knows anything about drive-thru etiquette, so drive-thrus are really just horrible experiences for most people involved. At least, definitely for the person manning them. In order to assist with this problem, I have come up some of the most annoying things people do at drive-thru windows (I have definitely been in a list mood lately. Odd.) :

• They talk on their phones. I'm sorry, but I can't see your phone, so I definitely have no idea that you're talking to your wife and asking her what she wants from the drive-thru. It's obnoxious and rude. Get all your asking done before you pull up to order. 
• They specify that the order is "to go." Okay, this isn't bad etiquette so much as it is people just being completely dumb. Most of the time it's actually kind of amusing. One of these days, I think I just might make someone's drive-thru order for here and then insist that they didn't specify. Dumb people can be funny. 
• They have noisy cars. Oh this is terrible, but it's especially terrible because people don't seem to notice that their cars are so noisy. Thus, when they pull up to the window, they tell you (very angrily) that your speaker sucks and you should get it fixed. I'm sorry. That is definitely my fault. I'll go out and rewire it immediately. TURN YOUR CAR OFF!
• They honk their horns because the line isn't moving fast enough. Really? If you were inside, would you honk your horn, or at least mimic a horn honking, due to the speed of the line? This is just downright rude. If you really don't like waiting, make food at home instead of going to a drive-thru.
• They drive away right after their order is filled. Evidently, the line was taking too long, so instead of honking their horn, they just up and leave. And of course they have to wait until there's only one car in front of them to make their departure. Really? Fail. That's probably the nicest thing I can think to say.
• The wait until they drive up to the window to place their order. This is probably the WORST thing you can do at a drive-thru window. If you do this, you might as well just come inside and stop being so lazy, because this absolutely defeats the entire purpose of a drive-thru. It throws the whole system off and you actually end up having to wait longer, as do all the people behind you. If you do this, your drive-thru privileges should be revoked.
  

This list is very incomplete. 

I hate drive-thrus, obviously. I hate going through them myself and I hate the way people act when they go through them. I think people just make them way more complicated than they have to be, which just stresses everyone out. In theory, I guess I understand the attraction, but the execution of drive-thrus is highly obnoxious. Sometimes, a very nice person will come through the drive-thru. Other times, a very nice AND attractive person will come through. Mostly, the meanest people go through the drive-thru. 

The best thing about drive-thrus is having two employees talking to the customers at once. Especially if they'll hear alternating between male and female voices. Sometimes the customers will confusedly question it. Other times, they're simply too, ahem, preoccupied to notice. 

Either way, do everyone involved a favor and boycott the drive-thru. Thank you. That felt good.

Rocks and stuff

The semester is almost over. While I should be practicing a speech, I decided to instead give another quick top ten list. As I was looking through my notes from my geology class, I came across the most important things said by the instructor thus far. At least, they were important enough for me to write down. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this, or at the very least find it amusing.

The Geology Top Ten

10. "Now, this rock has excellent cleavage." [cue Jenny's laughter row two.]

9. "Believe it or not, you can kill someone with only a pencil."

8. "People just keep diddling with the environment!"

7. "Now, I'm sure you all are familiar with Wisconsin."

6."For those of you who are musically minded, da da dum doo dee da da."

5. "Just let the beavers do their thing."

4. "We're living on a giant Tums."

3. "Now what kind of rock is this? I'll give you a hint: IT AIN'T GRANITE!"

2. "Give yourselves a pat on the head for surviving the wet one."

And the number one quote from geology:

"Now, this has nothing to do with geology..."

And, that's basically how the Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays of my spring semester have been spent. They're almost over. Peace.

=]

Lately, I've been thinking a lot. Well, a lot more than usual. I mean, I'm usually thinking about several things at the same time. It gets pretty crowded in there --in my head, that is. 

Anyway, I've been thinking a lot about the kinds of things girls like to think about. 

Relationships have been on my mind lately. I'm one of those crazy people who have been having dreams about getting married pretty much since I could walk. Maybe even before that. By the time I could talk, I had the entire perfect wedding planned in my mind. As I got older, maybe a few of the details changed a bit (for example, I don't want to have my wedding reception at a McDonald's Playplace anymore). Maybe I'm exaggerating a tad, but I honestly have been one of those cliched hopeless romantic types for the majority of my life. 

That said, I have no problem admitting that I have NEVER been in a relationship, had a boyfriend, etc. etc. And I mean never. As in, it hasn't happened. 

I guess I'm expected to have had that, though. People think it's funny when you're sixteen and haven't "had a boyfriend." Uh-oh. Now, I'm really getting too old. 

I don't think dating like that in high school would have been beneficial for me whatsoever. I mean, it sucked then, especially since I am the way I am. But, what's the point? I don't want to "have a boyfriend" just so I can say that I have. I don't want to use people in that context. If I wanted to be in a relationship just so I could change my Facebook relationship status, well I probably could have had a boyfriend or two by now. But, they wouldn't have lasted very long. 

Again, what's the point?

When I look at my childhood dreams of getting married and compare them to the ones I have now, one thing hasn't changed. I don't plan on being married five times. I like the idea of having that one person for the rest of your life. 

So, how would countless short term relationships help me at all? Well, they'd make me feel better about myself, for one. I wouldn't have to be alone. Alone is a terrible thing to feel. The worst feeling in the world is sitting there watching everyone around you fall in love, all the while you wonder why you haven't yet. It hurts to think that maybe you never will. It scares me to think that maybe I never will. 

I don't think I'd make a very good nun, to be perfectly honest. 

It hurts sometimes. It's frustrating sometimes. It seems hopeless sometimes. It's hard all of the time. 

Someday. 

But, I'm not one of those people who are one hundred percent against "dating" or what have you. 

I don't really know exactly why it's taking so long. I don't really know if it's me, or just the circumstances of my life. If it is me, I don't know what it is about me exactly. I don't know if I'm distancing myself to hold out for something better or just distancing myself for the heck of it.

I really hope something comes along, sooner rather than later if I had a choice. 

But, then, at the same time, I'm okay with it. As hard as it is to say, maybe my picture perfect wedding is never going to happen. Maybe I'll never fall in love. Maybe I'll live with lots of cats someday. 

I never thought I would say this, but I actually find myself alright with that. If that's the way it's going to be, okay. I'm perfectly happy right now. It's dumb to wait for another person to show up and make you happy. I can and am happy just as I am, lonely and all. 

And, you know, I'm really not that lonely after all. 

There's always a song in my head.

I decided that I've been getting more into music on the whole. I think a lot of it has to do with writing CD reviews for newspaper. I love writing these reviews, because there is simply so much put out that is absolutely terrible. It gives me an outlet to say how terrible I think something is. 

My music appreciation class has also given me a true appreciation of music, ironically enough. With that said, I decided to comprise a list of the most intriguing, interesting, and appealing sections that we've covered in the class thus far:

• Classical. Usually, I am not a classical music person whatsoever, but Mozart is awesome. Why has no one ever made me aware of his amazingness??? I'm also just struck by the sad lives the artists of this time lived. I'm probably not going to become a classical music patron, but I didn't mind learning about this.
• Messiah. We did a whole focus on Handel's Messiah in class. I loved it, because I really love Handel. He's my absolute favorite. Messiah is so not usually me, but I loved it when I saw it live. I also sang the Hallelujah chorus in Christmas choir once, and that gave it its special place in my heart.
• Opera. I have only seen one opera, and I did not like it. But, the genre itself is intriguing to me, since it's so different from anything I experience on a typical day. We watched La Boheme in class, and I found it very interesting. I still have a hard time listening to the singing in opera, but I liked it on the whole. 
• Romantic. This time period is just so romantic. Ew. No, but I find the shift that occurs in this time period really interesting. Also, the music has such a fanciful feel to it. It's pleasant to listen to.
• Film Music. We haven't discussed this in class yet, but this is what I picked out a while ago to do my presentation on. I'm really excited about this, because I love movies, so I think it'll be a really cool thing to look into how the music affects the overall story.

And, there ya go. A rather lame blog entry, but it is an entry nonetheless.

 Appreciate music. And appreciate this quote by Igor Stravinsky. If you don't know who he is, that's what Google is for. 

"My music is best understood by children and animals." [Igor Stravinsky]