February Showers Bring March Tindersticks Tickets (?)

So what has been up recently? Went to a few baby showers this month, one in Boston with some college friends and one for the wife of an old group mate. The second one was done "remotely' as the person is in Maryland but her mom is up here in MA. So it was fun, excellent food. I always feel weird at these things, like bridal showers, since neither one will apply to me, at least in the foreseeable future. I mean, I like to think I know a fair amount about a lot of things, mainly from first-hand experience. But these girl things are things I only know about through other people, so all my advice and experience is obtained vicariously through others. So I always feel a bit awkward and out of place. But ultimately I go because I know how important it is to show support and love for the person being honored, which is the same reason I go to weddings when I am able to.

So yeah. In other news, I somehow managed to score tickets to the Tindersticks show in Somerville in early March - THE SEATS ARE SECOND ROW CENTER! I couldn't believe it when the Ticketmaster website shot that out at me. I refused to believe it, but that's what the tickets said when they showed up in the mail this week! So I am completely psyched. Of course, I neither deserve nor can afford said tickets, but the Tindersticks only tour the States like every 5 years or so, so ya gottado what ya gotta do. And as an added bonus, my unemployment claim got processed sooner than I expected so I am also helping out the economy. Take that, recession!! So I am looking forward to that, and will duly post a review of the show :-)

As far as work, I'm still working on the final piece of my thesis, looking at data and trying to find patterns and a model for what's going on. I am alternately climbing the walls of my office, the lab, and my apartment. When I am smart enough to figure that out, I am done. So here's to pattern recognition.

Movie: Citizen Kane

Yeah it's about time I got my act together and saw this classic. Bill kept telling me, you will see how every other movie since then has ripped it off. And, I definitely could see that in terms of cinematic plot devices. Shot in black and white, "Citizen Kane" is the story of Charles Foster Kane, a character based on William Randolph Hearst. He becomes the victim of his own success, more or less, and eventually becomes a crazy recluse whose last word, "Rosebud", starts the whole story which is told in retrospect. Orson Welles is *amazing* in this - and damn what a good looking guy he was! Total genius too. The DVD had all kinds of old letters and papers and photos from the movie shoot, which were actually fascinating to check out. For once, DVD extras weren't stupid and worthless :-)

This is another classic worth whatever hype you heard about it. It has politics, affairs, beautiful women and crazy rich people. A tried-and-true approach, but this does it best.

More info: Wikipedia entry

Movie: Slumdog Millionaire

So, I saw the movie weeks ago, but in light of the SMACKDOWN it laid on at the Oscars, I should blurb about it. This movie made me CRY CRY CRY! Fabulous movie - I loved the soundtrack, and the story was amazing. It's a love story, a story about amazing coincidences, a story about how those coincidences let you save the love of your life. Now, to be fair I hadn't seen the rest of the films nominated, although I REALLY want to see "Milk" and I probably will fairly soon.

Now I usually don't write much about the plot to prevent spoiling it for anyone reading, my thoughts/reviews tend to be very visceral and emotional. And this movie was definitely worth it and deserved every award it got. This one *is* worth the hype. Go see.

More info: Wikipedia entry

Why I Love Science (Part 8)

The fluid dynamics of coffee.

Career Fair = Peace Corps

So I went to a career fair today and the most useful thing was I met my local Peace Corps recruiter. He seems like an absolutely ace guy. I gave one resume out, but the rest of the companies there were either looking for EE/ME or undergraduate summer internships. As if I need to feel worse about my situation. But, anyway, I went, I can put that on my activity list for unemployment, and it got me used to talking to strangers again.

I think Peace Corps is looking more and more like the best option, but even if I apply tomorrow it's 9-12 months before I get deployed. So, I will need to do something when unemployment runs out. But how many restaurants want a PhD waiting tables, especially if I tell them it's only until the end of the year?

The recruiter was really nice, and maybe he will have some suggestions for me. We shall see.

In the meantime - if you have any Peace Corps stories about your experience, please share them with me as I think about this.

Matt Smith's Girlfriend

Oi. She's hot. Makes me depressed.

GO CHUCK!

Staten Island Chuck gives it to Mayor Bloomberg. The article has a link to a video of the critter chomping down on Hizzoner's hand after having enough of his ridicule. Apparently no shadow here, but Phil saw one. So, in other words, who the f knows. All I know is we got 4 feet of ice up here in MA that started melting today because it was 50 degrees, so it will be Flood Season very soon...