So Awake

Church in Soho

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The WB returns!

According to the Hollywood Reporter, the WB is returning in web form! So awesome. I just hope they manage to get the rights to stream Dawson's, Felicity, and Buffy -- along with Gilmore Girls, those were my favorite WB shows. And really, the WB isn't the WB without Dawson's or Buffy.

And now, because I'm feeling spammy with the YouTube tonight, here's the WB promo from 1999. Highlights include Meredith Monroe lounging on an enormous photo of James Van Der Beek's head, and Scott Foley trying to seductively slide down a fireman's pole. Also, for some reason Scott Speedman is entirely absent, as if by leaving out Ben, they could get people to like Noel more. Ha.

Late to the party

So about a million years after all my friends freaked out about it, I finally really want to see Once. I think it was the Oscar performance of "Falling Slowly" that got me, even though I still think it's creepy that they started dating when Marketa Irglova was practically in middle school (or the Czech equivalent) and Glen Hansard was like 30. Anyway, I used to always avoid the song when I heard it on the radio, because the beginning sounds just like Smokey Robinson's "You Really Got A Hold On Me", which gives me flashbacks to my days on the high school speech team, and those days are really best left forgotten. But now I'm kind of addicted to it, and am currently listening to it for something like the eleventh time in a row.

I do this with songs a lot -- I'll like something and feel compelled to listen to it on repeat for days until I move on to the next song. Before "Falling Slowly", it was "Faster Than Cars Drive" by Kate Tucker & the Sons of Sweden, and before that it was the first single from the upcoming R.E.M. album (more on that later). Last semester I probably listened to Coconut Records' "West Coast" a few hundred times, but I think that was at least partly about being homesick and missing Afsheen.

I was about to write something about how I don't really know how normal this habit is, and then I remembered how freshman year of college, Emily and I would watch the "She's A Rainbow" iMac commercial over and over together. So I guess it's not just me.

Also, that commercial is still pretty awesome even if it does look dated now (remember when you could buy any item imaginable in translucent colored plastic?):

Lesson of the day

When you are craving pad thai, a banana muffin is not a good substitute.

In which I am a genius

Somehow, over the weekend I managed to do almost all of my work for Wednesday, but almost none for Tuesday. Brilliant.

Cameraphone funtime

Here is a cute picture of Paddington that I took with my phone. (Looking at how clean and unshaggy he used to be, I realize how desperately he now needs to go to the groomer. Oops.)

And here is a picture of the Royal Tenenbaums house, which is located somewhere between Emily and Bing's apartment and a delicious Italian restaurant:

Strike!

At 12:01 am on Monday, the Writers Guild of America will go on strike. My WGA membership is only an associate one, and I'm not sure I'll ever get paid to write for TV again (although seriously, what is an Ivy League law degree good for if not to get a writing job on the Daily Show?), but I'll still be picketing in spirit.

If you want to know more about why the writers are striking, a good starting point is "Share the Wealth with Writers, an LA Times piece by screenwriter and WGA board member Howard A. Rodman. Here's a sneak preview:

"...on each [DVD], the companies pay more to the manufacturer of the box and packaging (about 50 cents) than they pay in residuals to the writer, director and actors combined (about 20 cents)."

The writer's share of that 20 cents usually breaks down to about four cents. If you write with a partner, you're down to two cents. A single new release DVD usually sells for about $20. Something isn't right here.

A dog's life

Things are not quite so dire as my last post sounded, although they really are that busy. Afsheen will (finally!) be here in a week, along with our car, and that should make things easier, at least on the shopping and eating fronts. But until then, it's just me and Paddington. And while he can be awfully demanding at times, Paddington is definitely the most adorable roommate in the world.

Because I like the efficiency of the list format, here is a list of cute things Paddington does that make me temporarily forget that I never sleep because I'm too busy studying:

1. chases squirrels into trees
2. jumps up and down in a sad attempt to climb the tree trunks, while barking madly at the squirrels
3. chases things he thinks are squirrels, such as
    a. sparrows
    b. tree stumps
    c. shadows
    d. leaves
4. insists on sitting in my lap while I study/work on the computer
5. climbs from my lap onto the desk, where he snuggles up to my laptop
6. plays fetch in the hallways
7. sneaks into the law school quad to chase squirrels

So at least in terms of things to chase, the east coast definitely agrees with P Bear. Although I have to admit, I'm a little worried what would happen if he ever did catch a squirrel. I'm pretty sure that in a fight, the squirrel would win.

Things I used to do that I don't anymore, because I am in law school

blog
cook
take pictures
knit
interact with people who aren't law students
talk on the phone
buy clothes (this is a problem, because I'm going to die of exposure if I don't get some warmer tops and a pair of boots)
work out
read books that aren't casebooks
sleep

Things I used to do that I now do much more frequently, because I am in law school:
waste time on Facebook
go to cheap bars