Hats Off to Buster Keaton . . .

Well, my first week of school is officially completed. At my school we have to take a certain number of general education courses (GenEds), in order to garner a well-rounded education. I, however, maintain that I had a very well-rounded education in high school and therefore know that I will NEVER want a career in math and science. It's just not my bag, personally. Unfortunately for me, they will not let me graduate in two years (!!) unless I complete these courses. So I'm finishing them this semester to avoid senior year death by boredom. I'm taking . . . (drumroll)

U.S Diplomatic History
The Physical Nature of Light and Sound (fancy-pants physics)
Introduction to Film (to 1960)
General Philosophy
General Health

I'm petrified of my physics class. As a result, I'm reading my chapters and taking frantic notes on them so that I won't feel so overwhelmed come time to study for tests. But, I've only had the class 3 times and I already feel overwhelmed. My intro to Film class is FANTASTIC. My professor is hilarious and really knowledgeable (she also worked on a film with Scarlet Johansson and that makes her my hero, even if I'm kinda tired of ScarJo). We meet on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Tuesday evenings. Tuesdays are the film viewing classes, and we've already watched 2 Buster Keaton films (Cops and Sherlock, Jr. for those interested). I'd never seen a Buster Keaton film before, but I had heard of him thanks the The Dreamers (two characters debate over who is better, Keaton or Chaplin). Having now seen both, I have to say Keaton. Not only does he star in these two films and do all his own stunts, but he directed the films himself. His cinematographer is amazing and the gags are brilliantly done. He's just so endearing, I find him adorable. It's amazing how certain humor stands the test of time. My entire film class was laughing hysterically at this silent film made about 80 years ago. I doubt the same will be said of say . . . . Disaster Movie?

check this video by hihuy

It's a montage of Sherlock, Jr. set to music by Air.

But anyway, it's practically 2 AM on a Friday night (Saturday morning) and I'm not out partying. I may be totally alone in saying this, but the house parties at my college have never been my style. I've always felt off-kilter around this horrible music and awful drunk boys trying to feel me up. I'd rather be at a nice bar or restaurant, or just watching a movie with my friends. My roommate -shall I go GossipGirl and call her R?- and I watched The Wedding Date tonight while drinking a beer. Blue Moon for me and Becks for her more germanic tastebuds. Earlier in the night my other roommate M was pre-gaming as we played a three-person game of kings. We had Miss Congeniality playing in the background and were getting rather silly when our final roommate and a couple of her friends came in. Now, I don't have a problem with people drinking. I drink myself, so it would be hypocritical to find fault with others. But I do dislike people who are overly drunk. It just . . . kills my buzz. I'd go to a party if it was a bunch of people I knew, or a bunch of people dancing, but a crowded room with people spilling booze everywhere? I'd just rather not. Am I completely alone in this?

oh! and p.s. eventually I'll get a camera or borrow someone's so you can see my room and maybe an outfit post or two . . .

It's just the bureaucrats . . .

Today I moved into my first grown-up apartment. Well, sort of grown-up; my first apartment at college. As excited as I am to be back starting school again, calling up my friends, and catching up on their summers, I know I'm going to miss my family as much if not more as I did when I was dropped off as a freshman. This summer just seemed really idyllic. I had an internship at a place I enjoyed working, I hung out and reconnected with several friends from high school. And, of course, I had an amazing time with my family. Last summer was filled with awkward tension (they disapproved of a guy I was dating at the time. Looking back, I disapprove, too). This summer was just a fantastic release of all of that, laughing and joking and getting along. So I'm going to miss that, of course, but this fall is just going to be and downward spiral into the pinnacle of my life thus-far.

This spring I'm studying abroad in England. And I know it's going to be ridiculously difficult and time-consuming, but I cannot cannot cannot wait. I've lusted after anything British for as long as I can remember, so . . . I'm pretty excited. Is it January yet?

PSA?

I was watching TV quite late at night (as I usually do). And stopped to watch a little bit of MTV (as I usually do). Then this commercial/PSA came on




And all I could think was "that was really effective."

That's all I'm going to say about the video itself, because I think it pretty much speaks for itself. However, I am interested in why it's come out now. I'm not say that there is ever a bad time for anti-hate messages, but why now specifically? I'm sure part of it is the upcoming election; MTV has their whole "vote or die" thing and probably want to galvanize people to think about issues. I always wonder about the rest of the world's view of America. Do they see us as ignorant? Hateful? Divided amongst ourselves? Are we so divided that we need to be shocked in such a way? To remind us of where fear and hatred can take you? But more importantly, for those people that are ignorant and hateful (and I'm aware there are ignorant, hateful people all over the world), is a PSA enough? Is a commercial, not matter how shocking, enough to make someone really think? To understand an event in the context of its time and still appreciate the horror of it? As a history major, my professors constantly push me and my fellow students to take an event in context, to fully understand it and in a way rationalize it. Part of the "post-1989-fall of the Berlin Wall- post-modernist" historical view. As historians, we have to ask ourselves, should we ever be able to understand something that horrific? And what makes an event "that horrific"?

"But this is History. Distance yourselves. Our perspective on the past alters. Looking back, immediately in front of us is dead ground. We don't see it, and because we don't see it this means that there is no period so remote as the recent past. And one of the historian's jobs is to anticipate what our perspective of that period will be... even on the Holocaust."
~from Alan Bennett's History Boys

Pack Up and Get Gone

August is here; the last month of the summer. In a little more than two weeks I will be driving back to my collegiate town to move into my first apartment. Then my junior year will begin, with the ticking time-bomb moving ever closer to graduation and the real world. But! rewind all of that to right now, when I'm trying to piece together my life and worldly possessions. You forget how much "stuff" you have until you're trying to consolidate and figure out what needs to be brought and what doesn't. At first I thought that I would be moving in over a period of time, since I assumed (foolishly) that since I started paying rent on August 1st, that I could access my apartment at that time. But no, I can't move in until August 21st, which is only 4 days before school starts. So rather than a gradual move, I now have to make a mass exodus from my house. Not excited for that, but I am excited to get back to school and start my new endeavors.

In other news, I finished the final book in the Twilight series. It didn't end as I thought it would, but looking back on it, I don't know how else she could have ended it. That's probably the mark of a good writer, but all it does is leave me with mixed feelings.

I've decided that since I will have a car next semester and will not need to walk all over creation to get where I'm going, I will revive that old high school trend of mine: wear heels with everything!

In high school, I was the girl that wore heels all the time. It was rare indeed to see me in a pair of flats. Not that I wear flats now, per se. I wear chucks. Constantly. Maybe a pair of flip flops if the weather is warm. But I have acquired some new additions to my collections that will revive my love of pretty heels.

I love love love these shoes. They're surprisingly easy to walk in, and add a glorious 4 inches to my 5'2''. The red is much deeper in person, and I can't wait to pair these with blues, greys, and all sorts of other colors. I'm also pleased that I managed to obtain a pair of black t-strap mary janes. I never feel quite right without my t-strap mary janes.
I'm also really excited about this hat I got from Urban Outfitters. However, I'm entirely unsure as to how to wear it (meaning what outfit to put it with, not what to do with it. It goes on my head.) If anyone besides myself reads this, advice is desperately wanted/needed.

Well, I think that's just about enough gushing about myself for now. I'm thinking about doing a make-up post in the near future. Maybe?

Song of the post: Pot Kettle Black by Tilly and the Wall

photo credits: alloy.com, urbanoutfitters.com, respectively.