"Just remember- Not at the table, Carlos."

I hate Sundays, probably more than I hate Mondays. Because all of the work I put off all weekend comes back to bite me in the butt on Sundays. So what did I do today? I woke up, ate, did homework, ate, and now it's finally done and I'm watching football.

Just a few things for the weekend: Wind chill advisory ain't got nothing on us. We can walk to Erbert and Gerbert's at midnight for soup and a sandwich if we want to. And yes, the soup can still be warm when we get it back to the dorms. Take that, weather.

I forgot all about this until I found the song on my iTunes today:

Probably my favorite YouTube video, ever.

Worked on my wire onesie for a while today, and it's finally starting to look like something.

I use "something" as a very loose term.

And for better or for worse (but mostly worse), the heat wave here is over. So if you see this person walking around campus, don't be alarmed, it's just me trying to save my face from the outdoors.

This IS for real.

And it was a pretty exciting weekend for football, just kidding. Senior Bowl was yesterday, and even though South won, I'm sure it was still an exciting game (I didn't actually watch it, just saw the recap). And as I type, I'm watching the NFC murder the AFC in the Pro-Bowl. You know it's bad because even though the AFC just scored twice, they're still not in the game again. And I can't count the interceptions thrown this game on two hands. I can't wait until next weekend, I'ma watch me some real football.

I would have liked to end this post with a quote from a football player going to the Superbowl next weekend, but as I skimmed Twitter for something quote-worthy, I actually laughed out loud at this tweet from MikeyADHD:

"LAST TIME I CHECKED I WAS THE ONE SINGING THIS SONG. NOW ONCE AGAIN... IF YOU'RE HAPPY & YOU KNOW IT, HUMP YOUR SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHER'S LEG."

Fantastic Fridays

Fridays are great for a few reasons: I don't have class on Fridays. Track is always super short on Fridays. And my friends and I always think of the most creative things to do on Fridays.

I spent most of my day, while everyone was in class, relaxing in my room and relishing in having the time to do my homework, even though I wasn't. I found this amazing website, which is for an amazing cause, and at the same time, looks amazing. It's called The Giving Keys. I almost immediately ordered one, mine reading DBWH, which stands for DREAM BIG WORK HARD. Can't wait for it to come in the mail and I assure, pictures will follow its arrival!

I went for a run today since Moorhead is pretty much under a heat advisory. It was nice to be able to run outside, in only one layer of Under Armour, and to not have your breath freeze to your face/hair (if you've never experienced this before, well, con-grad-u-fricking-lations, it's a pleasure).

After dinner the festivities began. Hobby Lobby (aka one of the best stores, ever) led to The Dollar Store which led to this:

"Drinking glasses" and a grill. Best $1.75 ever spent? You decide.

Which eventually led to this:

Soon after this picture was taken, large amounts of her beverage were in fact spilled all over my nice white rug.

I had read on another blog a few days ago how to do something called a "Newsprint Manicure" and we decided to try it. It ended up working really, really well, which I didn't expect, but I'm definitely excited to experiment with this concept more in the future. Here's what the final product looked like:

The pictures are kind of bad, but basically, those are comic strips, text and a crossword puzzle pressed onto my fingernails. And it was really, really easy. Here's a step-by-step:

1. Paint your nails white. I recommend two coats.

2. Allow to dry (take this time to find little pictures/words you want from the paper. Keep in mind everything will get pressed on backwards.)

3. Dip a nail into rubbing alcohol for a few seconds, then take it out, and while it's still wet, press the newspaper directly onto the nail.

4. Rub on for a few seconds, then remove and wa-lah! 

5. Put a top coat on.

Since we're obsessed with those clip-in colored hair extensions, when a friend of mine who goes to school in Denver told me about the trend there of having feathers in your hair, I knew we had to try it. She said you have to get it done in a salon, and being my rebellious self, I said, "I bet I can find it on the Internet." And I did. Here's a picture of what I ended up ordering:

Super excited for them to come, hopefully closing the crimp beads isn't too much of a hassle. My dad will harass me for becoming a hippie, but I'm really just a trend-setter.

And the night ended early, but not before I learned how to knit. It took me about 15 tries before I got the hang of it, but even now, it's as easy as pie. Here's how far I got on the scarf I'm making:

Notice the Newspaper Manicure holding up the project- classy.

So all in all, it was an early night, but I do have a track meet tomorrow, so I suppose it's good that I'll get some sleep. I'm pretty sure my roommate came in the room 20 minutes ago and is already snoring. I'll end with a quote from the movie we watched while all this was happening: Dinner for Schmucks.

"So dare to dream. Dream your wildest dreams. You can climb the highest mountain. You can drown in a teacup, if you find a big enough teacup. And if somebody tells you that you can't do something, you say, 'Yes, I can. 'Cause I'm doing it right now!'"

It's the freekin' weekend. And all I want to do is sleep.

I don't have class on Fridays and every Thursday during the day, I make it a resolution to do half of my homework for the weekend before I go to bed, since I can sleep in as late as I want on Fridays. This rarely (or has never) happened because of the Internet. And when I find cool things to do on the Internet, the fun never ends.

Like, I found this, and I plan on doing it. Maybe all in one day. Are you going to stop me?

 

And then my friends post videos like this on my Facebook wall:

 

And in case you were wondering, no, I did not watch the whole thing.

But there's been a heatwave in Moorhead this week, and for those of you reading who think you have it bad, a heatwave here means it's been in the upper 20's. It was 31 today. There is slush on the sidewalks. I almost wanted to wear my rain boots. I hope it's like this tomorrow so I can go outside and run for the first time since December. 

This warm weather makes me think of spring, which is misleading (for two reasons: it's not really warm here in the spring, and spring won't be here for another 6 weeks or so), but so many good things happen in the spring:

Baseball games start in the spring. And with the Twins outdoor stadium, it's even more fun.

Beaches happen in the summer, which is the season after spring.

Boats happen in the spring/summer.

BONFIRES happen in the spring/summer. And I really, really, like s'mores.

And finally, general awesomeness happens in the spring.

So I guess we should all embrace this "springtime" weather now, before it gets unhealthily cold again. And I think I'll end with a Charlie Chaplin quote, since we watched "Gold Rush" today in Film History.

"Words are cheap. The biggest thing you can say is 'elephant'."

"How will your legs feel tomorrow?" "I have legs?"

So first of all, soccer is great and all, but wall sits, lunges and killers combined = one sore night. And probably an even sorer tomorrow. But hey, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger, right?

Anyway, I had double dose of art today and am feeling very accomplished about my work so here's a little something-something for ya:

Probably not very impressive, but it's getting there. The assignment is to make an article of clothing, life-size, out of this tie-wire. I'm making a onesie. You can kind of see how one leg is done, and I started on the foot. Still many, many hours to go, but at least it's starting to look like something now.

Close-up of the straight-on skull on the bottom right corner of my composition. This is as far as I got on this part, the next step will be to get some color in there (see what's below). As you can clearly see, I'm pretty much beast at drawing teeth... NOT.

Close up of the shading on the bottom left skull.

Here's the same skull, after doing some color work. It's pretty close to being done, just needs a few touch ups. Not totally psyched about it, it doesn't really look like what I expected or wanted, but we'll have to wait and see what the rest of the composition looks like before I make a final judgement. It's a little flat looking for my taste, so I might try and get some more cross-contour lines to add some depth/roundness to the whole thing.

I just really liked how, because of my pallet, the teeth look like they're rotting.

That was pretty much my day- woke up at 6AM for a private track practice (and what a joy it was!), went to design, went to drawing, went to soccer, went to an art colloquium, watched Off the Map, and now I'm here.

I did hear, however, that Clay Matthews signed a hair deal with Suave. This made my day very exciting because I'm excited to see him whip his hair around on TV, if they ever do a commercial.

And my final little blurb here would have to be about a topic my coach talked to us about at practice today: blind soccer. We were passing and he stopped us and asked us if we could hear whether or not we made and good pass. Then he went into this lecture about "blind soccer" and how it's a really big deal in Europe and Asia and if we ever got the chance to play, it would be an awesome experience. Being naturally curious, I had to look this up, and let me tell you, I am floored! These people run around, blindfolded (so no matter how blind you are, everyone's equal) and play soccer. And they actually (sort of) look like they know what they're doing. Here's a cool-ish shorter video I found of it on YouTube:

I want to try this real bad! It looks like they don't blindfold the goalies, though. It took me a while to figure out why until I thought about how long I would last in a goal, blindfolded. Ha. But it'd be fun to try out the field!

Film History is once again calling my name, so have an awesome night (or rest of the day!) and STAY CLASSY, STAY SASSY.

Two posts in one day? What is this?

Just a few things to add to my day, since most of what I did/thought about all day was the Oscars.

Why haven't I heard of this already? This is AMAZING. First of all, I had no idea Scarlett Johannson could sing, and I thought Pete Yorn would never sound un-depressing and peppy, but WOW. Love this album, definitely worth the legal download! And seriously, it was released over a year ago? WTF WHY DIDN'T ANYONE TELL ME?

Second, I would just like to add that throwers are extremely good at playing basketball. Where else can you go, throw heavy shit for an hour and a half, then play a near-45-minute pick-up game of ball? And OMAHA did work every time. If you're a basketball guru, don't even ask about OMAHA, it's not worth learning, really.

Third, there is currently a (I never thought I'd be saying this) HEAT WAVE hitting Moorhead. It got up to 21 degrees today! 21 whole freaking degrees and there was little to no wind, so it felt pretty much like that. I didn't wear a hat to class today, and my ears didn't fall off. If only the sidewalks were paved, I would've run forever outside.

My Academy Award nominations analysis (I'm a film major, you should trust me)...

I love the Academy Awards and now that the nominations are out, I get to think about them, and then challenge my dad in a betting pool. (Any other takers?) But I thought I'd look at the nominations first and share my thoughts on them, first!

Best film: I have to say, with this new 10 film system, best film gets a little sloppy. I mean, Inception was good, but not that good. They should just stick with 5 and stop tainting the pool. My top 5 choices for best picture would probably have been:

The Social Network. I still haven't seen it, but it's getting really good reviews and it did well at the Golden Globes. Since I haven't seen it, it's not the one I want to win (yet) but I think it probably stands a good chance at the Oscar.

I was so surprised that this wasn't nominated for best drama at the Golden Globes! Stop ignoring animated films! Especially good ones! Not my choice to win, but I was just happy to see it get a well-deserved best picture nomination.

Once again, I haven't seen this. But it too has been getting glowing reviews and took home a Golden Globe. This is probably my dark horse choice for best picture.

Saw it, loved it. Amazing acting, amazing story and amazing overall film. Would be my choice to win overall, but probably not the Academy's. But once again, a well-deserved nomination.

And of course, Black Swan. Need I say more? I think the race will be tight between this and The Social Network, much like Avatar and The Hurt Locker last year. The Social Network won the Golden Globe, will it take the Oscar too, or will it split again this year? The Academy has leaned toward more independent, artistic feeling films in the past few years, and this is more fitting to those criteria than The Social Network.

Best Director: My bid personally would go to David Russell, but once again, it will probably be a closer race between Darren Aronofsky and David Fincher. My guess at the Academy's pick would be Aronofsky (Black Swan). Plus, it was nice to see the Coen brothers get a nomination. Minnesota represent!


Best Actor: Most likely a tough race between Jesse Eisenberg and Colin Firth. I want to lean towards Colin Firth, but I haven't seen either movie, so I could be completely off the mark. Kudos to Franco for getting a nomination (he's really, really nice to look at) and it's pretty cool to see Bardem get a nom for a foreign film as well.

Best Actress: Natalie Portman probably has this locked in. Dark horse to Annette Bening. Nice to see Nicole Kidman in the race, though.


Best Supporting Actor: The Academy snubbed The Social Network! Which makes the choice a lot easier, I suppose. Christian Bale won against The Social Network in the Golden Globes, I think he can take the rest of the field without it in the Oscars. It was cool to see Geoffrey Rush, though, more power to The Kids are Alright!

Best Supporting Actress: I personally think this is a great race. Two nominations for The Fighter and Helena Bonham-Carter is always fair game. My personal pick would be Amy Adams, but Melissa Leo walked away with the Golden Globe. And it's always great to see younger faces in the race, as well (Hailee Steinfield)!

Best Animated Film: Do I really have to answer this?


Best Original Screenplay: WOW. What a great field! I don't even know where to start, except to eliminate Another Year (haven't seen it, or heard of it, not saying it's bad, but the other nominations are just so good). Inception should win just because it took someone completely insane to think of the plot and put it together into a comprehensible screenplay. The Fighter or The Kids are Alright should win because they were both great stories. And once again, The King's Speech is just getting glowing reviews from everyone, so it probably stands a chance. This category will be revisited.

Best Adapted Screenplay: The Social Network will probably win, but I want Toy Story 3 to win. Heard good things about 127 Hours, but probably not comparable to TSN or TS3.

Best Art Direction: Just because I love art, I'll throw my five cents in. Alice in Wonderland wasn't that great of a movie, and the art and feel of it was good, but not good enough to compensate for a weak story, in my opinion. I wasn't floored by it at all, and I would be sad to see an almost completely animated film win. I do think that Harry Potter stands a chance. It was beautifully shot and the animated sequence was flooring. Inception was cool but the art didn't stand out to me, probably because I was too concentrated on the story and trying not to lose my train of thought. Haven't seen King's Speech but Victorian movies are always contenders in art categories. True Grit? Interesting choice.

Best Cinematography: I'm always wrong when it comes to this category, but I'd like to see Inception win just because of the awesome shots in the film. I don't want to try and analyze the rest of them because I really don't know that much about it.

Best Costume Design: I'd like to see Alice in Wonderland win (costumes were one of the only things I actually liked about the film) but the award will probably go to The King's Speech because the award almost always goes to some sort of Victorian-era film. I am Love? The Tempest? There's always interesting films in this category.

The only other category I really know anything about is best original song. They snubbed Burlesque which was a surprise, seeing as how it garnered two Golden Globe nominations. They also left out Chronicles of Narnia, which was sad, but expected. I think Toy Story should win this, because everyone loved Toy Story and the song at the end of the movie made me cry.

I'll post my final ballot closer to ceremony time, and then I'll get a ranting post on here shortly after (or quite possibly during) and justify my losses. Disagree? Comment. Agree? Comment. Have a good point you want to put up for debate? Comment.

At the end of the day...

All that matters is what you've accomplished and what you can look back on and smile about, right?

Well in that case, I suppose this was a productive day. Despite my general disregard for Mondays, I think they're not as bad as I make them out to be. I mean, within 11.5 hours, I have 8.5 hours of class, but one of them is design, which, although is oftentimes mentally exhausting (and, as of late, physically exhausting as well), is probably my favorite class. The next is drawing which, once again, is straining on the eyes, but it allows for a complete escape from the real world for three hours. Take today's work, for example:

My study of a skull. The skull had bad lighting, which was made worse by my complete impatience with the medium (colored pencil). I learned, however and will definitely take this to heart in the final project!

This is the outline of my final project. Picture this: Upper left skull in warm colors, upper right and lower left in cool colors, and bottom right in a complete rainbow (like my study, but brighter and therefore, better).

And econ will be econ, and now, even though I'm reflecting on my day, I still have homework to do, but I needed a mental break so I came here. But when I put things off too long, and even though this was a relatively short post, there's a History of Film textbook screaming my name from my backpack, and it's finally getting on my nerves.

Feelin' so fly... Like a cheesehead.

Friday night at the basketball games. We chose boyfriends on our own team and cheered for and objectified the finest athletes our school has to offer. They won. The next night, however, our cheering wouldn't be enough and they would lose. (So sad).

Pajama party on Saturday night. Normal college pajama parties would probably consist of wearing sexy lingerie, lots of alcohol and strobe lights. Our party consisted of onesies, slippers, karaoke choirs, crispy treats (to be revisited) and a game of boxers or briefs. And for once, I was out later than my roommate (even though she never came back to the room. I had to ask her what time she went to bed, and sure enough, I won). And not to mention, the most interesting two block car ride I think I've ever taken.

And I think the final cap on a wonderful weekend would probably have to be the fact that THE PACKERS ARE GOING TO THE SUPERBOWL. And you thought I wouldn't speak of this. WRONG. We watched the game in public, I made a fool of myself in public, we beat the Bears and I rubbed this in my family's face for a while. Here's a two items to commemorate:

Now, as much as I'd like to think that 8.5 hours of class tomorrow can be conquered on just a few hours of sleep, I know that I'm wrong and I have to get into bed now. So until next time, GO PACK GO!!!

Welcome.

1. I'm a student in college. My college is in the coldest place in the continental (and probably non-continental) United States. I hate winter. And snow. And wind. Why did I come here?

2. I'm not only a student, but I'm an art and film student.

3. I play soccer for my school, and I joined the track team as well. "I chose Division II."

4. My school's mascot is the Dragons. I think this is really cool.

5. Ke$ha and I are secret soul sisters. We look a like and I may or may not know the words to all her songs. I am not, however, an alcoholic.

6. I have an unhealthy obsession with watching sports, particularly football. Green Bay is where it's at. I also love the Minnesota Twins, and March Madness.

7. I love fashion but it's too cold here to dress up most of the time.

8. I live in the dorms (frosh) and my room is pie-shaped. My building is called the "Beer Can." I live above the "drunk door." We open my window and drop things on people who walk in and out. Once, we got in trouble for throwing fireworks at the on-duty Resident Assistants. "We didn't have fireworks, Just stale crackers."

9. "I'm a vegetarian." "Oh, so you don't eat meat?" "No, I'm that other kind that does." I am a vegetarian, and I don't eat meat.

10. I could survive on Oreos, peanut butter, saltine crackers, almonds and white cheddar rice cakes.

11. If I was good enough, I would make a living playing soccer.

12. My secret aspiration is to become a rockstar.

13. I don't watch a lot of TV, but when Glee is on, you better STFU.

14. I (legally) download too much music. I'll listen to anything once. I'll listen to most of it again, but the minute country (or death metal) comes on, I'm done.

15. My favorite movies are Moulin Rouge, Forrest Gump, The Fall, Kabluey, Zombieland, Adventureland and all the Toy Stories.

16. I'm working on designing my own tattoo.

17. My life motto is "Keep Calm and Carry On."

18. My soccer coach can recognize me because of the "relaxed and unhurried way I move my feet." Which is surprising for a two sport athlete taking 19 credits who would die without her planner.

19. I love running more than pretty much anything. I want to run a half-marathon one day. Probably not a full-marathon though. That's a little much.

20. I'm quick to pick up on things. I observe and learn, instead of jumping into things. I might not be the best at what I do, but I'll work my ass off to make sure I'm the best I can be.

21. "Tory, I think you're the only rational thinker around here sometimes."

22. I plan to study in New Zealand one day. If that doesn't work out, maybe Australia or London.

23. Most people at my school either go home, or get drunk on the weekends. I don't fall into either of these categories. My friends and I will sober cab for you anytime. We like acting drunk and having a good time, but we've never woken up with a hangover on life. Sober pong? Yes please.

24. Boys. This topic will most likely be revisited.

25. The minute I graduate, I'm moving somewhere significantly warmer than here. I've done my time in this frozen tundra and I will be rewarded with a life of warm sunshine.

I hope this was enough personal information about me to get you to read more. I promise, it will get more interesting!