When you're in the mood for a little something different...

Recently I've had the opportunity to see two rather out of the ordinary movies and both were surprisingly enjoyable. I just want to recommend them for when you're in the mood for something other than your run of the mill chick flick or action movie.

First, Kung Fu Hustle. KFH was out earlier this year in theatres. It's a Chinese martial arts movie, but has so much unexpected humor! Some of the action sequences are a little violent, but if you are accustomed to martial arts films, I don't think there's anything unexpected. It's in Chinese, but on the DVD you can choose to watch it with subtitles or listen to it dubbed in English. I'm generally not a fan of the dubbing, but it works with this movie. The lines they steal from other movies? Priceless!

Second, is The Adventures of Buckaroo Bonzai. BB is your classic neurosurgeon by day, rock star crime solver by night. :) This movie (from the late 80's) is all about his adventures through the 8th dimension. ABB may be the absolute most random movie of all time. The great thing is it's funny in a ha-ha way and also funny in a what-in-the-world kind of way. A bonus for Alias fans is seeing Carl Lumbly as a Rastafarian alien from the 10th planet!

I know it's often overwhelming to go to the video store or look at your Netflix list and try to pick out something that will be entertaining, but not like everything else you've seen. I think both of these movies meet that criteria. If you get the chance to watch them (or have seen them), let me know what you think!

I've seen a million faces, and I've rocked 'em all...

Bird called me yesterday with the wonderful news that Jennifer Nettles will be performing a duet with Bon Jovi on BJ's upcoming album, Have a Nice Day (who says dreams don't come true!?!?). I cannot wait to hear this song! There's also going to be a CMT special next month (see picture below). Paul and I have decided to get a satellite so we'll actually be able to watch that special...I mean, we didn't get the satellite "so we can watch that special" just that, as a result of getting the satellite, we'll be able to watch that special. Although if I hadn't already decided to get a satellite, this could very well be a determining factor! Ahh, it's times like this that make me want to sing..."I love technology..."

Welcome to Grad School...

So, I started my Master's classes at UGA this week. Monday morning, bright and early at 9 am, I had my first ever graduate school class. It was Proseminar in Mass Communication. There are about 20 people in that class and surprisingly few of them come from a Comm undergrad. The class is basically an overview of Mass Comm and is mostly discussion-driven. Our big project will be writing a thesis proposal at the end of the semester (eek!). The teacher, Dr. Hamilton, seems really smart and is very animated when he talks, which is great for keeping the class engaged.

At the end of Monday's meeting, I was a little skeptical about the whole grad school thing. I enjoyed the class, but didn't feel like I had really connected with anyone. Actually that meeting made me feel really sympathetic towards commuters...it seemed like everyone already knew each other from previous classes or living in Athens or whatever, and I was coming in from the outside. I'm pretty sure most of that was in my head, but I felt in nonetheless.

I went into my Monday afternoon class (Programming and Criticism in Telecommunications) a little nervous, but soon found out I had nothing to worry about! There are just 7 of us in the class and everyone is a tv/film/music junkie! Dr. Kohn, my professor, is so funny and seems to love tv and movies as much as the rest of us do. I'm really looking forward to this class despite the 150 pages of reading he assigned for this week!

Yesterday, Wednesday, I met with my third class of the semester, which is Research Methodology in Mass Comm. This class was always going to be really dry, but I think the instructor, Dr. Becker, will do a good job of making it interesting. He's really soft-spoken, but has a lot of research experience and seems to want to make the class as interesting as possible. In my other two classes, everyone (including the teacher) sat around a conference table and discussed everything. This class will be more traditional (desks, teacher at the front, Power Point), but I know I'll learn a lot and will hopefully come out on the other side excited about research! One of the best things about our Wednesday meeting was that I got to talk to several people from my Monday morning class. They were super nice and really interesting, so I think I'm on my way to becoming an "insider"!

So, all in all, it's been a great week. I love talking about tv and movies, and that's what this program is all about. I'm sure there will be many stressed-out posts to come, but for now I feel really good about the program and I'm looking forward to my classes.

Really quick...

...because I started classes at UGA Monday (more on that later) and I have about 200 pages to read before next Monday, plus do some RD stuff, prepare for my 8:00 am class tomorrow morning which I'm teaching, and work on the plans for a concert at Ekklesia this weekend. Whew!

Anyway, I just wanted to say that I was very disappointed in the Rock Star:INXS performances last night, so if you watched based on my advice, I'm really sorry. Please go back and watch some of the older performances online and don't base your opinion on last night's episode.

For those who are regular viewers...what in the world was up with Jordis??? Can you be any more unprofessional?

Okay, gotta run. Say a prayer that I get into a good routine and get a handle on everything really soon!!

Rock Star:INXS

If you haven't been watching Rock Star:INXS this summer, start now!! It's so great! MiG, Marty, and Jordis are my picks for the Top 3. You can check out past performances online at rockstar.msn.com.

Here are my Top 7 favorite performances so far...

7. Ty - No Woman, No Cry from Week 5
6. Suzie - Losing My Religion from Week 5
5. Marty - ...Baby One More Time from Week 6
4. MiG - We Will Rock You from Week 4
3. Marty - Mr. Brightside from Week 5
2. Jordis - The Man Who Sold the World from Week 4
1. MiG - Baby I Love Your Way from Week 6

They're all worth listening to, and none of the performances are longer than 2 1/2 minutes. So, if you have some time and need a little escape, there you go. If you're in the mood to rock out, listen to Suzie's Losing My Religion. She rearranged it and it totally rocks...hard! And ladies, if you're feeling mushy, I dare you to watch MiG's Baby I Love Your Way without tearing up just a bit! This week's show will be encore performances of songs they've done before, as selected by the viewing audience. I'm sure it will be awesome, and it'd be a great time to start watching!

Google Maps Mash-ups (I know...I didn't understand it at first, either)

I've been fascinated with Google Maps since they first became popular a while back. I just read this article today. It talks about how Google recently made a set of API's public and have been experiencing a ton of mash-ups since then. (And if that sentence makes no sense to you, it's ok. You'll probably still enjoy the article...it explains those terms better than I ever could.)

You can also check out Google Maps Mania, a cool blog devoted to the Google Maps mash-ups. You can find out some very cool things there. Even if you're not a tech-head, I think you'd enjoy it! Well, you'd enjoy the parts you could understand at least. :)

A Case of the Mondays...

I had a weird and busy weekend and am fighting with a cold even as I write (the cold is winning). New students moved in on Saturday and things went very smoothly. That night, though, I found out a close friend was killed in a motorcycle accident. It's still absolutely unbelievable to me and my heart is broken for his family.

Here are some things that made me smile this afternoon...
* If you like 80's music and The Family Guy, you'll love this video.
* And if you can't wait for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire this November, here's a sneak peek.

Peace. Out.

Nothing to fear, but fear itself...

This week the Student Life staff took our leadership students (RAs, Chaplains, and SGA) to Camp Lurecrest on Lake Lure in Asheville, NC. We had a great time bonding and learning about being leaders.

Two activities in particular stretched me as a leader and a person. I am not what you would call a risk-taker. I enjoy roller coasters and hiking and being outdoors, but the thought of jumping off of something very high and trusting someone will be there to catch you is just not something I'm that into normally. One of the first activities my group did was called the "King Swing." The point was to get harnessed in to a rope hanging from what looked like telephone cables about 40 feet in the air and have your team pull you up to where you yourself are about 40 feet in the air. Then, you count to three, signaling them to let go of their rope while you simultaneously pull your rip cord and go swinging out over their heads. It was insane! The swinging part at the end was pretty fun, but the split second of freefall right at the beginning? Not so much.

The second activity we did was the aptly named "Leap of Faith." For this one, you got harnessed in and were working with a kind of pulley system. You had to climb a 30 foot telephone pole (about 6 inches in diameter) while your team held on to the ropes below, ready to support you if you stumbled or fell. So, you climb to the top of this pole and then have to stand up on top. You have nothing to pull yourself up and nothing to hold on to once you're there. Oh yeah, and the pole is extremely wobbly! So, you're standing up there and you have to turn 180 degrees so you can take a flying leap off the pole and try to catch a trapeze bar hanging out in front. Insane, right? But I got up there and jumped off anyway! I didn't come close to catching the bar, but at that point I didn't even really care!

The Leap of Faith was the one that was so scary and intimidating to me, but I'm so proud that I faced my fear and went through with it. I wasn't sure about it when we first saw it, but I had this little voice in my head asking "How will you be able to tell someone else to take a risk if you're not taking one yourself?" That activity was also the one where you really had to rely on the encouragement of your team to get you over the obstacle of fear. It was so scary, but so awesome in the end.

If you're in the mood for a laugh, you can see pictures of me doing these two things on my photo blog. And you don't have to mention how dorky that helmet looks...Paul already pointed it out! :)

Characters welcome...

I love commercials. Don't get me wrong, I love being able to skip past them (thank you, TiVO) when I'm not in the mood, but I really love them. I'm not talking about the local mom'n'pop ads, the previews of what's coming up on the late-night news, or even the "Stay tuned for scenes from our next episode" ads. I'm talking about those commercials that take some thought, some creativity. A few come to mind that have really stuck out over the years....the VW Jetta ad where the guy tackles the grocery cart before it hits his car, the Fruit of the Loom ad that's like a country music video "You Can't Over Love (Your Underwear)," and the Starbucks commercial with the group "Survivor." But the best commercial I've seen so far comes from the USA Network.

USA has come up with a new slogan, "Characters Welcome." It's such a fitting slogan for them because they're host to shows like "Monk," "Dead Zone," "The 4400," and WWE Wrestling. The commercial that goes along with the slogan is pure genius. The copy is amazing, the visual images are captivating, and it fits perfectly with the "characters" theme. You can watch the commercial online, and I encourage you to do so. Especially if you're involved in video production or any kind of creative field.

I also encourage you to adopt this slogan for life. Be open to those around you who might seem a little off, a little different. Seek them out and find something you can learn from them, if it's only to be yourself at all times. Make your life such that characters are always welcome.