Let's go to the movies

My college roommate and blogger extraordinaire Kris has opened up her annual Oscar contest- enter here to win your very own Batman and the Joker sock monkeys!

I've only seen two of the nominees for Best Picture- I already posted my thoughts on Slumdog Millionaire (loved it! although the backlash already seems to be looming, a la last year's Juno. Suck it, haters- if Titanic wasn't too cheesy for an Oscar, neither is the Slumdog.) and I saw Milk over the weekend. Directed by Gus Van Sant, Milk tells the story of Harvey Milk, the first openly gay elected official in the United States. In 1972, Harvey was a mild-mannered, closeted banker who, at age 40, decides that it's time to make a change. He and his new boyfriend move to the Castro district in San Fransisco and he becomes a prominent player in local politics as well as a vocal advocate for the growing national gay rights movement. For those of you who don't know the rest of the story, I won't spoil it. It's a great movie- Sean Penn is phenomenal in the lead role and according to co-star Josh Brolin, he's "quite an actor, Sean Penn. And not an asshole like Russell Crowe." (love that quote!) It's an impressive turn for Penn, who's played surly and gruff characters in most of his recent movies- he really does seem believably and joyfully gay. James Franco plays Harvey Milk's longtime lover Scott, and he doesn't seem gay as much as plain sexy. The rest of the cast is great except for Diego Luna as a subsequent horribly annoying boyfriend- the Boston Globe said that he "appears to have wandered over from some drunken college production of Pedro Almodovar's 'Bad Education'." So true. One of the most interesting aspects of the film is the treatment of Harvey Milk's adversary, the conservative San Fransisco native Dan White. Instead of painting him as pure villain, Van Sant and Brolin make him human- White is obviously captivated by Milk and seems both jealous of his success and desirous of his friendship, even though White was the only city supervisor to vote against a gay rights bill championed by Milk.

The only drawback to the film is that it wasn't released before last year's election on Propisition 8, which rescinded the rights of gay people to marry in the state of California. In an eerie parallel, a major plotline of Milk is a vote on Proposition 6, a ballot proposal that would have banned gays and anyone who supported gays from working in the public school system. Proposition 6 failed. I don't know that an earlier release date of the film Milk would have helped defeat Proposition 8 per se, but a movie that depicts gay activists as Americans struggling for the right to live their lives just like everyone else certainly couldn't have hurt. I don't need to go off on a complete tanget, but I am very proud of Massachusetts for being the first state to legalize gay marriage. As for the states attempting to ban it, adding legislation that limits the rights of a specific group of citizens is about as unamerican as I can imagine. The separation of church and state is a fundamental tenet of our government- if you'd like an example of a society that allows religion to shape its laws, look no further than modern Iran. Additionally, they aren't trying to make gay marriage mandatory- if you aren't gay, it won't affect you. For heaven's sake America, time to leave the bigotry behind and focus on our shitty economy and international troubles, rather than argue about whether or not dudes can marry other dudes. In summary, Milk was a very good movie. And the fact that Harvey Milk didn't even do anything remarkable until age 40 is pretty inspiring. All those teenage gymnasts and tennis stars make be feel woefully behind schedule in terms of my potential for greatness.

Oh, I head that Benjamin Button was long and boring and don't actually know of anyone who's seen The Reader or Frost/Nixon. Any reports?

Neighborhood Watch

Some people are eavesdroppers, others cannot resist looking into apartment windows. I am a complete and total people watcher. Most of my people-watching occurs on my commute to and from work. Sure, I can flip through the Metro, sip my coffee, or listen to my iPod, but don't think for one second that I'm not watching you. Because I am. Of all of the people that I watch, I have three favorites:

1. The family that lives right near where I wait for the bus. Every morning, they burst out of the house in a flurry of chaotic activity. There's a dad, a dog, and a bunch of kids, but no mom. Where is she? Dead? Did she leave them? One of the kids takes the dog out, then brings the dog in. Sometimes the dog escapes. Usually someone forgets something. They have wicked thick Boston accents. They all pile into a station wagon so the dad can drive them to school. Who drives station wagons anymore? Usually a couple surly teenage girls join them- a free ride outweighing the uncoolness of being driven to school in a station wagon. This week, on trash day, the smallest boy slipped on some ice and fell into a pile of trash bags. It was hilarious.

2. The gay deaf guy who lives in my neighborhood. I used to see him on the bus and he seemed kind of sad and wore ugly clothes. Then he got a boyfriend! I see them together all of the time, signing happily to each other. And boyfriend had a great influence on his style- all of the sudden, he started wearing Puma zip-ups and cool sneakers. They seem so happy together, it warms my cold little people-watching heart.

3. The Mafia Florist. My lab is located right near a wholesale flower depot, and I walk by it on my way to work. There's a man who works there who I assume is the boss or the owner. He is always standing out front, talking on his cell phone, dealing with vendors and directing the loading and unloading of trucks. He wears remarkably fine clothing. Beautifully tailored suits, a fedora, a long wool coat- like someone straight out of the 1940's. And he is always there- mornings, evenings, weekends. The Mafia Florist never sleeps. I might even have a crush on him, even though he's a good decade older than me and possibly a hit man trying to pass himself off as an ordinary citizen with a fondness for flora.

Now that I'm writing about this, I realize that I may come across as a little bit creepy. But I don't think I'm alone here- fess up, fellow people watchers!

Oh, the picture above came from searching Google Images for the neighborhood watch logo. I kind of love it.

One Last Inauguration Post

As I was scrolling through The Big Picture's photos from the inauguration, I saw one of Barack and Michelle that I really liked. Then, it occurred to me that the pose reminded me of something I had seen before. Specifically, this:

And because I'm a giant nerd, I made this:


















See what I mean?

Dim Sum, yum!

Last weekend, a few friends and I went for dim sum in Chinatown. If you've never been before, dim sum is a traditional Chinese brunch featuring dumplings and other bite-sized dishes. Typically, food items are wheeled around in carts and diners point at things that they'd like to try. It's sort of hectic and better suited for more adventurous eaters, because a lot of the items are not easily identified by non-Asians. "Sure, I'll take that mysterious leaf-wrapped packet. What's that jiggly white thing? Oh, a coconut dessert? Yes, please!" We arrived at China Pearl, one of the more well-known dim sum establishments in Boston's Chinatown, sat down at our table in a crowded room, and immediately began ordering. Since I was with a large group, we were able to try a bunch of different items- I was a big fan of the tasty balls. The shrimp ball contained a mixture of shrimp and lychee, breaded and deep-fried. The sesame ball was more of a dessert- some sort of rice dough filled with sweat red bean paste and coated in sesame seeds. Sounds weird, tastes delicious. Here are some photos from our dim sum trip, and you may observe my sneaky habit of pretending to use chopsticks but really just eating items with my hands. Busted!

Anyways, this was the first time I've had dim sum in Boston (my only other experience had been in NYC's Chinatown) and I highly enjoyed it. Maybe if I ask nicely they'll let me push one of the carts around next time.

Kids' letters to Obama

Children at 826 Valencia, an after school tutoring program, were asked to write letters to President Obama. The resulting letters were sweet, touching, and often hilarious, and are now featured in a book (sales profits go towards the tutoring organization).

Read a bunch of them here on McSweeney's or check out the New York Times article.

Here are some of my favorites:

Dear President/Mr. Obama,
The best thing about living in the White House would be running around like a maniac. The thing I would like least is the work.
— Holly Wong, age 9, San Francisco

Dear President Obama,
I want to tell you hi. Do you work with Santa Claus? Can I meet you in your house? Can I say bye to you after I meet you? And then can I meet you again? And then again after that?
- Sergio Magana, age 5, San Francisco

Dear President Obama,
Could you help my family to get housecleaning jobs? I hope you will be a great president. If I were president, I would help all nations, even Hawaii. President Obama, I think you could help the world.
— Chad Timsing, age 9, Los Angeles

Inauguration Nation!

Here are some inauguration links for your enjoyment:

1. Obamacize yourself!

2. I highly recommend this article from Slate.com to anyone interested in science: The "war on science" is over. Now what?

"The Bush science controversies were just one manifestation of a deeper and long-standing gulf between the science community and the broader American public, one with roots stretching back to our indigenous tradition of anti-intellectualism."

3. On a lighter note, here's a NYT article on NBA players' reactions to Barack Obama, featuring Ray Allen.

4. Lastly, if you missed the pre-inaugural celebration, you can watch it on HBO.com. U2 certainly cheesed it up a bit, but there were a lot of nice performances. Oh, how great of a combo are Shakira and Usher? I want them to form some sort of international stylish musical crime-fighting duo.

Got tots?

Nevermind quinoa and cupcakes, I'm jumping on the bandwagon for another culinary trend. Tater tots are making a comeback. I first spotted them on the menu at Robyn's in Roslindale Village when I met friends there for trivia night. We ordered the appetizer tots (available plain or smothered with cheddar and bacon bits...oh yeah, we got both types) and I also chose tots as the side item for my sandwich. Actually, all four of us did.

A couple of weeks later, fellow tot connoisseur Lisa and I were sipping martinis at Tremont 647 when I noticed the presence of tots on the menu. "Rosemary scented fontina stuffed tater tots"- hello, fancy tots! Obviously, we ordered them and two giant, crispy tots soon appeared. I recall them being delicious but my taste buds were dulled from gin, so I may have to return to confirm that observation.

I've decided to declare 2009 The Year of the Tot, so if you know of any Boston-area restaurants with tater tots on the menu, let me know.

Links!

The Black Cab Sessions...musicians perform one song in the back of a London taxi. I could watch these all day long! So far, My Morning Jacket is my favorite.

(thanks DBC, I totally stole this from your Fbook page)

My Jeff Tweedy obsession continues...I started reading his son's blog, which is quite impressive for a thirteen year old.

My co-workers and I all took this online IQ test (the one on the upper left of the page) for fun. I scored a 128 but I think I would have done better if there were more word games and fewer pattern recognition questions. It did confirm that I'm wicked smart, but not a genius. Alas.

A movie and a book to avoid

Ugh, I've recently read a book I hated and watched a movie I hated.

Evening, by Susan Minot, is the worst book I've read since The Bridges of Madison County, which is the worst book I've read in my entire life. And not in a so-bad-it's-good kind of way (I'm looking at you, Twilight), just plain old bad. The plot is about an old woman dying of cancer who starts reminiscing about a weekend in which she had a fling with a tall, dark stranger she met at a wedding decades before. She makes him out to be this romantic figure, "OMG after we went swimming he passed me a towel without even wiping off his face first, what a gentleman" when in fact he was just some smarmy dude who was cheating on his pregnant fiance.

The Will Be Blood....more like There Will Be A Really Long And Boring Movie With A Fucked-Up Ending. Yes, Daniel Day Lewis is a great actor, but his character is a nasty oil tycoon who only cares about beating the competition, and doesn't even seem to have any fun or enjoy his money doing so. And it's 2 hours and 38 minutes long, spitting in the face of my No Movie Should Be Over Two Hours Long Unless Francis Ford Coppola Is Involved policy. And the soundtrack was very odd and jarring- it sounded like the opening of a Lost episode and didn't go with the desert scenery at all.

So do yourself a favor and skip both of the above.
In happier entertainment news, I have started watching The Wire and am completely hooked.

Supreme Court Justices Quiz!

How much do you know about our current Supreme Court Justices? Try the quiz. Match the Justice with the fun fact- and yes, some justices have more than one answer.

Justices:
1. Stephen Breyer
2. Antonin Scalia
3. Anthony Kennedy
4. John Paul Stevens
5. John Roberts
6. Ruth Bader Ginsberg
7. Clarence Thomas
8. David Souter
9. Samuel Alito

Fun Facts:
A. Father of nine and an opera lover
B. Has no use for television, answering machines, ball point pens, email.
C. Most recent appointment to the court
D. His swearing in was rushed and private to avoid breaking scandal
E. Nominated to the court after Mario Cuomo couldn't decide if he wanted an appointment
F. Nominated on his second try because of Ted Kennedy's support
G. The strongest "Constitutionalist" or "originalist" on the Court
H. loves Corvettes, NASCAR, and the Dallas Cowboys
I. Wrote that the real loser in the 2000 election was the reputation of the Justices
J. His interest in foreign law and justices has made him less conservative
K. Nominated to replace O'Connor, then Renquist

No Googling! I'll post the answer key tomorrow morning.

Tennessee Report

I had a great time in Tennessee. The science went really well- it was very helpful learning from an actual person, rather than just trying to perform experiments based upon published methods. I learned a new technique and came up with a couple of ideas for experiments that should help me make a final push at finishing up grad school. Best of all, I'm feeling more optimistic and motivated about both my project and science in general- maybe all that I needed were some helpful suggestions and positive feedback.

Eastern Tennessee is a pretty area, but I didn't get to explore all that much of it. ETSU's medical school is located on an old VA hospital campus, with ample land and trees- it looks more like a golf course than a med center. My one excursion into Johnson City took place when I met up with friends of an internet friend (way less creepy than it sounds) for dinner and beers at Cootie Brown's (way more delicious than it sounds). I tried the Loose Caboose Lager from the local Depot Street Brewery and liked it very much. On Friday, I drove to Asheville, NC to visit my college friend Heather and her family. The drive down I-26 was beautiful- the road passes through the Smoky Mountains and the Blue Ridge Parkway. Heather now has three kids, and yes, they're adorable, but holy cow do things get hectic. I think the chaos level of a household increases exponentially with each additional child. We all went out for pizzas at the Mellow Mushroom, then Heather's husband took the kids home so we could catch up. And where would two Notre Dame grads from Boston go to have a chat? An Irish pub, naturally. Asheville has a cute, hippie downtown filled with shops and restaurants and coffee houses, and I had heard great things about it, so it was fun to visit, even if I was only there for a night.

After that, it was back to Tennessee, where I packed up and flew home to Boston. I was worried that the vials of bacteria cultures and peptides in my luggage would arouse suspicion, but I made it through just fine. Here are some pictures from the trip:

New friends Shelby and Jeff:

New friend the fraction collector:

Me with old friend Heather:

Lesson of the day

Panda bears are not as cuddly as they seem. Don't mess with Gu Gu.

Anthropomorphism be damned- climbing into zoo enclosures is for frickin idiots! What is wrong with people?

Tell me what's so great about Gmail

Okay, everyone. This post comes as a response to several friends, one in particular (Kel) who have long raved about Gmail and mocked my cavewoman hotmail habit. I actually do have a gmail account, but I don't use it, for one reason: a pet peeve of mine is when people frequently change their email address or use multiple ones. I end up with several emails addresses for the same person, and I don't know which one to use. It drives me up the wall. And I don't mean minor pangs of annoyance- we're talking irrational feelings of hatred. I've done my part to avoid contributing to the problem by never changing my email address from the very first one that I set up in 1995, back when non-AOL email was sort of a novelty.

Here's the catch...I've been paying $25 a year for extra storage for the past few years, and since Gmail has a much larger space availability, it's sort of silly to pay for what I could be getting for free. And I know that I can have my hotmail forwarded to my Gmail address. But the thought of becoming one of those cursed email address changers pains me!

So, let's say I give myself the allowance to change my email address, once and only once. Should I make the switch? Convince me, Gmail users.

Four things that have nothing to do with each other

1. So far, my visit to ETSU has been a great experience. This is what science is supposed to be like- traveling, meeting new people, learning new things, and sharing ideas. It's supposed to be fun!

2. The aquarian version of a fox in the chicken coop: a seal waddles for 2 miles on land and sneaks into a fish hatchery.

3. Best/worst typo ever? My BIL (that's my new acronym for brother-in-law) Ryan forwarded me an email sent an administrator about a job opening at the Staten Island City University of New York. I bet you can guess where this is headed...

Subject: Open position at CUNT

Oh my.

4. This just in....Most Embarrassing/Hilarious Skiing Mishap Ever? Perhaps. I seriously LOLed at this, and smugly noted the incident to my mental list of reasons why I hate skiing. Not only might you tear your ACL, you could also end up suspended upside down, pantsless, in front of hundreds of strangers! (thanks for sending me the link, Jen! My readers know what I like.)

Live from Johnson City

As previously mentioned, I'm spending the week working in a ribosome lab in Johnson City and I'm staying with a faculty member and his wife. They are very, very nice and in their mid-sixties, so last night's entertainment included me taking a quiz on Supreme Court Justices that the wife made up for her book club, then watching Masterpiece Theater on PBS. Awesome, no? I'll post the quiz later this week so you can test your own knowledge of our current Supreme Court.

Observations so far:

• It is a lot warmer here than I expected, so I look ridiculous traipsing around in my heavy wool coat with a fuzzy collar.
• Whoa, those Tennessee accents!
• People here are crazy about football, especially with the Titans doing so well this season. Prior to Masterpiece Theater, we drank wine and watched both of yesterday's NFL games.
• ETSU has had many different types of mascots.

Take me to another place

On Sunday, I'm headed to Johnson City, Tennessee to spend a week working in a lab at Eastern Tennessee State University. I'm looking forward to getting out of town for a little while, and if the experiments work out, it should greatly facilitate progress on my thesis project. The one little wrinkle in this plan is that I'm staying with the PI (that's Principal Investigator, a.k.a lab boss for you non-science types) and his family, whom I've never met. They offered, it saves the lab money, and I also felt like it was generous of them and it would be rude of me not to accept.

In a six week time frame, I'll have traveled to the following four destinations:

1. Morgantown, WV
2. Binghamton, NY
3. Brunswick, ME
4. Johnson City, TN

Oh yes, it's my Central Northeast Americana Tour. I'm thinking about pitching a show in which I travel to small American cities and report on local dive bars and diners. It'll be sort of like Taradise, minus the fake tans and fake boobs. Still trashy, though.

The only things I know about Johnson City are that it's not anywhere near Nashville or Memphis, and it's mentioned in a song I really like:

Wagon Wheel, by Old Crow Medicine Show.

Best of 2008

Best New Blog:
The Big Picture, from Boston.com. Always amazing photos of noteworthy events from around the world.

Best Movies:
4. Wall-E
3. The Dark Night
2. Iron Man
1. Slumdog Millionaire

Addictions of the Year:
Lost. I watched all five seasons this year in an embarrassingly short stretch of time.
Facebook. It took me a while to warm up to it, but now I'm hooked. I’m contemplating giving it up for Lent.

Celebrity Crushes of the Year:
Paul Newman- As a young man, stunningly handsome. As an old man, an honorable philanthropist. Rest in Peace.
Jeff Tweedy- I love you, Jeff Tweedy. Let’s run away together.
Robert Downey Jr.- You, too, Robert. Apparently I have a soft spot for creative and talented former addicts.

Album of the Year:
Bon Iver- For Emma, Forever Ago
take a listen: Skinny Love

Song of the Year:
A-Punk- Vampire Weekend
Damn, it’s catchy. And that baseline!

Best Events of 2008:
The United States elects a new President.
Boston Celtics win the NBA Championship. (and I was there to see it)
My sister Eri’s wedding.

Most Commented Post on DCoE:
The Butter Roll

Best New T Shirt:
This one.















In hindsight, 2008 was a memorable year, both good and bad. Thanks to all of you for reading and commenting, and best wishes for a joyful and productive 2009!

Adventures in Binghamton

I just returned from an eventful weekend in Binghamton, NY- the hometown of my brother-in-law Ryan. Aside from the aforementioned cheap apartments, Binghamton is famous for three things: carousels, pierogies, and Spiedies. Ryan has often lauded the deliciousness of Spiedies, and I was under the impression that it was a restaurant that he liked. Wrong. Spiedies are meats marinated in a special spiedie sauce, grilled, and served in a sandwich. They are a popular local cuisine available at essentially every deli and restaurant in town. We took a trip to the Spiedie & Rib Pit (Yep! This is the place.) so I could try one for myself. I ate a chicken spiedie and found it to be quite tasty, although perhaps not the most healthy food imaginable.

In addition to eating, I also did a lot of drinking in Binghamton, aided by the fact that the bars are open until 3AM. Friday night we went to see Ryan's brother's band play, and Saturday night I attended his parents annual holiday party. Both nights were loads of fun, but the highlight of the weekend was definitely the human pyramid we constructed shortly after midnight on Saturday...a triumphant feat of agility and strength!

Binghamton may not be your typical vacation destination, (for a very apt description, take a listen to Dar Williams' Southern California Wants to be Western New York.) but I enjoyed exploring the area and will likely return. Still on the to-do list: carousels and pierogies. I had a great time with the Binghamton folks at Eri and Ryan's wedding earlier this year, so it was a lot of fun to visit them on their home turf.

Things I've learned so far while in Binghamton, NY

1. Did you know that if you bowl a perfect 300, the United States Bowling Congress will send you a commemorative ring? Upon verification, of course. Not sure if they extend the courtesy to candlepin players. But I would love to earn one, because this ring sparkles with awesome.

2. You can rent a really nice 2 bedroom apartment for $600 a month. I'm so jealous.

Christmas Report

I had a nice Christmas this year, but it was sort of a strange one- for the first time, I was the only one of my siblings who came home for the holidays. In addition to family, church, presents, food, and drinks, there were two noteworthy events.

1. I watched It' s A Wonderful Life for the very first time. I loved it! This holiday classic stars James Stewart as George Bailey, a man undergoing a crisis, frustrated because his life hasn't turned out like he had hoped it would. I think part of the reason why I liked the movie so much is that I feel like I can relate to George Bailey. George and I share the same affliction- we're discouraged. Like George, I dreamed of travel and adventure and success and accomplishing great things. But the years go by, and I find myself not living the life I had imagined, and it's hard not to feel disappointed. Maybe everyone can relate to George Bailey, and that's why the movie is so popular.

So an angel comes down and shows George what life would have been like had he never existed, and it opens his eyes to all of his joys and blessings, all of the good things in his life that he's been ignoring. So even though I'm broke and single and live in a rodent-infested apartment and am pretty fucking miserable when it comes to grad school, I am surrounded by amazing friends and a loving family, and that's what really matters. It is a wonderful life, after all. (Hey, it's Christmas, I'm allowed to be cheesy and melodramatic.)

2. Matching sweater alert! My grandmother gave out two sets of matching sweaters this year- one to me and my mom, and the other to two of my cousins. Here are a couple of shots from our sweateriffic photo shoot:

Tomorrow I head out to Binghamton, NY, a.k.a. the Carousel Capital of the World so I'll post again next week with tales from the trip and a Best of 2008. I hope that everyone has an enjoyable holiday week!