that 10 interests meme
OK, so now I’m doing this "10 interests" meme, too. Behind the lj-cut you shall find:
Battlestar Galactica
China
eggs benedict
Goucher College
jack russells
Maslyk films
Pooch Café
scifi
sushi
Tom Toles
Battlestar Galactica
The new one, not the old one. The only thing I liked about the old one was the theme song, and that showed up in the new series a couple weeks ago, so I’m set. What I like best about the new series is not the effects (though they're very good) or how pretty the cast is (though most of them are very pretty), but the writing and the acting. The series isn't about the battle between the humans and Cylons, it's about the characters. Unlike most bad to mediocre scifi/genre shows/films, BSG doesn't rely on technobabble to solve problems (Stargate SG-1) or gee-whiz special effects to divert your attention from a weak script (Star Wars Episodes I-III) or soft focus shots of pretty people (anything on The WB) or even convoluted plotlines and season arcs (Lost, bad seasons of Buffy). It's about the people and a trust in the writing and acting to connect with an audience bright enough to follow along.
China
This one's my brother's fault. He lived in China for two years, studying Mandarin and teaching English. My mom and I were supposed to go visit him there last August, but he got into law school instead. I decided to go on my own anyway, especially after many trials and tribulations getting my passport and a visa (with helpful links here).
That was nearly a year ago, and while I've posted some pictures of the trip, I have yet to really put together a complete album, either of just a bunch of tourist shots or of a series of decent, edited travel photography. But that's on my agenda for the rest of this year.
eggs benedict
Now that Bang has closed, I search for the perfect eggs benedict in town. I don't like poached eggs by themselves, only with canadian bacon on an English muffin covered in hollandaise sauce. Maybe it's an international flavors thing.
Goucher College
Me alma mater. I graduated in 1993 with a combination major of theatre and English (writing emphasis). Still keep in touch with some of my best friends from school. I also volunteer to man the booth at a few college fairs in town. Goucher, by the way, was an all-women's school for 101 years until just before I got there. While there, I worked with current National Review Online editor Jonah Goldberg on the student paper. I took a short story writing class with National Book Award Finalist Madison Smartt Bell. I was co-editor-in-chief of the paper (the Quindecim, or "The Q"), worked on the yearbook, did debate, was co-president of the student theatre troupe (Open Circle Theatre), wrote a short play, directed a couple more, designed the lights for even more, even acted once or twice, helped start the environmental group, was a rep in student government, failed one class, took an incomplete in another, and graduated with a far lower GPA than I should have.
jack russells
I have a three-and-a-half year old jack russell terror named Fizzgig. She's an absolute monster, but I love her to death anyway. I've blogged about her plenty, and I'm sure she'll give me plenty of reason to do so again. And again. Often.
Maslyk films
Wow. jrosehale is the only one who would recognize this one. We had a friend in high school named Dan Maslyk, and every once in a while our little group would get together at his place to watch some awful, awful movies. And sometimes porn. But mostly just really bad movies. So now I always think of them as "Maslyk films."
The two I remember best are Gator Bait II: Cajun Justice, which should have been porn, but wasn't; and Make Them Die Slowly, which was "banned in 31 countries!" I'm pretty sure this is how I saw Toxic Avenger and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Pooch Café
Found this on MSN's comics page, which was left in the Favorites folder on my work computer by the guy who had this computer before me. Funny stuff.
scifi
Science Fiction. In high school, I preferred fantasy books to scifi (especially LOTR, Feist's Riftwar Saga, the Dragonlance series, and Eddings's two series), but have now switched around, I think. Scifi has definitely made better visual stories on TV and film. My preference, though, is for scifi that doesn't really rely on the science as much as the fiction. The original Star Wars trilogy was as much magical as anything else (with the Force) and the story revolved around the characters; the prequels screwed it all up by trying to technobabble its way out of the magic (WTF is a mitochloridian or whatever?) and concentrating too much on the plot. Give me Philip K Dick or Ray Bradbury or Robert Heinlein over an eye candy shoot-em-up in space. It's why Firefly/Serenity kick so much more ass than any of the syndicated crap or most of the SciFi Channel garbage.
The exception would be a big, dumb movie that's nothing but one wicked awesome special effect after another strung along by a purposefully far-fetched plot driven by nothing more than witty banter and one-liners delivered by characters whose actors have their tongues firmly in their cheeks. See: Independence Day. Don't see: The Day After Tomorrow. But given my druthers, I'll take a character-driven flick with good effects over a big, dumb movie, which is why I prefer Deep Impact to Armageddon.
sushi
I have no idea how I started liking sushi. I'm such a finicky eater who is loathe to try new things, it's a miracle I’m alive. I was in college before I'd eat spaghetti with anything other than butter. But now I eat sushi whenever I can, which is next to never these days. Anybody wanna have sushi?
Tom Toles
Toles is the political cartoonist for the Washington Post. You can find his daily toons here. He's absolutely hilarious and somehow finds the most direct question to ask and portray it with his childish, bubbly figures. Sometimes, he'll go the opposite route and find bizarre connections between completely incongruous events. I don't know if he was the first to have the little asides from the cartoonist in his panels (I know Pat Oliphant does the same), but he was the first I saw. I like his visual style, too: very simple, not too busy, with obvious caricatures.
Battlestar Galactica
China
eggs benedict
Goucher College
jack russells
Maslyk films
Pooch Café
scifi
sushi
Tom Toles
Battlestar Galactica
The new one, not the old one. The only thing I liked about the old one was the theme song, and that showed up in the new series a couple weeks ago, so I’m set. What I like best about the new series is not the effects (though they're very good) or how pretty the cast is (though most of them are very pretty), but the writing and the acting. The series isn't about the battle between the humans and Cylons, it's about the characters. Unlike most bad to mediocre scifi/genre shows/films, BSG doesn't rely on technobabble to solve problems (Stargate SG-1) or gee-whiz special effects to divert your attention from a weak script (Star Wars Episodes I-III) or soft focus shots of pretty people (anything on The WB) or even convoluted plotlines and season arcs (Lost, bad seasons of Buffy). It's about the people and a trust in the writing and acting to connect with an audience bright enough to follow along.
China
This one's my brother's fault. He lived in China for two years, studying Mandarin and teaching English. My mom and I were supposed to go visit him there last August, but he got into law school instead. I decided to go on my own anyway, especially after many trials and tribulations getting my passport and a visa (with helpful links here).
That was nearly a year ago, and while I've posted some pictures of the trip, I have yet to really put together a complete album, either of just a bunch of tourist shots or of a series of decent, edited travel photography. But that's on my agenda for the rest of this year.
eggs benedict
Now that Bang has closed, I search for the perfect eggs benedict in town. I don't like poached eggs by themselves, only with canadian bacon on an English muffin covered in hollandaise sauce. Maybe it's an international flavors thing.
Goucher College
Me alma mater. I graduated in 1993 with a combination major of theatre and English (writing emphasis). Still keep in touch with some of my best friends from school. I also volunteer to man the booth at a few college fairs in town. Goucher, by the way, was an all-women's school for 101 years until just before I got there. While there, I worked with current National Review Online editor Jonah Goldberg on the student paper. I took a short story writing class with National Book Award Finalist Madison Smartt Bell. I was co-editor-in-chief of the paper (the Quindecim, or "The Q"), worked on the yearbook, did debate, was co-president of the student theatre troupe (Open Circle Theatre), wrote a short play, directed a couple more, designed the lights for even more, even acted once or twice, helped start the environmental group, was a rep in student government, failed one class, took an incomplete in another, and graduated with a far lower GPA than I should have.
jack russells
I have a three-and-a-half year old jack russell terror named Fizzgig. She's an absolute monster, but I love her to death anyway. I've blogged about her plenty, and I'm sure she'll give me plenty of reason to do so again. And again. Often.
Maslyk films
Wow. jrosehale is the only one who would recognize this one. We had a friend in high school named Dan Maslyk, and every once in a while our little group would get together at his place to watch some awful, awful movies. And sometimes porn. But mostly just really bad movies. So now I always think of them as "Maslyk films."
The two I remember best are Gator Bait II: Cajun Justice, which should have been porn, but wasn't; and Make Them Die Slowly, which was "banned in 31 countries!" I'm pretty sure this is how I saw Toxic Avenger and Killer Klowns from Outer Space.
Pooch Café
Found this on MSN's comics page, which was left in the Favorites folder on my work computer by the guy who had this computer before me. Funny stuff.
scifi
Science Fiction. In high school, I preferred fantasy books to scifi (especially LOTR, Feist's Riftwar Saga, the Dragonlance series, and Eddings's two series), but have now switched around, I think. Scifi has definitely made better visual stories on TV and film. My preference, though, is for scifi that doesn't really rely on the science as much as the fiction. The original Star Wars trilogy was as much magical as anything else (with the Force) and the story revolved around the characters; the prequels screwed it all up by trying to technobabble its way out of the magic (WTF is a mitochloridian or whatever?) and concentrating too much on the plot. Give me Philip K Dick or Ray Bradbury or Robert Heinlein over an eye candy shoot-em-up in space. It's why Firefly/Serenity kick so much more ass than any of the syndicated crap or most of the SciFi Channel garbage.
The exception would be a big, dumb movie that's nothing but one wicked awesome special effect after another strung along by a purposefully far-fetched plot driven by nothing more than witty banter and one-liners delivered by characters whose actors have their tongues firmly in their cheeks. See: Independence Day. Don't see: The Day After Tomorrow. But given my druthers, I'll take a character-driven flick with good effects over a big, dumb movie, which is why I prefer Deep Impact to Armageddon.
sushi
I have no idea how I started liking sushi. I'm such a finicky eater who is loathe to try new things, it's a miracle I’m alive. I was in college before I'd eat spaghetti with anything other than butter. But now I eat sushi whenever I can, which is next to never these days. Anybody wanna have sushi?
Tom Toles
Toles is the political cartoonist for the Washington Post. You can find his daily toons here. He's absolutely hilarious and somehow finds the most direct question to ask and portray it with his childish, bubbly figures. Sometimes, he'll go the opposite route and find bizarre connections between completely incongruous events. I don't know if he was the first to have the little asides from the cartoonist in his panels (I know Pat Oliphant does the same), but he was the first I saw. I like his visual style, too: very simple, not too busy, with obvious caricatures.