Replanting Trees to Go Green

While I am pro-green (recycling, trying to conserve, or reuse that sort of thing) I was really confused a few days ago when UB sent out an email explaining that sometime in the future roads around campus might be blocked, have limited access, or have no parking due to the university's plan to plant new trees. Hooray! I love trees. But the kicker here is that the school is cutting down trees to plant trees which, to me, was taking a step backward. Any thoughts on this? I have a few favorite trees (maybe that sounds strange, but you start to notice those kinds of things when you're walking down the same streets week after week just like you notice certain little street attributes) and I am sad that they are in jeopardy of being ripped up and replaced! Maybe I'm a tree hugger? Or maybe I just don't like change. But what I really don't like is seeing ugly orange plastic fencing all over the places that I walk. Sigh.

Project Update

I have been struggling for the past several weeks on trying to write a poem that corresponds to my film. So far I've gotten the majority of the film spliced together and have edited the color format, etc. to where I am almost finished with the visuals and need to begin adding sound/music. The most important part, however, is the text and I just couldn't get a grasp on what I wanted to say. Everything I tried ended up at a dead end or sounded flat and uninteresting. Then I had a breakthrough due to my Seminar in Lit and Writing class. We had an assignment where we were using an essay called, "In the Fifties" as a guide to write about a neighborhood we knew or made up while incorporating some of the essay's techniques throughout. Suddenly I realized that this form would work great in my film and I have finally begun to generate ideas that are actually producing something of worth. Very exciting stuff because I was starting to panic since we only have a few more weeks left. I knew if I continued on with my poem idea I'd wind up writing crap. I am very happy to have moved through that uncertainty and am hoping to have a completely finished piece by next week that I will be able to cut and paste to fit into my film.

Ghost Writer's

Today after running many errands, I sat down on my couch to veg out. Flipping through the channels I stopped to watch a few bits of E's Kendra and happened to stop on a section where she was talking about writing her book. No, but that's not true. She was talking about her ghost writer writing her book. Here we go, I thought, this should be good. And I wasn't disappointed. If I remember correctly, Kendra worried about her writer portraying her in the way that she wanted others to see her. She made a comment about having a lot of soul, and wanting that soul to shine through in her book. Isn't that the point of writing a book? I wanted to yell at the tv. If it's YOUR book you create the persona of well, yourself or your characters. You tell people what you want them to know and create the "soul" of the book. Kendra kept calling the book her's, but I just don't think that's accurate when you are relying on a ghost writer. Overall the whole scenario just made me angry. Angry because there are so many of us who are sitting down and taking the time to create things that probably won't ever get the chance to see the light of day and here because she is Hugh Hefner's ex, she gets a book deal and doesn't even have to do a quarter of the work. It all comes back to that old saying, "Well life just isn't fair..." Well, you got that right!

Sex and the City 2 Does a Belly Flop

I finally made time last night to sit down and watch Sex and the City 2, which I had been looking forward to watching since it came out. I guess I am a closeted fan these days as there is not a lot of Sex and the City out other than the films. I also just recently read the book (I, too, found it hard to believe that I own every single episode, including movie 1, and still had never read the book!). So, I watched movie 2 and was sadly disappointed for the most part. Of course it was funny as Carrie and the girls usually are, but it didn't grip me like the last movie (were Carrie and Big REALLY getting married?!). I think the fact that the majority of the film being spent in Abu Dhabi had something to do with it. Not a lot was going on plot wise either. I thought that Carrie and Aidan were going to do more than kiss since it seemed like it was such a big part of the advertisements, but they did not. I think the only person who was her usual self was Samantha. She was as in your face during this movie as she was when the series first came out. Carrie's, Miranda's, and Charlotte's characters seemed to fizzle out. I guess my main issue with tv shows/series turned into movies is thinking that it is going to be 100% comparable to the show. This, of course, is not the case. I feel as though if this were still being filmed as a show and not a movie, then the plot would have been better because it could have been dragged out over several episodes instead of trying to cram so much into two and a half hours. That being so, even though this movie didn't do it for me, I still hope that they give Sex and the City 3 a try.

"Bad hair day: Boy, 4, barred from pre-k for long locks"

Bad Hair Day

I find this situation really heartbreaking. A four year old boy is not allowed to go to pre-school at a Catholic institution because his hair is long, why? Because he is growing it out so that it can be donated to people who have lost all their hair due to cancer. In cases like this I really start to question the validity of religion. As Christians, we are taught to love everyone no matter what they've said or done because in the end it is God who will judge them--not us. Well, at least that's how I see it. I don't know exactly what having long hair is going to do in a classroom, but it's pretty disgusting that school officials think it's okay to turn a good thing into--as usual--a needless problem. I could see if the hair was distracting, and come on, little boys with mohawks probably cause more of an uproar than a kid with long hair. But seriously, why do people think they can decide what and what not is appropriate if it's not hurting anyone in the end? And what does this teach children about accepting others who aren't like themselves if adults can't seem to accept them?

Food Review from a Non-Food Reviewer

This weekend I found myself eating at a new restaurant (at least it was new to me) called Houlihans located in Columbia. I received a gift card for my birthday and just got around to trying it out. I heard their burgers were really good (and I love a good burger), but I actually went a different route and had something called a So Cal Fish Taco with homemade chips and salsa. They were very good and I was happy with my pick. I also got stuffed mushrooms as an appetizer and here I was thinking that they'd be little tiny mushrooms, but they were huge. And although I liked my tacos, I think I was happiest with the mushrooms. Instead of getting an alcoholic drink I instead opted for a raspberry lemonade which was also very good, but maybe next time I'll ask for a little spike of vodka. Overall I enjoyed my meal and would recommend it to anyone looking for a new place to eat.

Don't forget....

If you're a Maryland resident and you can... VOTE tomorrow!!!!!