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Continuing a trend of "I can't believe you have to run ads like this to run for political office," here's one from Boston's Independent candidate for governor. It's the commercial that comes up right in the top center there. I actually saw this on late-night TV, and it caught me a little by surprise.

I know I'm probably the last person to figure this out, but Scrubs rocks. I finally watched it when it started replaying on Comedy Central a week or so back, and it's fantastic. No idea when the new season starts (the concept of all shows starting in fall and ending in spring is kinda fading), but I can't recommend enough that you watch the reruns on Comedy Central, 7-8 on weekdays. Beats doing your homework, which is what I at least am supposed to be doing at that time.

Argh...had something else to talk about, but it's gone now. I've got letters just about ready for everyone who's written, so those'll be in the mail tomorrow. Or Saturday. I wake up pretty late on Fridays.

P.S. Robert Downey, Jr. is playing Iron Man. So very happy.

P.P.S. Apparently people have to obtain guest passes to bring friends outside of JHS to Coffee House. What's it all coming to.

Sleep

First, thanks Maggie, CVS is definitely Walgreens.

Sleep's kinda weird...I discovered this over the summer when, depending on if it was a working day and, if not, what commitments I had, I would wake up anywhere between 4 am and 2 pm. But what I've basically figured out is that no matter what time I wake up, I'll still be tired at the same time every night. Take right now. I woke up at 1 pm today, and it's 2:30 now. I'm beat, and I'm just about ready to turn in. But by all rights, I should be wide awake. That's 13 and a half hours. That's nothing! When I was waking up at 4:30, I'd be up 'til 10 before I felt drowsy. That's like eighteen hours!

Just the continuing saga of things I'll never understand about life. And I'm sure one of you has a nice, tidy scientific explanation, but it's cool, I'm probably better off not knowing.

And I just decided right now...damn! I'm torn as to whether or not to skip my first class. Unlike most of you at real colleges, if I skip there are big consequences. Well not really. But if I skip 3 I'm out of the class. That's it. And it's a small class I'm thinking of skipping. But I haven't done the reading. And a lotta people have missed different days already. But we are preparing our narrative speeches. But I didn't write a new draft (whoops). Yeah, I'm definitely skipping. I'm still sick. I need rest. Yeah. That's the ticket.

Speaking of which, I have to write a 5 minute speech on my experience with migration. I have no experience with migration. None of my relatives ever really went anywhere. I asked my grandpa one time where the Nyes are from and he said Michigan! I haven't moved since I was 9. Unless you count Boston. But I have nothing to say about that move. Just a lot of how much cooler Portland is. Maybe I'll go with that. Maybe I'll wear my PORTLAND FUCKING OREGON shirt. Yeah. That'll get the A.

The U.S. vs. John Lennon is out Friday in select cities. I'll be seeing it Friday or Saturday, and let ya'll know, but it looks really damn good.

Toothpaste

So I went to CVS...I dunno, a week ago or so, pick up a few things. I've been trying to think of what Portland store CVS resembles...it's kinda like Bi-Mart. Or Safeway. But without the groceries. Well, they have chips and stuff. So Bi-Mart. But without all the tools and gardening stuff and auto supplies.

So I was at CVS, grabbed some toothpaste, 'cause I'd been using the same tube since...I dunno, May or something. Problem was, they didn't have my brand (Crest - Mulicare Cool Mint Stripe). So I grabbed what I approximated to be the next best thing, this Colgate Mint Stripe deal. The thing with the stripe is that it's a combination of the gel and the paste. Really quite remarkable. Anyway, so the Colgate stuff works out okay...it's a little mintier than I care for and little pastier. But the teeth are clean.

But then I'm at a DIFFERENT CVS tonight, grabbing a notebook, and what do I see...but the Crest Multicare Cool Mint Striped. So I bought it. So now I have a perfectly good tube of toothpaste that might just go to waste if I can't find anyone to take it. Do people take used toothpaste? It's in a tube...I think it's fairly safe.

Not Really a Lot to Post

Been a slow week here at the ranch, and on top of that I got sick. So even slower. But hey, what'll ya do. In place of actual content, I will remind you again that Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip is the best show on television (and yes, I do watch LOST and have seen a few episodes of 24), and if you missed it, you're just cutting yourself off from that much more brilliance. I also saw Heroes, which I like most for the promise that it's (possibly inadvertantly) making us of a serialized weekly series that builds to something truly groundbreaking. At least that's what I've taken from it.

In place of more content, here's the movies that you should be watching for this fall. I have around 40 on the docket between now and year's end, but this is the stuff I'm looking forward to the most. Writing this, I feel like I may have already done one of these. But whatever. It's my blog, dammit! Links will take you to trailers.

THE DEPARTED (Oct. 6) - Martin Scorsese returns to the streets, and the streets of Boston no less. If the trailer doesn't grab you, the cast should. Leo DiCaprio's gone from being my most hated actor to being one of my favorites, Matt Damon may just be the best actor of his generation, and Jack Nicholson...yeah.

MARIE ANTOINETTE (Oct. 20) - Sofia Coppola and Kirsten Dunst. I'm sold. Throw into that a very non-traditional take on the biopic. The trailer looks fantastic, and if that's a preview of the mood for the movie, I can't wait. Hell, I can't wait anyway.

THE PRESTIGE (Oct. 20) - First, yeah...I'm gonna have to catch this and the above flick opening night. What'll you do. Christian Bale is, in my opinion, the most magnetic, engaging screen actor working today, and Hugh Jackman's on a rise this year from action hero to full-fledged star. Christopher Nolan (Batman Begins, Memento) directs, and it could be his best to date.

TENACIOUS D IN THE PICK OF DESTINY (Nov. 17) - If the trailer's any indication, this will not be everybody's comedy the way Anchorman or Old School or School of Rock were. It's just gonna be sheer insanity. But one hundred percent D.

THE FOUNTAIN (Nov. 22) - If you haven't heard about this, you probably haven't asked me what'll be worth watching this fall. Just when I was about ready to count out any truly original thought happening in big-budget science fiction, I hear that this can easily be compared to 2001: A Space Oddysey. But with emotions. This is the one that just might make Hugh Jackman if it succeeds, and could establish Darren Aronofsky (PI, Requiem for a Dream).

APOCALYPTO (Dec. 8) - This is really just here because I've heard it's astoundingly great and I'm afraid people will pass it up because of what People Magazine tells them.

WE ARE MARSHALL (Dec. 22) - I'm don't inherently like football movies, but this, about the true story of rebuilding a college football squad after the team died in a plane crash, looks about as promising a movie as you can ask for. Plus, it looks like the only damn feel-good movie coming out around Christmas that'll actually be good.

CHILDREN OF MEN (Dec. 25) - Remember when I said I'd just about counted out any truly original thought happening in big-budget sci-fi? What're the odds that could have the chance to be proven wrong twice in the same year? The best part may just be the simplicity of the concept, but something tells me that's just the start.

PAN'S LABYRINTH (Dec. 29) - Here's the big one. The ad budget for this is tiny (finally saw a theatrical trailer before The Science of Sleep), but every single review I've seen has been overwhelmingly positive, which is more than can be said for any other movie on this list. It's supposed to be a hell of a lot scarier than the trailer has it, so be warned, but it's also supposed to be masterpiece.

Hey Rachel

I have sheets.

In fact, I even have an extra comforter, which I'm using as a pad for my headboard. Pretty much for the massive amounts of sex I have.

Holy crap there's a scheduled outage at 4 PM!

So almost all my stuff is here, with the rest on its way. I'm expecting a few posters (including the Scarlett poster, Rachel! I remembered to pack it this time!), my book box (yes...I have books...sometimes I read them), and...my iron? What the hell happened to that thing? It was supposed to be here...I dunno, long before now. And I've needed it too. Damn. But the room's really coming to life, with my Spidey, Sin City, Fear and Loathing, and Led Zeppelin posters monopolizing my walls (and I just got a Ramones poster that I'm pretty pumped to have up there), my desk cluttered with absurd amounts of things, and my side of the floor all a-clutter. I'll retract this statement in about a month when I become massively homesick, but for now it's good to be back.

So I was going to apply to get a radio show here at Emerson on WECB. I strolled into the building to get an application, only to find out students weren't allowed in on weekends. Which made no sense to me because the application itself was due the following day, a Sunday (also part of the weekend). It's a strange, mystical world to me, one that I can only hope to find my way in. So maybe next semester. For now, I have a horror movie to make with my buddy Mike and I'm trying my damndest to get a spot on the writing staff for a student-produced comedy show. Nothing's better than writing comedy with someone else. Except cinnamon. Sweet, sweet cinnamon.

Speaking of comedy and television...did you watch Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip? If not, it replays on Bravo I believe twice this week, and you should watch it. Because in about a year, when the second season will be gearing up, you'll be tuning in because of how great you heard it was and will be cursing yourself for missing out on the beginning. 10 PM, 9 Central, Mondays on NBC. It really is unbelievably fantastic, and I was expecting at least greatness. High expectations are best when exceeded.

P.S. I had the following song lyrics today stuck in my head, with the knowledge only that they were part of the theme song a cartoon I watched as a kid...
Disguises! (Disguises!)
Surprises! (Surprises!)
And pies of (and pies of) all sizes! Ahhhhh!
See if you can figure it out. My greater goal is to drive you crazy, but you probably don't remember it anyway. HINT: It's not Tiny Toons, which I suspected for most of the day.

P.P.S. It was called Looney Tunes (spelled like the musical term), yet they called it Tiny Toons (as in cartoons). Interesting, no?

Time's Moving a LI-ttle Slowly

It's only Tuesday and it feels like I've been here for at least a week. The good news is it's been pretty much a ball. Class schedule's been predictably easy, if a bit strange (on Monday I got up, ate lunch, went to class for four hours, then went to dinner...tomorrow I'm trying waking up earlier and maybe actually having a day). And the classes themselves seem pretty cool so far. Except, oddly enough, for Natural Disasters. The course'll be cool enough, but the teacher's a little stiff and...well, there's a lot of work. And I'm quite lazy.

So I'm hooked on LOST, which I swore wouldn't happen, courtesy of my buddy Mike willing to plop down the money for Season 2. Just add another show to the increasing list of stuff I'll be watching this fall (STUDIO 60 premieres on Monday at 10 on NBC!).

Getting a new and different box everyday either in the mail or (in today's case) from storage. It's nice to be slowly getting my stuff back (more than a little weird not having my movies beside me), but the room's becoming a mess. At least now I have cable. Tomorrow...we find out if TiVo will work in the dorms.

So the day finally came when they released the original 1977 version of Star Wars on DVD. Besides the fact that it pretty much is my childhood, it's one of my favorite movies of all time, and I can't wait to watch it as I never really have (closest comparison was the old VHS tapes that still sit in my basement, but those weren't in widescreen...I once even considered investing in a Laserdisc player just to see the originals in widescreen).

Back in Boston

Well, the trip wasn't so bad (had a window seat with the middle one open on both flights), got a hotel last night, then found out this morning I had no hotel for tonight, and that I also have no sheets for the bed in my dorm. Rock n' roll. Bed, Bath, and Beyond is open 'til 10 tonight, but I have a feeling there's no way in Hell I'll make it as Hollywoodland is at 7:45. And yes...Hollywoodland is more important than sleeping comfortably.

Anyway, it's kinda cool to be back. I love Portland, had a great summer, and know almost nobody here, but the people I do know (and who aren't in Europe for semester abroad) are still chill, and it was cool that we got right back into the same groove we had back in April.

OurTunes isn't working so much...have a ton of music I wanted to get, but I can only connect to like two or three people right now.

Anyway, I'm terribly jetlagged and I'll probably fork over four bucks for a soda at the movie tonight, but what'll ya do. Hope everyone's doing good, especially everyone at college. Write letters, the mailbox (which was an adventure in and of itself to find) is lonely.

I Gotta Say...

I'm pretty proud that, mere hours after Facebook launched its new (horrible) format, a group sprung up called..."I HATE THE NEW STALKER FACEBOOK FORMAT." Join...and be proud.

Although, gotta say, I do appreciate that they put what it is people updated in their profiles.

I leave on Friday for the Boston area. My new school address is posted in my profile (if you for some reason have a package to send me, there's a different address for it...ask first, otherwise you end up cursing my school's ridiculous mail system).

Anyway, I've been in a small frenzy of trying to figure out the best way to get all my stuff to Boston, which has become an even greater challenge now that my dad will not be joining me in the moving. It's pretty cool to have a hotel room to myself for the first time ever, but it's pretty uncool to drag all those boxes to the 11th floor by myself. Perhaps I'll employ those who have been there all week. Bastards.

Anyway, it's been a fantastic summer, thanks to all who were there in any capacity. Should be a good first semester, with somewhere between 30 and 40 movies being released in theaters, five or six solid TV shows, and the possible launch of my own radio show (I'm going for it...we'll see what happens there).