2010: The Year in Review

1. Where did you begin 2010?

At Eli's in Stillwater

2. Did you have a New Year’s Resolution?

Not really

3. What was your status on Valentine's Day?

in a relationship with Sam Kirzner

4. What did you do for St. Patty's Day in 2010?

I was at Disney World with my Mom. We went to Raglan Road, a pub in Downtown Disney.

5. Did you play an April Fool's joke on anyone this year?

no

6. Do anything special on Easter?

Went to Aunt Sheila's to hang with family.

7. What did you do on the 4th of July?

In Tulsa, went to dinner at Spaghetti Warehouse, then to the Drillers game with Sam, Dad, Uncle Tim, Grandmother, and Papa Jerry. Met cousin Sarah and Uncle Jeff there--Jeremy was pitching for the San Antonio Missions.

8. What was your favorite summer memory of '10?

Liz/Drew/Fagan housewarming party in Stillwater, June 4-6

9. What were you for Halloween?

Lois Lane (Sam was Jimmy Olsen)

10. What happened on Thanksgiving?

Aunt Sheila's with the fam

11. What about Christmas?

Festivus: Dad and I went to Stillwater to have dinner with Melissa; Christmas Eve: Aunt Sheila's; Christmas Day and day after: Grandmother's in Bartlesville

12. Did you get kissed under mistletoe?

no

13. Best Christmas present?

new iPod from Mom and new car battery from Dad

14. Describe your birthday?

I don't really remember. =/ My mom came up to Tulsa and we ate and did stuff...

15. Best birthday present?

I don't remember what I got. :P

16. What was your best month?

probably March

17. Did you know anybody who got married?

I don't think so

18. Did anyone close to you give birth?

cousin Lara Sheppard

19. Did anyone close to you die?

no

20. Where did you live?

USA West at TU; Edmond, OK

21. What countries did you visit?

none

22. What was your favorite vacation?

Disney World over Spring Break

23. What would you like to have in 2011 that you lacked in 2010?

a job that I like AND that pays decently

24. What date from 2010 will remain etched upon your memory?

the day Sam and I broke up

25. What was your biggest achievement of the year?

Graduating, I guess

26. What was your biggest failure?

my relationship

27. Did you suffer illness or injury?

I had a REALLY bad cold in October, and I had a 24 hr stomach bug in December

28. What was the best thing you bought?

KT Tunstall's new album "Tiger Suit"

29. How did you earn your money?

The Collegian/Blunck Studios

30. Where did most of your money go?

gas, movie theaters

31. Whose behavior merited celebration?

Apolo Anton Ohno

32. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?

mine

33. What did you get really, really, really excited about?

Disney World

34. What song(s) will always remind you of 2010?

"Lost" and "Difficulty" by KT Tunstall; "Bulletproof" by La Roux; "Whip My Hair" by Willow Smith

35. Compared to this time last year, are you:

I. happier or sadder?

sadder

II. thinner or fatter?

about the same. I was gaining weight for a while, but I've lost some in the last few months.

III. richer or poorer?

richer

36. What do you wish you’d done more of?

exercise

37. What do you wish you’d done less of?

eat crappy food

38. Did you fall in love in 2010?

39. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn’t dislike this time last year?

can't think of anyone

40. Did you have any encounters with the police?

no

41. What was your favorite TV program?

The Mentalist, Doctor Who

42. What was the best book you read?

"The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" by Steig Larson

43. What was your greatest musical discovery?

KT Tunstall's "Tiger Suit"

44. What concerts/shows did you go to?

Josh Turner's senior recital, Trans-Siberian Orchestra

45. What were your favorite films of the year?

Inception, Toy Story 3, Tangled, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo, The Karate Kid, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, Salt, Scott Pilgrim vs. The World, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 1

46. What did you want and get?

The Mentalist on DVD

47. What's one thing that would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?

if I had found a job I enjoyed

48. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2010?

grew out my bangs; mostly wore jeans and t-shirts

49. What kept you sane?

being busy; watching The Mentalist and Dexter

50. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?

Cillian Murphy, Simon Baker

51. Who did you miss most?

Sam Kirzner

52. What's one thing you thought you'd never do but did in 2010?

break up with someone I love

53. What's something you learned about yourself?

...what's Evian spelled backwards?

54. Was it a good year?

I'm not sure. Finishing school was definitely nice, but my life has kinda derailed since then.

55. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2010:

Sometimes the right decision is the one that fucks everything up.

I'm a movie writer!

I'm now officially a Tulsa Movie Examiner on Examiner.com. Basically, that means I'll write regular articles on movies--a lot of reviews and recommendations. I don't technically live in Tulsa, but I'm still looking for other jobs and might find one there. Besides, I visit Tulsa like twice a month anyway, so it's not like I'm never there.

Here's my first article, reviewing The Sorcerer's Apprentice. I really enjoyed it.

I also went to the midnight showing of Inception, so here's my review for that one.

This is exciting! I have a source of income now! It's not exactly a high paying job (at least, not at first), but it's does pay, and it's something to keep me busy, too! Now I can go see movies with a purpose!

3 Kid's Films

Toy Story 3 was just as amazing as I thought it would be. It's my favorite of the trilogy. I've seen it three times now, and I still got teary-eyed on the third viewing--it's that moving!

The Karate Kid is EXCELLENT. I even liked it better than the original. The skeleton plot is the same, but the details are much different. Jaden Smith and Jackie Chan were both superb. Anyone who has ever gone abroad for an extended time and felt homesick will especially appreciate this film.

The Last Airbender was a huge disappointment. The special effects were fairly impressive, but the movie took itself much too seriously. The original tv show is full of silly and clever jokes to alleviate the dramatic tension, but this film adaptation threw out that element of comic relief. Plus, it doesn't help that the acting is rather stiff. It seems the casting directors chose kids based on how closely they look like the character rather than how well they can act. Or maybe Shyamalan has just completely lost his touch. Either way, this movie is a waste of money. If you really want to see it, wait till it goes to the dollar theater.

In other news... I still haven't found a job, but I have been keeping myself busy. I've gotten into the habit of reading again, which is nice. School does such a good job of sucking rec reading time out of one's schedule. :P

David Tennant is my new favorite actor

I'm going to the midnight screening of Toy Story 3 tomorrow. Should be uber fun. I haven't been to a midnight screening in quite a while, so I'm pretty pumped.

I also just bought the new Toy Story 3 game for Mac and can't wait to play it. I'm definitely ready for a new game--I haven't been playing Dragon Age much (or at all) lately because I've played it through so many times.

Instead, I've been spending most of my downtime (which is pretty much all the time I have) catching up on Doctor Who. I've now seen every episode of the 9th and 10th Doctors, and one series from the 1st Doctor. I still need to go back and watch the rest of the 1st-8th Doctors, but it'll take a while. A long while. I won't be doing that with as much vigor as I did with the most recent ones.

The job hunt hasn't improved much (and I'm still stalling on bartending school). It's hard to make myself apply to jobs I don't really want. :P I did recently apply to Chipotle, though. If I get that, I'll get to eat even more delicious, puppy-sized burritos. Mmmmm.

Wouldn't it be great if I could get a job working at Pixar? They're in California, but not LA--Emeryville, which is close to San Francisco.

Jobs Jobs Jobs

I've been job searching for about a month now and gotten nowhere. So... I think it's time to seriously consider bartending school. I have enough money right now to pay for it, but I fear if I wait too long and never find a job (which seems fairly likely), that I'll run out of it. I'm also thinking I might move back to Tulsa. So far, being in Edmond, I've just been sitting here doing nothing. Most of my fun is had when I travel to Tulsa or Stillwater, and since Sam (boyfriend) is in Tulsa, I'd be generally happier there. Living for free with my Dad is nice (and I certainly love my Dad), but I know what it's like to live on my own and I do enjoy it. Plus, if I become a bartender, I'll hopefully have more than enough money to live fairly comfortably.

I've also looked into becoming an OSSAA umpire (for softball). It's really not very hard at all, but I think it'd be best to wait to do that until I know where I'll be living. I think it would be a fun job, though.

The Navy is still my back-up back-up plan, though...

As far as a permanent career, well, that'll just have to wait a while since I'm not willing to move to Chicago (or NY or LA) quite yet.

I is a college graduate.

It's finally over. I'm back in Edmond with Dad. I'm sitting on my comfy couch in the only place I've ever really considered home, and I'm done with school... FOREVER. Even if I go to a film tech school later, which seems likely, that won't be like regular old school because it's so hands on.

I was pissed off by not getting to wear an Ireland ribbon at graduation. Apparently I wasn't on the study abroad office's graduation list, so they didn't have one for me. The lady I talked to said I could wear a UK one if I wanted--uh, no. I didn't go there. So... that was dumb and annoying. I was, however, tickled by the fact that I got to wear cum laude cords, because my GPA is going to drop a little below 3.5 after my grades from this semester go through. :P The commencement ceremony itself was actually pretty fun. I got to sit by my friends, and it was a great day, in general. It felt significantly better than high school graduation, meaning it felt like it meant more.

Now I have to find a job. Ugh. Not excited. At all. My plan for now is that if I can't find anything after a while, then I might consider bartending school--there is one in OKC. Then I can become a bartender. They make pretty good money, so I hear, and the hours are pretty perfect for me, plus, I'm generally interested in alcohol. I think I could deal with the people--I'm already somewhat used to being sober around drunk people, anyway.

As a side note, I recently watched a TED talk by Sam Harris that really fascinated me, so I Googled him. He seems like one of the smartest people out there right now--I might try to read a couple of his books pretty soon.

Doop dee doo...

It's been a while since I've posted. Because... well... I'm obsessed with Dragon Age: Origins.

It's my first RPG and I freaking love it. The fighting is fun and all that, but really, my favorite part is talking to the characters. I tried playing World of Warcraft a while back, but I didn't get into it because it's all fighting--if you interact with anyone, you're just reading text. Dragon Age has speaking roles, and legit voice actors. Your main character has a group of up to 9 people he/she travels with, and you can talk to them to make them like you, or dislike you. You can even give them gifts and go on special quests for them to gain their approval, and with high approval, you can start a romance with one of them. Ha! My favorite character is Alistair, voiced by Steve Valentine. He is endearingly awkward and loves to make silly jokes, which I tend to laugh out loud at while I'm playing.

The writing for this game is spectacular! And it's so fun to be able to choose what kind of person your character is by the kind of responses you give--wise cracks, flattery, compassion, pragmatism, etc. The game takes around 80 hours to complete and I finished it in just over a week... my first time around. By now, I'm on my 4th character, which means I've completed the game 3 times and it still fascinates me. Not only are the stories slightly different depending on your race, class, and gender (my favorite class is Mage--with the Arcane Warrior specialization), but also depending on what choices you make through the game--who you choose to be nice to, who you choose to support or piss off. Apparently the game has nine novels worth of text, and I seem determined to go through as much of that text as possible.

I will also say that the excellent writing is well acted, too. The voice acting REALLY impressed me--it's better than in some animated (or live action) movies. It makes interacting with the characters that much more fun. Two actors I love from Star Trek: Voyager are also in the game as minor characters: Kate Mulgrew (Captain Janeway) and Tim Russ (Tuvok).

The game is a bit pricey at $50, but it's one of those you can play over and over without it being the same. I already feel like I've played it enough for it to be worth it, and I'll be creating more characters yet. The only bad thing about it for me is that it helps me procrastinate on homework and other things I don't want to do. :P I won't be surprised if I end up buying the extention, Dragon Age: Origins - Awakening, fairly soon.

Here's a poem

I've really enjoyed my poetry class this semester. I've learned a lot, met new people, and expanded my writing versatility a bit. I think of myself as an ok writer, but the poem I wrote for class today turned out pretty well, and it didn't even take long to come up with. Usually I have to ponder and revise a lot, but this one came out quite easily. It's, in part, a response to Alice Walker's poem "Loving Humans."

"The Adult Conspiracy"

All people are

Children

Even the ones

Who call

Themselves

Grownups.

They say

They are

Too old

To fool around

Or waste time

But they

Want to.

They pretend

To be what

They call

Mature

But they

Don't want to.

They have

Their manners

Their debates

Their campaigns

Their wars

But they

Just want to

Play.

Parents say

They act

Silly

For their

Kids' sakes

But it's

Also for

Their own.

Best Spring Break ever!

The trip was really, really fun. I had a great time with my mom, and we did almost everything there is to do at the 4 main parks. Next time I go, though, I think I'd like to focus more on the rides and attractions that I really like (do them multiple times) and also spend some more time at Downtown Disney and do a water park or mini golf course.

One thing I never did that I kinda regret was take a photo with a character. The lines were always really long, and I never wanted to wait in them. There was one time, however, when the line to see Woody and Jessie from Toy Story wasn't too terrible. I went to stand in it, but after about 2 minutes, I gave up and changed my mind. I'm just too impatient. Ah, well.

Now I'm back in Tulsa and I have class tomorrow. :( I only have about 6 weeks left, but it still seems like a long time.

Have a very Disney Day!

Disney World has been super fun so far! We finished off Animal Kingdom and Disney's Hollywood Studios today, tomorrow we'll finish up at EPCOT, and then Friday we'll end with finishing the stuff we want to do at the Magic Kingdom.

The Expedition Everest ride at Animal Kingdom is pretty dang awesome. It's one of the few things here I haven't already done ('cause it open within the last 5 years), and I was super impressed. Another new ride I've done is the Toy Story Mania ride at Hollywood Studios. It's sort of a virtual reality/shooter game--SUPER fun. The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror ride still makes me scream (which is kinda rare). The Festival of the Lion King show at Animal Kingdom is still really fraking awesome--my fav. I haven't ridden Space Mountain at Magic Kingdom yet, but we'll definitely do that on Friday--apparently they revamped it a bit since I was last here, so it'll be interesting to see what's different about it. I'm also excited about riding the Universe of Energy ride at EPCOT (haven't yet on this trip) because it features Bill Nye and Ellen Degeneres.

Two new shows that I've seen that really impressed me were Turtle Talk with Crush and The Laugh Floor comedy show hosted by Mike Wazowski (from Monsters, Inc.). They're both hosted by animated characters, but the characters interact with the audience--for reals. I think they do it by having actors do the voices live, and the animated characters move their mouths automatically with the actor's words going through the mic. Just a guess, though. It works really well!

Something I haven't done at all this time is having my picture taken with any characters. The lines for doing that are usually really long, so I haven't had the patience to wait. I suppose if I spotted a character I LOVE (like Rafiki), then I would be willing to wait in line, but so far that hasn't been the case.

It's been a lot of fun taking photos at all the parks. I didn't bring a camera around with me on my previous trips here, so I don't have many pictures of Disney World. Well, now I do! I've even been taking photos while on some of the rides, which is kinda fun--and sometimes tricky!

Well, off to bed now, gotta get up early in the morning to get to EPCOT by 9am.

Yay, Spring Break!

My mom and I are about to drive to Orlando. To go to Disney World....

WOOOOOOOOOO!

It's been about 5 years since I've been, so I'm super excited. It's basically my favorite place in the world.

I won't be able to blog much while I'm there because internet at the resorts costs money, but we'll probably pay for one day in the middle of this week--and I'll post something then. And, of course, I'll post something when I get back next weekend.

This will be the best Spring Break ever.

If I Could Choose Who Won the Oscars... 2010

Selections in GREEN are the nominees I was rooting for. RED are the actual winners. BLUE means whoever I rooted for DID win!

Even though a lot of the people I was rooting for didn't end up winning, I was happy with all of the awards that were given. In particular, I'm glad Avatar didn't get anything it didn't deserve--though I'm a little on the edge on whether it should have won for Cinematography.

The only race that really mattered to me this year was Best Director. I REALLY, REALLY wanted Katherine Bigelow to win. I'm SOOOO glad she did.

Actor in a Leading Role:

Jeff Bridges in "Crazy Heart"

George Clooney in "Up in the Air"

Colin Firth in "A Single Man"

Morgan Freeman in "Invictus"

Jeremy Renner in "The Hurt Locker"

Actress in a Leading Role:

Sandra Bullock in "The Blind Side"

Helen Mirren in "The Last Station"

Carey Mulligan in "An Education"

Gabourey Sibide in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

Meryl Streep in "Julie & Julia"

Actor in a Supporting Role:

Matt Damon in "Invictus"

Woody Harrelson in "The Messenger"

Christopher Plummer in "The Last Station"

Stanley Tucci in "The Lovely Bones"

Christoph Waltz in "Inglourious Basterds"

Actress in a Supporting Role:

Penelope Cruz in "Nine"

Vera Farmiga in "Up in the Air"

Maggie Gyllenhaal in "Crazy Heart"

Anna Kendrick in "Up in the Air"

Mo'Nique in "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

Directing:

James Cameron for "Avatar"

Kathryn Bigelow for "The Hurt Locker"

Quentin Tarantino for "Inglourious Basterds"

Lee Daniels for "Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire"

Jason Reitman for "Up in the Air"

Art Direction:

Avatar (Art Direction: Rick Carter & Robert Stromberg; Set Decoration: Kim Sinclair)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Art Direction: Dave Warren & Anastasia Masaro; Set Decoration: Caroline Smith)

Nine (Art Direction: John Myhre; Set Decoration: Gordon Sim)

Sherlock Holmes (Art Direction: Sarah Greenwood; Set Decoration: Katie Spencer)

The Young Victoria (Art Direction: Patrice Vermette; Set Decoration: Maggie Gray)

Costume Design:

Bright Star (Janet Patterson)

CoCo before Chanel (Catherine Leterrier)

The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus (Monique Prudhomme)

Nine (Colleen Atwood)

The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)

Make Up:

Il Divo (Aldo Signoretti, Vittorio Sodano)

Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall, Joel Harlow)

The Young Victoria (Jon Henry Gordon, Jenny Shircore)

Cinematography:

Avatar (Mauro Fiore)

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Bruno Delbonnel)

The Hurt Locker (Barry Ackroyd)

Inglourious Basterds (Robert Richardson)

The White Ribbon (Christian Berger)

Visual Effects:

Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham, Andrew R. Jones)

District 9 (Dan Kaufman, Peter Muyzers, Robert Habros, Matt Aitken)

Star Trek (Roger Guyett, Russell Earl, Paul Kavanagh, Burt Dalton)

Film Editing:

Avatar (Stephen Rivkin, John Refoua, James Cameron)

District 9 (Julian Clarke)

The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski, Chris Innis)

Inglourious Basterds (Sally Menke)

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (Joe Klotz)

Sound Editing:

Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gwendolyn Yates Whittle)

The Hurt Locker (Paul N.J. Ottosson)

Inglourious Basterds (Wylie Stateman)

Star Trek (Mark Stoeckinger, Alan Rankin)

Up (Micheal Silvers, Tom Myers)

Sound Mixing:

Avatar (Christopher Boyes, Gary Summers, Andy Nelson, Tony Johnson)

The Hurt Locker (Paul N.J. Ottosson, Ray Beckett)

Inglourious Basterds (Michael Minkler, Tony Lamberti, Mark Ulano)

Star Trek (Anna Behlmer, Andy Nelson, Peter J. Devlin)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Geoffrey Patterson)

Original Score:

Avatar (James Horner)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Alexandre Desplat)

The Hurt Locker (Marco Beltrami & Buck Sanders)

Sherlock Holmes (Hans Zimmer)

Up (Michael Giacchino)

Original Song:

"Almost There" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Music/Lyric by Randy Newman)

"Down in New Orleans" from "The Princess and the Frog" (Music/Lyric by Randy Newman)

"Loin de Paname" from "Paris 36" (Music by Reinhardt Wagner; Lyric by Frank Thomas)

"Take It All" from "Nine" (Music/Lyric by Maury Yeston

"The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)" from "Crazy Heart" (Music/Lyric by Ryan Bingham & T Bone Burnett)

Animated Feature Film:

Coraline (Henry Selick)

Fantastic Mr. Fox (Wes Anderson)

The Princess and the Frog (John Musker, Ron Clements)

The Secret of Kells (Tomm Moore)

Up (Pete Docter)

Animated Short Film:

French Roast (Fabrice O. Joubert)

Granny O'Grimm's Sleeping Beauty (Nicky Phelan, Darragh O'Connell)

The Lady and the Reaper (La Dama y la Muerte) (Javier Recio Gracia)

Logorama (Nicolas Schmerkin)

A Matter of Loaf and Death (Nick Park)

Live Action Short Film:

The Door (Juanita Wilson, James Flynn)

Instead of Abracadabra (Patrik Eklund, Mathias Fjellstrom)

Kavi (Gregg Helvey)

Miracle Fish (Luke Doolan, Drew Bailey)

The New Tenants (Joachim Back, Tivi Magnusson)

Documentary Short:

China's Unnatural Disaster: The Tears of Sichuan Province (Jon Alpert, Matthew O'Neill)

The Last Campaign of Governor Booth Gardner (Daniel Junge, Henry Ansbacher)

The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar, Julia Reichert)

Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams, Elinor Burkett)

Rabbit a la Berlin (Bartek Konopka, Anna Wydra)

Documentary Feature:

Burma VJ (Anders Ostergaard, Lise Lense-Moller)

The Cove (Nominees TBA)

Food, Inc. (Robert Kenner, Elise Pearlstein)

The Most Dangerous Man in America: Daniel Ellsberg and the Pentagon Papers (Judith Ehrlich, Rock Goldsmith)

Which Way Home (Rebecca Cammisa)

Foreign Language Film:

Ajami (Israel)

El Secreto de Sus Ojos (Argentina)

The Milk of Sorrow (Peru)

Un Prophete (France)

The White Ribbon (Germany)

Best Picture:

Avatar (James Cameron, Jon Landau)

The Blind Side (Nominees TBA)

District 9 (Peter Jackson, Carolynne Cunningham)

An Education (Finola Dwyer, Amanda Posey)

The Hurt Locker (Nominees TBA)

Inglourious Basterds (Lawrence Bender)

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire (Lee Daniels, Sarah Siegel-Magness, Gary Magness)

A Serious Man (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen)

Up (Jonas Rivera)

Up in the Air (Daniel Dubiecki, Ivan Reitman, Jason Reitman)

Adapted Screenplay:

District 9 by Neill Blomkamp & Terri Tatchell

An Education by Nick Hornby

In the Loop by Jesse Armstrong, Simon Blackwell, Armando Iannucci, & Tony Roche

Precious: Based on the Novel 'Push' by Sapphire by Geoffrey Fletcher

Up in the Air by Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner

Original Screenplay:

The Hurt Locker by Mark Boal

Inglourious Basterds by Quentin Tarantino

The Messenger by Alessandro Camo & Oren Moverman

A Serious Man by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen

Up by Bob Peterson & Pete Docter (Story by Pete Docter, Bob Peterson, & Tom McCarthy)

I'm finally done with it

The TU Student Film Festival was on Monday, and it went pretty well. There was a great turnout, and people seemed to enjoy the films. This crop in particular was exceptional, I think--better than usual. The film program here is definitely on its way to become really awesome. (It's just too bad I had to be here in the early stages.) Ah, well.

The audience laughed at the right spots in my film, and they understood what was going on, so that made me feel good. I'm just sad I didn't actually finish what I had originally planned to do. The entire film, as it is now, was actually only supposed to be the first act. You can watch it on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EeVWR_NmoZU

The story was going to continue after that point, but since most of it is animated, I simply didn't have time to do it all in one semester. If I had formulated a plan over the summer and gotten started as soon as I got to Tulsa in August, then maybe I would have had enough time. Maybe. Animation just takes so much time (and I'm not that good at it), and trying to do stop motion outside, where you're at the mercy of the elements, it's somewhat futile.

Well, it's over now, so no worries. *whew*

Closing comments

I'm sad that Bode skied out on the slalom on Saturday, but he had a good Olympics overall. I'm really happy for him.

The US men's 4-man bobsled team won gold on Saturday, which is pretty cool.

It's too bad that the US lost to Canada in men's hockey on Sunday, but they still got silver. I'm happy for Canada. Same thing happened for the women.

I didn't watch the closing ceremonies on Sunday night 'cause I was at work, and I didn't want to stay up for the late night replay because I was still pretty sick from the cold I had all weekend, but I watched the highlights online. I found it quite hilarious that they had a gag on the torch malfunction from the opening ceremonies, relighting it and everything. Alanis Morissette and Neil Young performed, which is kind of awesome. And William Shatner and Michael J. Fox made appearances. And the Royal Mounties danced around. I'm sad I missed it.

The next Winter Olympics will be in Sochi, Russia. I bet those games won't be quite as friendly as these. It's hard to beat the Canadians in friendliness.

The Canadians won the most golds (14), but they're 3rd in the medal count overall. Germany is 2nd. And the US is first.

Here are some neat videos: Defining moments, Top 10 finishes, Top 10 wacky moments, Best of the Games: Emotions,

Apolo wins his 8th medal!

The women's curling gold medal game was really close. Sweden tied it up with Canada in the 10th (last) end (round), so they had to do an 11th. It came down to the last shot. Sweden's Anette Norberg made it a tough one for Canada's Cheryl Bernard, and she didn't quite get it. So Sweden won the gold. The crowd was loving it through the whole thing--they cheered, whistled, even did the wave. I was rooting for Canada, but at least they got silver!

In the 500m short track final, Apolo Ohno started out in 4th, but on the last lap, the Canadian in 3rd fell, and then the Korean in 2nd fell, so he passed them to get 2nd place. But Apolo had his hand on the Canadian's back as he fell, so he was disqualified. The thing is, though, skaters touch each other slightly like that all the time to prevent run-ins, and I really don't think Apolo caused the Canadian to fall. So that really sucks. Canada ended up 1st and 3rd, South Korea 2nd.

Katherine Reutter won silver in the 1000m, and Wang Meng of China won gold, which means China won gold in all the women's events this year. That's pretty amazing.

The US got bronze in the 5000m relay. It was a really close race. We were in 4th most of the time, but Apolo finished up and passed China at the end to win bronze. Now Apolo has 8 medals overall, the most of any short track skater and any US Winter Olympian.

Lindsey Vonn missed a gate in the women's slalom, so no more medals for her, but she got what she came to get--gold in downhill. And her bronze in super G was a plus. I'm happy for her. Her really good German friend Maria Reisch won gold, though. So cool!

I finally got to watch some curling

Canada won their curling match against Switzerland today 6-5, so they'll be in the gold medal match with Sweden tomorrow. I don't actually know all the rules of curling, but I know basically what's going on, and I never get to watch the sport any other time, so I like to catch as much as I can during the Olympics. What sucks is that the matches are mostly broadcast in the afternoons, which is when I have class and other stuff I have to do.

Canada won the gold in women's hockey against the US (silver) 2-0. That was their 3rd Olympic gold in a row. The men's team plays Sweden in a semifinal game tomorrow.

The US went one-two in nordic combined large hill. Bill Demong won gold, Johnny Spillane won silver. That mean Spillane won a silvers in all of his events, normal hill, large hill, and team. The sport has never been big in America, but maybe now it'll start to pick up. I really enjoy watching it. Here's a nice article on it.

American Jeret Peterson won silver in men's aerials. His first landing was pretty rough, but his second was nice and he pulled a bunch of points with a great trick called the "Hurricane."

Kim Yu-Na of South Korea won gold in figure skating, to Gershwin's "Concerto in F," another awesome music choice (with James Bond). She made her whole routine look super easy, but of course it wasn't. She got a record score again. Her country was putting a LOT of pressure on her to win, and she was the best by a long shot, so I'm really glad she got it. Mao Asada of Japan won silver with a program to Rachmaninov music. She became the first woman to land 3 triple axles in the same competition, but she made a couple other mistakes, so wasn't able to catch up to Kim. Joannie Rochette (the woman whose mom died) won bronze with a great program. What a great finish for her. American Mirai Nagasu skated to music from Carmen, and again, REALLY good spins. She got 4th place at her first Olympics, at 16 years old--that's pretty cool.

A long recap

Oh, man. I haven't been able to watch the olympics at all since last Thursday! I've been scrambling to get my film project done, and last night I went to bed at 6pm since I didn't sleep at all the night before (worked 9pm-11am). Well, that's all finished now (thank God), so now I have to catch up (via nbcolympics.com).

Bode won silver in the super G, and then the gold in the super combined. So that's a medal of each color (bronze in downhill) for him! Woot! He just kept getting better with each event! But then he missed a gate in the giant slalom 'cause he lost his balance. :( He's still got the regular slalom to go, though. Here's a great article on him. I frakin' love him.

Lindsey Vonn got a bronze in the super G. Now she has 2 medals. But she fell in the giant slalom (it was really foggy), breaking her pinkie. Julia Mancuso was skiing right behind her and had to stop her run and redo it. She ended up finishing 18th after the first run, which means she probably won't medal after the second. That really sucks, especially since this is a good event for Julia--she won gold in Torino. Apparently she now has somewhat of a grudge against Lindsey, which is kinda weird. Read about it here.

I'm sad I missed ski cross. This was the sport's olympic debut, and I'd never seen it before. But they have it online, just like everything else. Canada won gold in the women's, Switzerland in the men's. I'm really glad they added this event. Now skiiers get to race against each other at the same time, too.

The US got the first ever silver in the team nordic combined, second medal for the US in this sport period, which is awesome.

Shani Davis won silver in the 1500m short track, Mark Tuitert of the Netherlands won gold. Man, Tuitert was fast!

Katherine Reutter barely missed a medal in 1500m short track. She bumped one of the South Koreans and fell back to last place. She worked her way up to 4th, but wasn't able to catch the top 3. Zhou Yang of China won by a long shot. In the women's 3000m short track relay, South Korea won the race and the US got fourth, but South Korea got disqualified for contact with China, who was then awarded the gold. So we ended up with bronze. Sucks for South Korea for sure, but China is definitely celebrating.

Apolo Ohno won bronze in the 1000m. His semifinal race was great. In the final, he messed up a bit on a pass just as the South Koreans made their move and he fell back to 5th, but he worked back up to third as the Koreans took it away. Now Apolo is has the most medals of any American Winter Olympian.

Virtue & Moir of Canada won gold in ice dancing--their original dance was really good, and their free dance was really f-ing good, too, and very beautiful. They had some awesome lifts, and the crowd loved them (obviously). Davis & White of the US won silver--their original dance was a really cool Indian dance, and their free dance was to Phantom of the Opera. Domnina & Shabalin of Russia won bronze--their free skate was to Requiem for a Dream. Belbin & Agosto of the US got 4th.

Kim Yu-Na of South Korea leads after the women's figure skating short program. I really liked her performance, which was to James Bond music, and she scored a world record, too. Mao Asada of Japan is in 2nd. Joannie Rochette of Canada is in 3rd. She found out her mom died like a day before she had to compete, so it's pretty amazing she was able to compose herself to perform so well. Miki Ando of Japan in in 4th--she's a good jumper, but other than that, nothing special. Rachel Flatt of the US is in 5th. She's basically the perfect student athlete. Apparently she's a straight-A high school senior who is applying for a bunch of elite colleges. She skated a neat program to swing music. Mirai Nagasu of the US in 6th--her spins were really cool. She skated to a strange rendition of Pirates of the Caribbean.

Bobsled is fun to watch. The cameras cut so quickly because the sled goes by so freakin' fast--90 mph finishes! Germany dominated in luge and skeleton, but Canada and the US shut them out on women's two-man. Canada won gold and silver, US bronze. The top German team was in medal contention, but they flipped their sled on the last run (they were both alright).

I enjoyed watching women's aerials tonight, if for no other reason than to hear Jonny Moseley's commentary. But there was another reason--the jumping was excellent. No one fell! Lydia Lassila of Australia (the "Flying Kangaroo") won gold, interrupting the possible Chinese sweep. China did get silver and bronze, though.

Here's a weird little video: In Case You Missed It

Maybe now Plushenko's head will shrink a little

Evan Lysacek won men's figure skating! He only wobbled slightly on one jump, but otherwise--clean. His music was Rimski Korsakov's "Scheherazade," which is a great piece, and he even had cool sparkly snakes on his costume. His routine was significantly more impressive than Yevgeny Plushenko's. Plushenko made a lot of little mistakes on jumps, which is what dropped him down to second--he looked pretty irked at the medal ceremony. Daisuke Takahashi won bronze.

I really liked Johnny Weir's program. He had really cool music called "Fallen Angel." I was wishing he might medal, but he wasn't able to come up from 6th place. He did really well, though! He was satisfied.

I enjoyed Takahiko Kozuka's performance, as well (another electric guitar piece), but he was too. He got a personal best, and I bet he'll come back in 4 years and be really really good.

In the super combined (downhill + slalom), Maria Riesch of Germany won gold, Julia Mancuso won silver, and Sweden's Anja Paerson won bronze. Lindsey Vonn did well on the downhill, but she caught a ski on a one of the gates and fell in the slalom.

I love the US women's snowboarding team. They're chill. NBC had a special on Kelly Clark, Gretchen Bleiler, and Hannah Teter--they're all really good friends. Gretchen Bleiler fell on a difficult trick in her first run of the finals, and then caught the lip on an easier trick in her second, so she didn't place. Kelly Clark rode with an iPod, and she started singing at the beginning of her second run (to get in the zone, I guess), and got a 42.2 to win her the bronze. Torah Bright of Australia had a really bad first run (score of 5.9), but her second was awesome, with at score of 45.0 (out of 50), winning her gold. Hannah Teter was in first position after the first run, but she wasn't able to beat Torah's score, so she took silver.