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,