When you’re making a list their’s something to be said for the items that come immediately to mind – they just might be more accurate reflections of real feelings – even if you come to regret them. So here are my top five most slept on movies:

5. Deconstructing Harry – there seems to be a groupthink among film critics regarding Woody Allen movies over the last few years and it’s been tremendously unfair. Nowhere is this more clear than in the case of Deconstructing Harry – brilliant.

4. Legend of Drunken Master – I don’t claim to be any kind of expert on martial art movies, but this Jackie Chan masterpiece is the best I’ve ever seen (and yes that includes all the Bruce Lee movies).

3. Trees Lounge – maybe I just love this because it portrays the neighborhoods I grew up in, but Steve Buscemi’s directorial debut is the best portrayal of suburban Long Island’s darkside that I’ve ever seen.

2. UHF – I usually hate slapstick – all too often it aims too low – but Weird Al’s first and only movie has an incredible charm.

1. Lone Star – I really need to pick this bad boy up on DVD because it’s been way too long since I’ve seen it. Suffice it to say that the story telling is superb. Wicked flick.

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suggested track: “punk rock academy” by atom and his package

i had my reception last night, and it went pretty well. there wasn’t a large turnout, but i really didn’t expect one with it being summer and all. but all my friends that are around showed up, and everyone kept telling me how good the show looked and how impressed they were and which pieces they liked, etc. it felt pretty damn good. you can always judge the sincerity of people at openings, and i can honestly say i think pretty really did like the show. people were asking me a lot of questions about my orals, and about the written exam etc. it was a good night. throughout the night i kept thinking about how a decade ago i never would have concieved of having friends like i do, and the support that i have. it felt great.

of course we went drinking afterwards, and had a blast getting all shitty. i was going to write about a potential love interest, but i don’t think i will.

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i went to wrays martini party last night. 12 hours later, after being up for 4 hours, im still hung over. i feel like total shit. i need a big bite.

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as much as i love working at colonial downs, i am rediscovering what an amazing freakshow it is. this rediscovery has been met with a mixture of humor, horror, smugness, and recoil. there is, for example, a well-to-do couple that come in every day with their two well-dressed children, who help them pick their numbers, horses, etc. the catch is that their children are two squishy, overstuffed cabbage patch kid dolls with doleful bovine eyes and yarn for hair. i shit you not.

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holy crap.

four years, almost to the day since i started reading my own copy (and somewhere around 5 and a half years after i first picked it up), i finished reading ‘infintie jest.’ to be clear, i wasnt reading it that entire time. i would pick it up, read, get confused, distracted, bored and put it down. then 8 months later, pick it back up and start it over. this went on 3 times until this last time i decided i was going to finish it. and last night i did.

i liked it. it has its issues, but those are intentional mostly. its a good book. all 1079 pages (i think) of it. the first 25 pages and the last 200 are great. the middle is a bit…dense. and dont forget the 200 pages of footnotes.

its a nice closure – i picked it up during my senior year of college (thanks to brandon gentry), bought it in paperback the summer after i graduated. and finished it the summer after i got my second bachelors.

i hung out with trevor, melissa, meg and heather last night. it was funny. we talked and fought over movies and art. this is opposed to my older friends, where we fight over movies and politics and stupid, nonsensical stuff. as opposed to my work friends, where we fight and discuss movies and networks.

im kinda disappointed to have finished the book actually. i feel a little…hollow? is that the right word? to have this giant, thick book daunting me for the last 4 years…and now i dont. well, at least i still have ‘a new kind of science’ and ‘mason and dixon’ to haunt my book selections.

roxy bought her plane ticket. i see her the first of aug. i still havent gotten my diploma from vcu. im going to a martini party this evening with people from work. wyclef is on radio1 now and its actually making me a little insane. 2600 successfuly defended its case against ford. ford had sued over 2600s right to point the domain www.fuckgeneralmotors.com. that pleases me. and yet another reason to not support ford. another reason would be the new annoying commercials they have out (‘when my grandfather…’ speeches by the current ford mogul). glastonbury is going on in england. im jealous.

i saw minority report the other night. it was much better than i expected. i think the general consensus in the car afterwards was an a-. this puts it in the league of ’spiderman’ and ‘lord of the rings’ in my head. im curious to learn more about the worldcom failure. but theres been no real news in it.

i think thats about all from me for the last several days. oh – matt stood me up last night, which i secretly suspect is payback for him thinking i stodd him up on sunday. the difference is that i called him like 4 times last night trying to figure out plans and he never called me on sunday. and i still havent watched ‘the two towers’ trailer because quicktime is hosed on my computer and i havent figured out the problem yet.

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i am secretly obsessed with nelly’s “it’s getting hot in herre”. it is an awful, stupid, terribly catchy song.

i have uncharacteristically done nothing all day, save sleep, read, and eat tortilla chips in bed. i feel slothful, yet non-guity. in an hour i have to be at the kennel for the night shift anyway.

shell was quite sad yesterday so i decided to devote myself and my evening to the big time cheerup. i let her call the shots, so we went to baja bean for dinner, drinks, and drooling over my beautiful bartender. by the 2nd drink the M.O. (what is that short for anyway?) had been changed to an impulsive late night run to w’burg. so, travel mugs a-brimming with poorly-concocted potions of liquor and tonic, we were on the way.

hoping for drunken tomfoolery and hijinks, the evening instead presented itself as a shruggish chill night with michelle and rob. the ‘highlight’ of my night was going to cornerstone, williamsburg’s newest nighttime hotspot and the immediate recipient of my snottiest disdain. it is very hip, very white, and includes a dj spinning the latest hits he selects from his large collection of CDs…

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suggested track: “life’s blood” by eighteen visions

i just finished my orals a little over an hour ago. they went very well. i was scared shitless, and my committee threw in they’re shots, but overall it went well. i stuck to my guns and defended my work pretty well. not nearly as scary as i thought. i pretty much thought they would kick the shit out of me for about an hour and a half, but they didn’t really. they seemed really pleased with the answers i gave, and afterwards they told me how good of a job i did with my show. they had a lot of praise for it. feels pretty damn good. so that’s one master’s down, one more to go.

some bittersweet news: i got a P.A. for next year, which means i can go back to school. the bad news is it’s a job i fucking hate. so now i have to spend another year toiling around in the DPS. it’s going to make me a very bitter and cranky individual. even more so than now. also, it will stress the hell out of me. i think a lot of people are not going to want to be my friend after next year, because i can already see myself screaming and yelling at everyone. oh well, i’m a bonafide master now. all bow before me.

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