Hope you had some Christmas ham in your day too.

Rather than post a lengthy response on my last entry, I thought I would go into detail about why I didn’t like the new King Kong movie.

1. Dialogue with no other purpose than to tell the audience something about a character.I don’t like being treated like I’m stupid, and I didn’t feel the dialogue revealed necessary information.

Old Guy: “Your life has been difficult, and I know it’s led you to being unable to trust anyone, Annie.”

Or…


Denham: “You’re the type of girl who…”

2. Characters who are unnecessary, melodramatic, and cliche and the awful dialogue that goes with it.

Mr. Hayes: “Jimmy, you shouldn’t be stealing stuff. You should go and get yourself educated.”

Jimmy: “But I am Mr. Hayes. Look, I even checked this book out from the library.”

Later when they’re going into the jungle.

Mr. Hayes: “No, Jimmy. You stay here. It’s too dangerous for you.”

Jimmy: “But I wanna go and help Miss Darrow, Mr. Hayes. She needs our help.”

And even later when Jimmy secretly follows the group.

Mr. Hayes: “Jimmy, I told you to stay back.”

Jimmy: “I’ll be okay, Mr. Hayes. Just pretend you didn’t see me.”

Mr. Hayes: “You just be careful.”

And later when they’re poking around a giant cave making scary sounds.

Mr. Hayes: “If anything happens, I want you to run Jimmy.”

And OF COURSE something happens.

Mr. Hayes: “Run! Jimmy, run outta here!”

Bad stuff happens to Mr. Hayes.

Jimmy: “Noooooo!”

3. Not enough build up of the relationship between Ann and Kong. Ann only “trusts” Kong when her life is in danger. I could almost hear the dialogue in her head: “Dinosaurs or gorilla? Hmm. I think gorilla.” Sure, they watched a sunset together. I never felt like Ann cared for Kong.
4. Not enough build up of Kong. I liked the three main human characters very much. I never felt like I knew Kong though. I never felt like I could trust him, so I questioned it when Ann suddenly trusted him.
5. Two hours of chase scenes. Or darn near two hours. I’d guess it took something like 30 minutes to get to the island. Then there was a bit under 2 hours of action/chase scenes, during which we get two short 5-10 minutes of interaction between Kong and Ann. Another chase scene where Kong is captured. Cut to the city. The last 30-45 minutes wrapped up the city scene and the ending.
6. Willing suspension of disbelief can only go so far. There were too many parts where people should have been dead, bloody, or unconscious. Watching Ann with Kong, I could only think of shaken babies.

Stuff I liked. Again, I really liked the three main human characters. The CG was mostly good (except during the action scenes with Kong and any human.)

Overall, I think the weakness of the movie was that it lacked subtlety. Rob and I were both really looking forward to this movie. We were both disappointed, but Rob was much more generous than I was in his review. And really, I normally do like this kind of movie. It wasn’t as bad as I originally portrayed it, perhaps. But it fell way below my expectations.

Today, in a word, was shitty. I know I’m probably shocking a lot of people by using some other word besides icky or blah, but sometimes a girl needs to resort to this type of language. Mind you, when I say my day was shitty, it’s only relative to the type of day I normally have. I know it wasn’t shitty in the grand scheme of things.

I had two art history finals today. I think shitty pretty much sums up how well I did. For some reason, I was unable to think or write clearly during my exams. I prepared for my exams just like I normally do. And normally, I get A’s. But when it came time to write, I blanked. It didn’t help that three out of seven slides in my 20th c. art history class were from the one lecture I missed this semester. I’d call those odds shitty. It also didn’t help that I’ve been feeling pretty shitty since I woke up this morning. I’m sorta weak and tired with no appetite.

But the silver lining? I’m done! Well, not done done. I have to pick up my drawing assignments next week. And on Monday in my ceramics class we’re having a critique followed by my professor hosting a luncheon at her house. So, the shitty part of school is over.

My drive home was kinda shitty too. We got several inches of snow again today. It’s that heavy wet snow that sticks to everything and makes the roads… Dare I say? Shitty. If you know snow, you know what I mean.

The silver lining? There’s no wind, so the thick heavy stuff is clinging to all the branches of all the trees and it’s soooo beautiful. It’s great packing snow too. A little too wet for my liking, but it didn’t stop the kids in the neighborhood from building snowmen. I even saw my neighbor—who has no children—adding a snowman to his front lawn like it was part of the holiday decorations. How cool is that?

I know my shitty day pales in comparison to the recent wave of crime plaguing my university’s campus. It also pales in comparison tto the shittiness of the new King Kong movie. So maybe ‘m just looking for an excuse to say shitty today.

Shitty. Hehe.

I’ve bemoaned about my drawing class before, and today is no different. I skipped my last three drawing classes, but it’s not like I didn’t have a good reason. One day Brendan had a thing at his school. Jacob’s thing was on a day I could attend, so it didn’t feel right missing Brendan’s. One day was spent preparing for my interview. Another day was spent finishing my art history paper. Yes, it was my fault the paper wasn’t finished the night before, but I still had to do it. One day, I think it snowed. And I had strep throat. And… I think it snowed.

Okay, so maybe I was LOOKING for excuses to miss my drawing class. The collective personality of the class was very unfriendly. I loathed going to class. That, coupled with my insecurity about my inability made it very difficult. After Thanksgiving, it got easier to look for excuses.

I turned in my final projects today while everyone else finished working on theirs in class. My instructor looked disappointed in me. Before today, the look was one of appreciation for at least trying to work with an obvious lack of talent. But today, she realized I gave up. I did. I gave up. The only thing left to do in that class is to show up on Tuesday to pick up my crap “art”.

On Friday, two days after I finished my THIRD round of antibiotics for strep throat, my throat started feeling scratchy again. I, being the silver-lining type of girl I am, was happy to get my symptoms on a Friday for once. The past three episodes occured on Sunday, forcing me to visit the questionable care providers at the local Urgent Care center. This time, I was able to make an appointment with my own doctor, or at least, another doctor in the same office.

Sure enough, I tested positive for strep throat during my Saturday morning appointment. This fourth time has me on a new, more expensive antibiotic. By more expensive, I mean that my copay was $40 as opposed to the normal $10. That brings our grand total for strep throat treatments this year up to $210. That’s like 84 gallons of gas, or one student loan payment, or an entire set of sparring gear for the boys’ tae kwon do, or a very nice dent in my Christmas shopping list. I have a follow-up appointment just after I finish this round of antibiotics, which will probably bring the total up a bit more.

If it doesn’t work this time, I may be waking up to strep throat again Christmas day. Thanks, Santa.

I’ve been checking out my Blogger friends’ blogs during my three and a half hour break today, and many of them have inspired me to write!

Janet asks her readers, “What do you want this Christmas season?” One of her readers commented, “A really nice, smart, funny, unattached, emotionally available, hetrosexual, good looking, gainfully employed man under the age of 50 who has all his own teeth and doesn’t live with his mother. That’s not too much to ask for is it?” I actually know one of those, but since every other woman seems to be looking for one, I feel like I should put him away in a box and keep him for a rainy day. You know, just in case.

Oz is pondering the two newest additions to her family. She wants her children to be close in age, and obviously has her priorities in order. I, on the other hand, am flopping back and forth between “I want another child” and “Am I too old to have another child?”

All this talk about babies brings up another point that’s been bugging me lately. Why is it that women who get pregnant feel the need to share it with everyone? Or for that matter, why does anyone with good news to share feel the need to share it with a bunch of people who don’t care? I’m not talking about blogs and things like that of course. If you’re sharing this sort of news on your own blog and I am visiting your blog to read these things, it’s because I’m interested. (And if you’re visiting my blog to read things about me, I assume it’s because you’re interested.) But I frequently read a message board connected with my game that has a section for subjects not related to the game. It’s not uncommon for it to be littered with some little ninny’s boasts of “I’m pregnant!” or “It’s my birthday!” or “I’m graduating in a week and a half!” Do these people have so few people in their life that they need to be congratulated by strangers? I mean, they’re just begging for attention. I happen to LOVE attention. But somehow it’s more satisfying when it comes from people I care about than from total strangers.

SpaceCase is buying toys for a child who might otherwise get nothing for Christmas this year. It makes me think of all the wasted candy and crappy little gifts my boys’ old school used to pass out for the holidays. Not just Christmas, but like every single holiday. I always complained that the kids were getting far too much candy, and that they should be doing something more meaningful. Upon hearing my complaints, my dad pulled out an envelope he was given at the hospital when he was admitted over Valentine’s Day. Inside the envelope were a dozen or so handmade cards from children wishing their anonymous recipients a happy Valentine’s Day. Ever since then, I’ve been wanting to start a similar type program at my boys’ school. But what, exactly? And for whom? Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Dear Tracy,

You’ve asked what I would like for my birthday and/or Christmas this year. Until now, my energy has been focused on doing well during my job interview and getting my school projects completed. Today, I found a moment of time to make you a list. I want a cd, a BOOK, and a pencil sharpener. (Yes, I know a pencil sharpener is a lame gift.) You can click on the little pictures in my sidebar (BOOK) and order these things (BOOK) directly from Amazon.com (BOOK). I would also very much like some of Gloria’s incredible soaps since I haven’t gotten around to placing my annual Christmas order yet. I would also like a BOOK.

~Kerrie

P.S. BOOK.

I’d love to give some sort of update to my job interview, but I wasn’t able to gauge how well (or how badly) the interview went.

I got to the interview site about 20 minutes early. I figured it was just enough time to use the bathroom and have moment to relax while I waited. When I went through the first set of doors to the building, I noticed a telephone with a sign indicating that visitors should call the receptionist so she could unlock the door. I called the receptionist. I got the receptionist’s voicemail. Since I was still early, I hung up and waited a few minutes before calling again. This time she answered and came out to let me in.

She told me I was early, and indicated the waiting area. I asked if I could use the bathroom first, and she led me down a hall in the opposite direction as the waiting area. I soaped up my hands and turned on the faucet only to find that no water came out of the faucet. It wasn’t really a faucet, but more like a lever that rotated back and forth. I thought maybe it was motion sensitive, so I waved my soapy hands all around the faucet and sink area. No luck. I resigned myself to using paper towel to clean off my soapy hands when the water suddenly started to trickle. I rushed back to put my hands beneath the faucet and the water stopped. I’M NOT KIDDING. I think it was at this point when I started looking around for hidden cameras. Somehow, the water started to trickle again, and I was able to rinse my hands off.

When I returned to the waiting area, my interviewers were already there waiting for me. They took me to their conference room and immediately asked to see my work. I showed them my book, which they viewed dutifully. Then the 40 minute conversation went something like this:

Them: “Are you a full-time student?”

Me: “I’m full time this semester. Usually I only attend half-time, but when I realized I could graduate with these last four classes, I made arrangements so I could complete all four this semester.”

Them: 10-15 minutes of stuff about the job. Then… “Do you have any questions for us?”

Me: (thinking this is where I am supposed to sell myself) “What type of person are you looking for to fill this position?”

Them: Talk about the type of person they’re looking for. Talk more about the specifics of the job. Then… “I hope that answers your question.”

Me: (thinking I must have missed my que to sell myself the first time) “How do you determine who will be selected for this program?”

Them: “It’s a difficult decision. We have about 40 interviews, from which we’ll be selecting 10-12 people for the evaluation. From there, we’re thinking 1-3 positions will be offered based on how well people do during the evaluation. We sit down with the managers and the human resources people and make our recommendations. HR will call everyone and let them know one way or the other the week of the 19th. Are there any other questions you have for us?”

Me: (realizing it’s too late to sell myself now, but not wanting to leave without them knowing I want to be chosen for the evaluation) “I won’t be able to show you my abilities until the evaluation, but I hope you’ve at least had a chance to learn something about my personality.” (Then, just in case my personality wasn’t obvious..) “I have a positive attitude and I work well with people. I really would like this opportunity.”

Them: “If you don’t have any more questions… It was nice meeting you. Thank you for coming.”

They sold me on the job, but they didn’t really ask about me. But I’ve asked around, and I’ve been told that it’s pretty common in this field. How do they decide who to hire? “You just click.” I don’t know if I clicked or not. It was all very friendly. We joked, we laughed. But all well within the bounds of talking business. Anyway, it’s over. I have one less thing to worry about now.

My professor helped me get my photos ready for my job interview tomorrow. She told me that she knows several other people applying for these positions, and that I am the strongest candidate by far. BY FAR. She also told me I would be perfect for this job. I can’t tell you how helpful that was for my confidence level.

I’ve done my research on the company, the position, and on various interview techniques. Yes, interview techniques. I know I’m probably better prepared than most of the other candidates, but I still don’t feel comfortable. I’m probably going to skip my drawing class tomorrow so I can prepare a bit more for the interview.

Here are some of the photos I took today. Only the cups have been glazed and are finished.

Hello Ellen Pompeo fans. If you check out the sidebar at the right, you’ll notice I have a category called “Huh?” Basically, it’s a list of people and things whose popularity is not understood by me. Don’t get me wrong. Ellen Pompeo is a fine actor and I don’t have any particular dislike for her. What I don’t understand is why the media is making such a huge deal about her all of a sudden. She’s everywhere. She’s like the television version of Jamie Foxx, except she’s female, white, and Oscar-less.

Just to clarify, Yahoo is misdirecting you. You will be disappointed if you come to this site searching for “ellen pompeo pics” or “ellen pompeo nude” or even “ellen pompeo pussy”. And for the twelve of you who found this entry while searching for “ellen pompeo oops” I am sorry.