24 posts tagged “qotd”

What are your plans for the weekend?

First, movies. The Seattle International film Festival started Thursday, and I've only seen one film so far! I have tickets for two more this weekend, and might add a third. I'll be posting about them at my movie blog, letterboxed. Last night was a French horror/thriller, tonight is a Canadian indie, Sunday is a documentary, and Monday might be a film from Hong Kong.

Second, if I can drag myself out of the house for something other than film, I'll head down to the Seattle Center for Folklife. I looked through the schedule, and there is something each day that I am interested in, as long as it doesn't clash with movies or napping. Hey, napping is key on the holiday weekend.

Third, my apartment is a disaster. I need to fold laundry and maybe do more, take out trash, do dishes, and do some cooking out of my organic produce box. 

All that, plus knitting! Movies from Netflix! Catching up on "The Sopranos"! And maybe even some sewing? Too bad it is -only- three days.

What was your favorite TV season finale this year? 

Questions like this remind me that normal people don't watch TV the same way I do.

For one thing, to have a favorite, you need to be watching more than one show. Which is usually where I trip up, but not this year! This year I am watching -three- shows! Please be in awe!

However, only one of them has had a season finale so far. The "House" finale is next week (and I will miss it because I have a movie at the film festival) & the "Doctor Who" finale is ages off, as we're only halfway through that season.

So that leaves "Heroes". Which was -awesome-, so I guess it works out.

Oh, television.

What is the one saying that your parents said to you that you absolutely hate?

Ooh, this is a question made for me. My mother still says "Choices, all the time choices" in this tone of voice that makes it quite clear that whatever choice you're making is the wrong damn choice. It drives me up a wall.

On the other hand, my dad always said "Fool me once, shame on you; fool me twice, shame on me" which has been the blueprint for my life of INFJ doorslamming. That I do not hate. It's saved me a world of trouble.

What is your current obsession(s)?

Oh, Vox. I'm so glad you asked. I just got home from seeing  Zodiac, which is fantastic and all about obsession (and also research, my two favorite things, and yes I am serious), but I like to think my obsessions are a little more healthy.

Lately, I've been a bit obsessed with Alan Davies. I know, I know. But I can't help it. I first encountered him on QI, which I had ... ahem ... obtained for the host, Stephen Fry. But then there was this -guy-, who was funny and cute and the smile and the dimples and the curls and did I mention the funny? And that was the end for me. Now I'm watching anything I can get my hands on that has him in it, from his stand-up to random guest appearances on stuff to Jonathan Creek to Bob & Rose to still more QI. Obsession is for the win. (And, I just have to say, it is not every girl who obtains DVDs of their current whatever and goes, "Oh my god, he snogs a guy in this! AWESOME!")

Here are two of my favorite YouTube videos of Alan. One is the end of his stand-up, Urban Trauma, where he discusses the perils of sleeping with skinny women. The second is where he decides he just will not take Stephen Fry's quizmaster smugness for a moment longer ... at least not at Christmas.

What's the most famous movie you've never seen? 

Hey! A movie question! Yay!

There are lots of movies I haven't seen, which is surprising and also scary when you consider how many I have seen. But there you have it. I have never seen Ghostbusters or Gremlins or The Goonies (although I did try, but was bored to death.) I've never seen Lawrence of Arabia, but that is because I am determined to see it in the theater and not on my wimpy little television, and other than that I've seen all of the top 10 of the AFI's top 100 American films. I've never seen anything you were supposed to see in the 80s, like Dirty Dancing or most of the horror movies.

How do you decide what is famous? Of the IMDb's top 250, in the top ten I haven't seen The Godfather, part ii (which is ridiculous because I adore The Godfather) or The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly or The Seven Samurai. (Which is kind of sad. I think they're in my Netflix queue at least.) Or maybe all-time box office? Of the top twenty there I've only not seen Shrek 2. Mostly because I didn't care for the first one.

(Hi Vox! I have missed you! I have an entry on my home computer about the gay marriage battle in Washington state, which I will try to remember to post tonight, and also I should have new knitting pictures soon. Many projects in progress, oh yes.)

Hi Vox! I was going to do the addiction QotD, but the answer was just "coffee" and that's been covered pretty thoroughly already, so why bother?  And then I was going to do the Vox Hunt, but neither of the animations I thought of posting exist on iFilm or YouTube, so you'll just have to trust me that Destino and The Mysterious Geographic Explorations of Jasper Morello are both animated shorts worth the watching. (If you missed it over Christmas, though, go back an entry and watch the Tim Burton short. It is good stuff!)

So then I scanned back through some other QotDs, but I didn't find anything that merited a full entry on its own. I don't make resolutions (except for the year I stopped chewing my nails, and that actually took for the most part), I didn't give any Christmas presents, I can't remember being a kid, so I don't know what might remain unconfessed, and I only watch four tv shows (which is honestly a lot for me) so I don't have a top five. Except when "Doctor Who" starts up again, then I might have five, depending on if I keep watching "Veronica Mars" and if NBC keeps showing "Studio 60". (I have such a weird relationship with that show. I read articles about what's wrong with it, and I agree with all of them, but I love it anyway. Perhaps because when it's great, it's really great. Perhaps because I am secretly waiting for Tom & Simon to make out. Who knows?)

But, anyway. Tonight I am cleaning my apartment & maybe calling my mother. At midnight I am going to see Serenity, and at what will then feel like the crack of dawn I am getting up to go to Vancouver for the day and Abbotsford for the new year. I will probably read a little, but I am not expecting to post, so see you all in 2007!

(I am listening to the soundtrack to The History Boys. It owns my soul. You have no idea how tempting it's been to not go see it again pretty much every day this week. Might give in next week, because seriously. SERIOUSLY. It hits every single one of my buttons and a few I didn't know I had.)

What's your favorite holiday movie?

This is funny, because I was actually going to post this to Vox last night, when I was watching them, but then I got distracted. Like you do.

(Also, I was going to add these as videos in my collection, but for some reason it bothers me to add things via Amazon that are out of print, and both of the editions I watched last night are. There should be an IMDb interface... but then Vox would lose referral money, I guess.)

So! Anyway. First I watched my all-time favorite Christmas movie,  The Ref. That's what the holidays are really about -- getting in huge fights with your family. I followed it up with the natural choice, The Nightmare Before Christmas. I won it on DVD a few years ago at the Landmark movie poster sale, which was apparently lucky, as it is now out of print and going for $50 or more everywhere.

I have the special edition, which is particularly sweet because it includes two Tim Burton shorts. Since everything also exists on the Internet, I share one with you in ... um ... the spirit of the holidays.

Vincent by Tim Burton

How do you take your tea or coffee?

Oh, coffee. What would my world be without you? I'm a morning regular at Monorail Espresso, where I get a tall mocha every day. Not that I have to order it, per se, I just say hi and punch a hole in my punch card. It's my breakfast. No lectures!

If I get more coffee later in the day, I usually get an Americano with room, and add cream and sugar. Though now it's the holidays, so sometimes I get an eggnog latte and sometimes a peppermint mocha, because yum.

At home, I have a French press, and I add the cream and sugar before pouring the coffee. Because that way you don't have to stir it, see?

As for tea, it depends. Fruit and herbal teas I take straight, and black teas I usually take with a little milk & sugar.

Right now I am drinking a coffee the size of my head that my coworker brought in. For the win!

What are your top 5 movies/DVDs of 2006?

I'm amused that this is the QotD, because this morning in the shower I was thinking about how I can't do a year-end film report yet, since not only is the year not over, but there are always year-end vying-for-limited releases that take a while to make it to Seattle. I usually do a film wrap-up in February. For reference now, my top five (favorites, not best) at the time from when it was a QotD a while back, and currently my profile on my film journal links all the films I've seen in theaters so far this year.

That said, stuff I have to see before I can answer questions like this, roughly in order of desire:

• Children of Men (I am doing a dance RIGHT NOW because it's going into -wide- release on Christmas. Yes!)
• Pan's Labyrinth
• Little Children
• Dreamgirls
• The Good Shepherd
• The Good German
• The Departed
• Notes on a Scandal
• Venus
• Perfume
• For Your Consideration
• The Pursuit of Happyness
• Unknown

So, Vox. It's a little early to name my top five of 2006. Sorry!

Today on Vox other people are using the five things qotd in a more general way, and I thought that sounded like a good idea. (I had gone with the movie post because I had been thinking about movies I love as a different beast from movies that I think are the best, an offshoot of discussing The Prestige & The Illusionist with dorrie6 recently.) But anyway, here we go.

Five Things I am Digging or that Make Me Happy Lately or Whatever:

1. Firefox 2.0. I think I have to restart it before it'll correct my tab issue -- I HATE the scrolling tabs, but the hack on that is to change the minimum tab size -- but I adore the spell check and (especially) the "recently closed tabs" feature. Already today I've used it to rescue tabs I've accidentally closed. Win!
2. Pirate Booty is 2 bags for $4 at Fred Meyer this week, and Trader Joe's is stocking the Wintry Blend Coffee again.
3. Sock knitting. I've done enough now that I can just buy a skein of sock yarn and make up the pattern as I go, which is just -awesome-. I'm nearly finished with a pair of toe-ups in that cheap Lion Brand Magic Stripes with a figure 8 toe, a feather-and-fan stitch pattern (because I wanted something to make the stripes go wavy, so I Googled something like "wavy knitting" and that's what I came up with), and a short-row heel I did from memory and modified myself to be reinforced.
4. I'm running a big event tomorrow, and so far every time I've said "Oh my God I totally forgot about..." someone has taken care of it already.
5. Autumn. Eggnog lattes & Christmas lights on sale, fallen leaf prints on the sidewalk, an excuse to wear all these scarves I've been knitting, seeing how long I can hold out and not turn on the heat in my apartment, getting hooked on new television shows, sitting in cafes with my laptop.