Dear MTV,

I refuse to watch The Hills until Justin Bobby comes back. You keep teasing with previews, like he's already back, and then I tune in and he's not there. You're breaking my heart, here.

A concerned Hills-viewer

Currently listening to:

Vampire Weekend - M 79
Grizzly Bear - Knife (Girl Talk Remix)
The Honeydrips - (Lack of) Love Will Tear Us Apart
Lykke Li - Little Bit (Diego Chavez Remix)
Jens Lekman - Maple Leaves (7 " Version)
Beirut - Nantes
Oh No! Oh My! - Be A Star
White Rabbits - Sea of Rum
Blonde Redhead - This Is Not
Stars - Look Up
The Watson Twins - I Summon You
Horse Feathers - Father

You can listen to them here, at muxtape.



On an unrelated note, when is Justin Bobby coming back to The Hills??? MTV keeps teasing me with clips in the promos, and then I end up getting disappointed when I watch the new episodes. More Justin Bobby! More combat boots at the beach!

In the almighty name of procrastination, I present:

Books I Wish I Was Reading Right Now (instead of working on my SIP):

The Concept of Irony by Soren Kierkegaard
Be Near Me by Andrew O'Hagan
Bleak House by Charles Dickens
Siegfried Sassoon: A Life by Max Egremont
My Darling, My Hamburger by Paul Zindel
The Abstinence Teacher by Thomas Perrotta
and, as always, Baby by Kristen Thorup

So there's this handy little thing called Gender Guesser, which analyzes writing and "attempts" to determine the author's gender, based on the words used and how they are used in sentences.

"The system generates a simple estimate (profiling). While Gender Guesser may be 60% - 70% accurate, it is not 100% accurate. This is better than random guessing (50%), but should not be interpreted as "fact". In particular, men should not be offended if it says you write like a girl."

No matter what part of my SIP I plug into it, I come up with these results:
Genre: Formal
Female = 2957
Male = 3120
Difference = 163; 51.34%
Verdict: Weak MALE
Weak emphasis likely indicates European.

No matter what blog entries I enter, I get these results:
Genre: Informal
Female = 417
Male = 688
Difference = 271; 62.26%
Verdict: MALE

So, I am a [weak/European] male. Does that make me more awkward? I honestly I have no idea how I feel about this.

Ole Christen Madsen's new film, Flame and Citron, comes out in Denmark in the end of March. In my opinion, Ole Christen Madsen is an extremely overlooked Danish director. Madsen doesn't make dogme films, which keeps him under the radar of international critics, and even on the outskirts of Danish cinema. I'm intrigued by this film's budget - at 10 million US dollars, it has the largest budget of any film ever made in Denmark. It's also worth noting that Mads Mikkelsen is starring, and I LOVE Mads Mikkelsen. As I've seen almost all of his films, I was more than a little overjoyed when he showed up in Casino Royale back in 2006. I can only hope that this film is available in the US sometime in the next year.

For those unversed in the Danish Resistance, 'Flame' and 'Citron' were two famous resistance fighters, charged with the task of "liquidating" Danish informers while Denmark was occupied by the Nazis. They later went on to kill a number of influential Germans occupying the country as well.

The Teaser trailer, with no dialogue (for those of us who don't speak any Danish, which is - face it - most of the western world):


The full length trailer can be found at Twitchfilm.net

I skipped my French lab today, but I think it was the right decision. I applied for three more internships, and wrote another two pages of my SIP, so I think it was time well spent. It was more beneficial for me, anyway.

In honor of the French that I was not appreciating, I watched this:


I think I learned more French in one segment of Flight of the Conchords than I would in lab.

In honor of the self-congratulatory spirit of the Oscars this year, I'm writing myself a self-congratulatory post. I should really bet money on the Oscars! I only got Costumes and Documentary wrong. I am a powerhouse.

I'm totally posting this before they announce best picture. This was maybe the most boring Oscars ever. It was certainly the most masturbatory, what with this ridiculous theme of 'congratulations to us for congratulating ourselves for 80 years!' they have going on tonight.

Predictions for Oscar - I have some.


Best Picture: No Country For Old Men
Director: The Coen Brothers (No Country For Old Men)
Actor: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
Actress: I really want to say Julie Christie, but Marion Cotillard will win this.
Supporting Actor: Javier Bardem
Supporting Actress: Tilda Swinton
Original Screenplay: Diablo Cody (Juno) And when she wins, a little piece of my heart will die.
Adapted Screenplay: There Will Be Blood Diving Bell and the Butterfly could easily win this category, or No Country For Old Men if they're feeling the Cormac McCarthy love especially strongly.
Cinematography: There Will Be Blood
Art Direction: Sweeney Todd Or maybe Atonement?
Costumes: Atonement The green dress cinched this months ago.
Editing: The Bourne Ultimatum I suppose this could go to No Country For Old Men, but I'm betting on the Academy being tired of giving them Oscars after they probably didn't 'get' the ending.
Score: Atonement
Special Effects: The Golden Compass
Foreign: Austria - Counterfeiters
Song: Falling Slowly - Once
Make-up: La Vien En Rose
Sound Mixing: The Bourne Ultimatum
Animated: Ratatouille
Documentary: No End In Sight

I'm not even going to bother with the shorts...I've seen them all, but honestly, I have no idea what the Academy looks for in those categories. I think half the voters just do 'eeny-meeny-miny-mo' to choose.
I look forward to being [mostly] right tonight.

So, it turns out that there are a lot of people who think Diablo Cody and her script are ridiculous:

Timothy Brayton writes just the sort of movie reviews that I like to read:

"I went to see Jumper with a female friend, who wanted to go because Hayden Christensen is pretty. I wanted to go because Rachel Bilson is pretty. Our post-film analysis concluded that because Jamie Bell is so pretty now, it makes watching him as a 13-year-old in Billy Elliot kind of awkward."

I sort of feel that way every time I see Jamie Bell now that he's all grown up.
You can read the rest of his review here.