Action! Adventure! Romance! Okay, not the last one, but still.

Hello there world, it's finally senior year. Actually it has been senior year for quite some time now, but I haven't bothered attending to my attention-starved blog.

Herwoh, widdle blogy wogy, how are you doing?

Updates in life? Numerous. Next year I'm either going to Germany or Nebraska Wesleyan. (If I do go to Germany it's just for a year, then I'll go to NWU later.)
I turned 18 and I got my nose pierced. It's pretty sweet. I also voted, bought porn, and a lottery ticket. Party on.
I had my first boyfriend for six months, then we broke up yesterday. Fun.
I'm taking two spanish classes at high school, and I've gotten a lot better.
I chill at the Boys and Girls Club occasionally and help little kids do homework.

So tomorrow I'm going to an old folks home with my NHS group. We're going to swing dance and give out valentines. In the classic manner of life's twisted sense of irony I spent today cutting out little paper hearts and trying to get used to calling my boyfriend my "ex." That's something I'm sure will be funny in a few months. At the moment however I'm just trying my hardest to stop identifying with the annoying secondary characters in romantic comedies who cry constantly and drink cheap wine after breaking up. If I'm not careful I'll end up rebounding with Matthew McConaughey's best man at his wedding. Ugh.

So I'll try to distract myself by watching The Hurt Locker. Nothing like horrible war to put your love life in perspective.

yo hablo espanol

It's a very exciting time in my high school career. I'm going to community college! Of course everyone knows the best part about high school is when you don't have to go anymore. I still have to go next year of course, but it's summer and I've gotten my first taste of freedom by taking Conversational Spanish 101 at FRCC.

Me gusta. Me gusta mucho.

This is especially exciting because it means eventually I will be able to do the very thing I've wanted to for oh so long.

Watch spanish movies without subtitles. huzzah! It will only take years and years of studying, but when I'm 30 I will enjoy myself thoroughly. And I'm just now taking the first step. The next time I'm watching a little masterpiece of my buddy Pedro Almodovar, if anyone says "my name is," "how old are you," or "I would like to buy a half kilo of apples," I will so know what's going on.

We watched a movie in my german class with spoken german and german subtitles, and I was very happy because I could pretty much understand it. It was called Barefuss I think, and I actually really liked it. It was about this women who's in a mental institution and falls in love with the janitor and they have wacky adventures together. awwwww.... It reminded me of Benny and Joon. But the really significant part about this story is it was a german movie that wasn't depressing! I had previously thought this was impossible, save for Maenner Wie Wir, the gay soccer players movie. Because, most of the German movies I've seen are either about the holocaust or gay teenagers.

We have cultural growth!

Touche, John Waters, touche

Ok, John Waters. You win.

That's right, you managed to actually genuinely gross me out. I thought you used your powers of campyness for good, not evil! Why, I loved Hairspray! It was a sweet movie about dancing and desegregation. What's not to like? And Crybaby! Very strange, but still oddly sweet. Even A Dirty Shame, which seemed to touch on every strange kink and fetish known to man, was ultimately endearing. But this last movie of yours I watched? My brain simply feels violated and afraid.

Congratulations.

I thought I had seen everything, I thought I was pretty non-squeamish, I thought South Park, Kevin Smith, and Shortbus had desensitized me. But I was sadly mistaken.

Pink Flamingos really took the cake. I was prepared for the shit-eating, I could even get past the way Divine carried steaks around town. Even the keeping women in a dungeon, getting them pregnant, and then selling the babies I could stomach because it's so over-the-top anyway. The chicken-fucking scene was uncomfortable, but it was really the incestuous blow-job that got to me. And good god, at the party scene, what one man did with his asshole was absolutely unholy. I shudder to think about it.

In any case, gentle readers, if you want to be thoroughly grossed out to the point of no return, watch mid-night movie classic Pink Flamingos. But don't say I didn't warn you.

Damn krauts! and how I'm coping with racism

Oh my goodness it's my blog! Why, I haven't seen you for many moons! School is 100% to blame. I swore I would never become one of those sad I-don't-like-to-write-because-my teacher-makes-me people, but it sort of started happening. No Bueno.

Updates on the fascinating saga of my life? Let's see here....
I did indeed go to Germany. It wasn't exactly a walk in the park, although ironically there were many physical walks in parks. To summarize, I didn't get along with my host sister at all, and was really quiet and kind of miserable. I tried putting it in perspective with "well, at least I'm not sitting in a pit waiting for a crazy person to make a human-suit out of my flesh...." but it wasn't super effective.

Perhaps it would have been bearable if I could at least have seen some decent films, but all my host sister liked was crap. garbage. awful, disgusting excuses for cinema. I couldn't believe it. Monster-in-Law? Good Luck Chuck?!?! She's the one criticising american culture, and then goes and rents crappy american movies dubbed in german? She also said something totally unforgivable. I can't even type it I'm afraid what it would do to my computer.

Ok, here goes...... *Queue fuzzy screen and backflash music*
.
Host Sister: "What did you think of Good Luck Chuck?"
Me: "Um, it was okay, *struggles to find a not-super-negative comment* kinda predictable I guess"
Host Sister: "Oh, ALL american movies are like that. Hollywood's stupid."
Me: *Soul shrivels to a husk*

Please note the conversation happened in german, so the whole thing was 2.3 times more sinister sounding. The only good thing about that little exchange was it was sooooo wrong it didn't make me feel bad, I just thought she was an idiot.

The truth is I really don't like talking about it, but I've been thinking about it a lot since I went there exactly a year ago. When I got back I was horribly nationalistic and didn't ever want to leave the country again. But I've healed since then! I no longer think all europeans are evil! Huzzah! I still love german grammar, and I want to live in germany at some point. I will find some nice people who don't watch Sex in the City all day and then bash america culture. 'Twill be good.

But enough of this! I won't submit my loyal reader (hi grandma) to my little self-therapy session. Although I should add a footnote of all the really nice people I met. My host parents were amazing, so were most of the teenagers. The cashier in one store actually gave me this whole big book with pictures of germany, so I could see everything, not just schleswig-holstein. And these drunk teenagers thought it was really cool I'm from Colorado because that's where the South Park guy is from! And this girl Wiebke was really nice and spoke slowly to me so I could understand. So 95% of the people were total sweethearts (sweethearts who don't like our gov't, but sweethearts none-the-less), I was just around the not-nice one all the time. I bet if I went back it would be different because Obama's president. (Woo hoo!) Germany totally has a hard-on for him; they went bonkers when he visited Berlin. Totally crazy.

Anyway, that's the low-down on my journey abroad. Maybe I'll make a movie out of it one day. It'll be a dark comedy. I'll get Ang Lee to direct. He's a god, after all.

And foreign! God damn it!

Scenic route home

So I just had my dance recital. Woot woot! The only thing I remember messing up on is one time I ran on too late and I really had to hoof it across the stage. Oh, and I didn't really know my hip hop dance. minor detail. After that we had to drive home at like 11:00pm and we got lost trying to get back. I was driving and mi madre got all nervous because we didn't know where we were so it was pretty exciting for a while there. We got home at midnight, which is too late to do anything other than have an ice cream snack.

Which is what I did.

And I'm kinda bummed because I've had Monsoon Wedding for over a week and I still haven't watched the whole thing! I have about a 1/2 hour left but it took two sittings to watch the first part. I like it and everything, but I always start watching too late and then get tired or something. no good, folks.

Ah well, "so geht das Leben" as the germans say.

My next film conquest will be There Will Be Blood. Yippee!

I just hope those German folks like movies...

It's very sad. I didn't post for six whole months. Oh well. I'll try to write some this summer. I have been watching a lot of movies, though so it's not all bad. I will post this years list as of April in hopes of making me update more.

But first some news:

+Only two more weeks of school! woot woot!
+I'm going to FREAKIN' GERMANY in July!!!!!!! YESSSSSSS! I'll live with a family in Gettorf (near Kiel) for most of July and hab Spass!
+Oh yes, and my AP human geo test is this Friday. Groovy.

so yes. just had to get that out of my system.

JANUARY(19)
Garden State
The Terminator
Charlie Wilson’s War
Shrek the Third
That Thing You Do
Lola rennt
Goodbye Lenin
But I’m a Cheerleader
Happy Endings
A Good Year
French Kiss
The 40-Year-old Virgin
Talk To Me
An Ideal Husband
Hairspray
The History Boys
To Wong Foo: Thanks for Everything
Casanova
Pricilla; Queen of the Desert

FEBRUARY(13)
Juno
I’m Not There
Rebel Without a Cause
Hard Candy
Year of the Dog
Knocked Up
Blow Up
Der krieger und die kaiserin
Two Hands
Bound
Zodiac
Lust, Caution
The Bourne Supremacy

MARCH(16)
No Country for Old Men
October Sky
Superbad
Sin City
Maurice
Human Nature
Maria Full of Grace
Candy
Sommersturm
Coming Out
Driving Lessons
Whole New Thing
The Secret Life of Words
Minority Report
21
The Wind That Shakes the Barley

APRIL(14)
Gia
Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade
Jesus Camp
Dan in Real Life
The Big Easy
Water
Echte kerle
Blue Velvet
Requiem for a Dream
Catch a Fire
Vitus
Bread and Tulips
Lola rennt
Sweeney Todd

My break itinerary

Thanksgiving break! Woot woot! Some people see this break as an opportunity to spend time with loved ones, relax, and eat.

Not I, however.

No no no, this is an opportunity to catch up on my movie-watching. My goal for this year is 200. I don't know if I'll make it. I've seen somewhere in the neighborhood of 165. That's 35ish to go. And I have 42 days. It could happen. Maybe.

Yesterday I rewatched Far From Heaven. DAMN that movie is depressing. But I love the art direction and costumes. It was almost painfully 1950s.
I also recently watched Chasing Amy. As far as Kevin Smith goes, it wasn't as gross as I anticipated. It was actually really sweet.
Speaking of sweet I saw Tsotsi too. I haven't finished it though, I have about 10 minutes left.

So yes. Good times. Next on my agenda is In July, a German film.

It's "the other woman" syndrome

Oh, my dear, dear, sweet blog. Have you missed me? Please don't be angry, it's just that I've been too preoccupied with high school and dancing and sleeping to write about movies. A sad state of affairs, I know.

Actually I have a dirty little secret. I haven't been watching movies that much, this is true, but I have a new interest.

It's called swing dancing.

Not that anything could replace the rush of excitement I get from opening those delightful little red envelopes that deliver entertainment right to my door, but what with dance classes and swing club after school, my movie-watching hours are limited.

I'm trying to put a stop to that, though. It is 4:40 and I'm going to try to squeeze in two movies before the day is over.

That's right, Big Bad Voodoo Daddy, tonight I belong to Kevin Smith and Gavin Hood.

My world makes sense again.