My kryptonite

Revised Favorite Movies of 2007

So I've had Once at home for a couple of weeks and kept meaning to see it.  Days, weeks would go by and I kept telling myself to see it.  Watching the Oscars on Sunday and I see the performance of "Falling Slowly" from the film and the speech from the winners and decided right then and there that I needed to see it once the ceremony was done.

Best decision ever.

I LOVED this film.  I'm going to run out and buy it, put it on whenever I need to smile and feel good.  It isn't a terribly complicated film ... hell, the dialogue is something I could have written over a weekend.  But the amazing feeling you get from the songs and the effortlessness of the chemistry between the two main characters and how you care about them so deeply just got to me.  You root for them all the way because you see straight into their souls.

I couldn't recommend this film higher.  I could say the same for There Will Be Blood, but some people would rather see Witless Protection.  If you don't like Once though ... may God have mercy on your soul.

New top 11:

11.  Juno

10.  The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

9.  The Darjeeling Limited

8.  The Bourne Ultimatum

7.  Michael Clayton

6.  Hot Fuzz

5.  Zodiac

4.  The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

3.  Once

1B.  No Country For Old Men

1A.  There Will Be Blood

Oral

Argument

What sadistic person thought it was right to schedule my practice round for my appellate argument @ 8:15 in the morning?!? That and I had to go FIRST. Luckily they took my general lack of caring and preparation as a sign of confidence and said I was the the smoothest and least nervous of anyone who has gone. Love it.

They also recorded it and I'm supposed to give myself a critique to be turned in tomorrow. Thats not happening. There is NO WAY IN HELL I am watching myself argue at a podium that early in the morning on my computer tonight. Is there any way you can destroy a .mov file in a fire? I'm all ears.

Randoms:

- Though the coffee in the Court Cafe (coffee shop in the law school - cute huh?) isn't too bad, I miss good SF coffee. I would pay a dear sum of money for Martha & Bros coffee, or kill a hobo with a tire iron for a cup of Blue Bottle. I've become a mean person in law school huh?

- My parents are coming into town this weekend and I'm honestly really excited. I want them to see where I live, where I spend my days and let them know that I'm doing ok here. But its just a bit of worlds colliding. You see, sometimes I have no idea how I got here, how these people I hang out with became my friends and why I continue to lead the social life that I do. Had friends over for dinner on Sunday - just got pizza from the best pizza place in town that no one knows about because its in an artsy fartsy farmers market - and while everyone was talking my mind began to wander and think about how the hell I came to call these people friends. Not that I don't like them - I generally think they're pretty cool - but its just become about who got to whom first really. And these are the people I will introduce to my parents as my "friends" on Friday. Maybe thats how we're friends with everyone we know ... someone just got to someone first, sat next to someone in a class, lived next to them in the dorms, met at a Eugene Emeralds minor league game before classes started ... makes you think that you and your friends aren't the unique and special snowflakes that we all wish we were. Wow, this blog post took a wrong turn.

- I wish I had more funny stories about zombie hobo spiders or reviews of shockingly bad movies ... but my life has turned to school, worrying about work, worrying about other things, playing Spades at lunch on Wednesdays, football practice, attempt to sleep. Now that I have this whole blogging thing down again though, maybe I'll start remembering more hilarious anecdotes. Alas, I am dry for now.

Pathetically, finally, back

Damn I'm a slacker.  For serious.  I have nothing to say as to why it took me so long to post again.  Nothing.

On with the show.

I know everyone is dying to see my list for top 11 movies of 2007.  Dying.  I actually attempted to do this two weeks ago ... have a nice write-up on each movie ... but blogger got all uppity and hated my post.  Maybe it didn't like There Will Be Blood as much as I did.  Anyway, here is my list:

11.  Superbad

10.  Juno

9.  The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

8.  The Darjeeling Limited

7.  The Bourne Ultimatum

6.  Michael Clayton

5.  Hot Fuzz

4.  Zodiac

3.  The Diving Bell and the Butterfly

2.  No Country For Old Men

1.  There Will Be Blood

Not much needs to be said about any of these ... my fav directors (Fincher, PT Anderson, Wes Anderson, Coens, Wright) all came out like gangbusters this year.  This might shape up to be the best year for film since 1999, my current pick for best movie year of my lifetime (Fight Club, The Matrix, American Beauty, Talented Mr. Ripley, Toy Story 2, The Iron Giant, Star Wars, The Insider, Magnolia, The Sixth Sense, Being John Malkovich, Election, South Park - seriously, look at that list ... its amazing).

One thing - I want to recommend to everyone as much as I possibly could to see Diving Bell.  If its in a theater now, run out and see it.  Once its out on DVD, rent it.  Its a beautiful, touching, funny and incredibly smart film.  How can you make a film from the point of a view of a paralyzed man who can only communicate to the world through his left eye?  I have no idea - but Julian Schnabel found out how.  Amazing.

Other news and notes since my return to blogging, law school, etc:

 - Now, why did I go to law school again?  It can't be for my LRW (legal research & writing) class, because I hate that class like poison and am coming up with new and unique ways to get away with murdering my professor.  If someone could hide the ball more (warning - law school lingo!), I'd like to see it.  And running into him at the corner store after powderpuff practice on Saturday was just awesome.

 - Oh, so I'm helping to coach the 1L powderpuff team against the team of the 2/3Ls.  The game is on Saturday and I'm worried.  Our defense is ready and primed.  Our offense cannot get out its own way.  Its the '85 Bears defense paired with the Cal Bears offense with Joe Ayoob at QB.  Yikes.

 - Its actually sunny during the day here and effing cold at night.  I basically don't know how to dress other than hooded sweatshirts and North Face jackets.  Its the Oregon uniform basically.  I need more personal style.

Quick story to demonstrate how awesome my life is.  Two weeks ago I go see Diving Bell (awesome) and then head to a great bar called The Bier Stein not too far away.  500+ beers in bottles, sweetness.  Get there, grab some grub, have 2 beers ... large group of friends walk in, even better.  Everyone drinking, my buddy Brady yells across the bar "Nick!  I just had a Sparks ... its going to be a loud one tonight!"  Beauty.  The bar closes early, its only real flaw.

We head to Max's, the so-called inspiration for Moe's tavern on The Simpsons.  (SIDE BAR - seriously, its Moe's.  for reals.  apparently, the basis for Springfield is Eugene ... and Eugene's sister city, Springfield - or Springtucky as the locals call it - is Shelbyville.  hey, its what I heard)  Get to Max's ... packed.  

Somehow, someway, I start chatting up this cute blonde.  Undergrad, funny, immediately likeable.  Brady joins in.  I start to talk to her friend ... brunette, Australian exchange to the law school.  Roommates.  She's named after one of my fav Fleetwood Mac songs.  I tell her this - brownie points big time.  And no one else knows how to pronounce her name.  More points for me.  Two hours fly, just the four of us talking.  I'm definitely talking to the blonde.  

Big group decides its time to dance.  We concur.  First club sucks, leave immediately.  Second club much better, dancing starts.  Brady and I head to the bar to get drinks.  "Which one you want?"  "Uh, I've been talking to the blonde the whole time and she's cool ... but I have a thing for brunettes and love the accent and know how to say her name ... Brady, you take the blonde." "Ok sir, your call."

Dancing, she's continuing to drink.  I've stopped since I'm driving.  Brady and his lady are on the other side of the floor.  "Hey Nick" "Yeah" "I should be celebrating."  "Why?"  "Because my asshole boyfriend in Australia finally bought a ticket today to come out and see me."  "You should celebrate ... I'm getting a drink."

I didn't, don't worry.  Club closes, head out to get food @ 3:15 a.m.  Conversation good, Brady with his lady.  Home @ 4.  Brady and the one I traded away are now dating.  I say hi to my girl with a bf in the halls, chit chat.

Another Friday night in Eugene for Nick.

My New Home

Go Bears!

I'm leaving for Portland in about an hour and then tomorrow morning Ke, Alan, Liz and I are all heading to Seattle to see USC kick some Husky ass (and UDub is going to be wearing throwback uniforms tomorrow to celebrate their 1961 Rose Bowl team ... I am such a nerd that this fact has me even more excited for the game!). From the weather reports it is going to be in the high 40s/low 50s in Seattle tomorrow night with a chance of rain. Sweet.

But just to let you Bears fans know, it is POURING in Eugene right now. Since Autzen has turf it won't be muddy, but weather could definitely be a factor. It could get slippery tomorrow.

So now here is my plea ... PLEASE beat the Ducks tomorrow. The amount of Ducks talk going on around here in the last week has been nearly unbearable. They won't shut up. Yeah yeah, they probably have every right to ... they've looked pretty damn good this season so far. I think my hatred of the Ducks teams begins and ends with this man ...
I can't STAND Mike Bellotti. I think he's terribly overrated as a coach, a huge douchebag, a cheater, dirty recruiter and I think a Republican too. I have no idea about that last thing, but hell, I'm throwing it in there. I'm sad that I'm missing a HUGE game here at Autzen with Gameday showing up and most of my friends here planning on tailgating from about 5:30 a.m. But we've had the tickets to the Washington game for a while and I need to see the boys play badly or I might die. It could happen, you never know.

One last thing: I normally wear something USC on Fridays. Usually its just my black track jacket that I live in (I LOVE that thing) or a polo. Basically its the only time I wear gameday clothing. Today I wore my Berkeley shirt and got a LOT of shit for it. It was beautiful. Why do I love being so contrary and pissing people off so much? One guy was appalled, not that he hated Cal or anything, but he compared it to an Ohio State fan wearing a Michigan shirt. Close, but not quite. Hey, USC is #1 in my heart no doubt, and though there are few teams I want to beat more than Cal (teams from Westwood and South Bend come to mind) ... I gotta say Cal is my #2 team, even above where I'm attending law school.

Fight On!!! Beat the Huskies!!!
Go Bears!!! Beat the Ducks!!!

Nick v. Spider II: The Revenge

I have to tell this story because frankly, it scared the crap out of me.

Background: Eugene might be the spider capital of the world. I’m serious. Just about every place I’ve been to is infested like that house from Arachnophobia. Its actually insane. And as everyone knows I have a very acute and serious fear of spiders. They freak the hell out of me. So knowing that I live with spiders (I’ve seen too many to count in my apartment) and knowing that the new place I am moving to might actually be worse (we don’t go through the front door because the alleyway is COVERED with webs) gives me panic attacks. The only spider that I don’t hate is the one that lives right near my carport – I’ve named him Charlie and he’s huge and has been hanging out in the same place since the day I moved in. We’re cool.

My first run-in with the dreaded Hobo Spider was about three weeks ago. The Hobo Spider (the ugly MF at the top of this post) lives predominantly in the Northwest and is the third most poisonous spider in North America (behind the black widow and brown recluse). I was sitting on my bed, folding clothes when I felt a tickle around my wrist. I turned my forearm around to see what it was and that thing CRAWLED UP MY WARM WITH LIGHTNING SPEED. Ancient, guttural sounds came out of my mouth as I waved my arms frantically around, throwing him on the floor. I ran to the bathroom to grab tissues to kill the beast (for those who think its mean or wrong to kill the spider, well, I don’t care what you think). First I had to stare at the guy for a bit to lock his features into my brain so I could look up on Wikipedia later – you know, just to make sure he was in fact the Hobo I’d been warned about. It took me THREE attempts to kill him … he darted around like Reggie Bush against Fresno State until I finally got him. And that was the last time I saw a Hobo in my apartment …

Until yesterday morning. I had just gotten back from the gym and was going to make myself a protein shake. My blender was soaking in the sink from the shake made the day before, filled to the top with soapy water. As I reached my hand in to pull the blender out, I noticed ANOTHER Hobo Spider just hanging out in the sink. Actually, when I put my hand in he started running around – if he would have stayed still I might not have seen him (my eyesight is that of a Tyrannosaurus Rex apparently). But he did move, and I thought, well, I have a giant blender full of soapy water in my hand … I’m gonna drown the bastard. So I pour about half of the contents directly onto the spider and he curls into a ball, dead. I start to run the water to flush him down the drain and as his limp little body starts to head down the drain he POPS BACK UP AND STARTS TO RUN AWAY FROM THE DRAIN …

Do you understand what I’m dealing with here now? I’m dealing with a …

ZOMBIE HOBO SPIDER!!!!

He was DEAD I tell you. DEAD. But apparently spiders in Oregon have made some pact with Lucifer to not die when having 3 cups of water directly poured onto them. Immediately I spring into action – I turn on the garbage disposal, thus turning my sink into a de-facto Sarlacc pit, pour the rest of the water onto the spider and watch him slowly get pushed down the drain to his death. No zombie spider is going to survive that.

And I was right, he was dead this time. Well, at least he didn’t come back up after a minute (I waited).

So this is just a warning: if you ever decide to come to Oregon to visit, know that undead spiders may be roaming around attempting to eat your brain. It’s a fact.