They've taken the Snuggie too far.

I'm sure everyone has seen an infomercial for the Snuggie. "Blankets are OK but they can slip and slide, plus your hands are trapped inside." They're great for college, and you get a free book light! Wow!

But. Now there's a mom-and-baby snuggie. The baby's head sticks through a hole.


Kristen, if enough people get these, no one will need Bugaboos anymore.

Panda

Rediscovered this little gem.





1. Why can you see her underwear?
2. Why does grandma almost not go to her husband's memorial?
3. WHY NOT JUST GET HER A BABYSITTER?
4. Wicked cute panda, annoying girl.
5. Big panda, not so cute. Is he part Jamaican?

I started watching part 2. It's creepy. I stopped watching because I got creeped out.

Muffins/cupcakes.

Heather: Like, if Suffolk and Emerson were muffins, Suffolk would be the bran or corn muffin, and Emerson would be the chocolate chip.
Allison: With--
Heather: Funfetti.
Allison: And the funfetti frosting, you know, with the sprinkles!
Heather: On a muffin?
Allison: It's more like a cupcake.
Heather: With a candle.
Allison: And some glitter.
Molly: But I like corn muffins. I can heat them up and put butter on them.
Heather: Right. They're safe. Kinda boring. Without glitter.
Molly: I like them better.
(Heather and Allison don't say anything for a minute.)
Heather and Allison: But...cupcakes...
Molly: I don't really like frosting.
Heather and Allison: What.

Spring 2009 castle kids: Single Ladies dance

I've lost it.

Words have failed me. I don't know how it happened, or when. All I know is that blank pages used to be empty with possibility and I dreaded them a lot less than I do now. Creativity and promise used to mix with the blood in my veins. Now all that's in there is coffee and some nostalgia combined with the want for European cities and gelato. I think I stopped believing in reality when I was at the castle, because we all were focusing on the present instead of the future. I've never gotten over that. It was a semester of self discovery and perfection that was cut short and ended with sleepiness and impatience in an airport in Detroit. One three month period of clarity that stands out in the years of discomfort and "ugh, shoot me now"s that seem to define specific weeks in Boston. This is the week that everyone is unhappy and everything goes wrong; the last thing I want to concentrate on right now is schoolwork, and the blank pages my papers are supposed to be written on are screaming at me because I haven't started. When I was four, I wanted to be a writer. That continued until I was nineteen, and now I stay away from it as much as I can. I've lost the ability to concentrate. My want for anything un-material is almost gone; I've stopped craving love and friendship and now only want to buy shoes, dresses, television on DVD, and books. Maybe a few more pillows to fall into and rest on. Continuous plane tickets to elsewhere. Everything I want to see and do has a monetary value. Paris for 900, Barcelona for 800, New Zealand for 1300, Dubrovnik for 1000. The dots on Orbitz's website blink in time to the Jason Mraz song softly coming out of my speakers, but don't help. Our name is our virtue.

Castle.

Bored.

I'm kind of bored. I need to travel. I know I'm going to be driving out west at the end of the summer and seeing a lot of the States, but I'm craving Europe. I was there for a week in 2005 and for three months in 2007 and want to go this year to continue my every-two-years streak. Moral of the story: I need a job so I can afford to take a weekend trip to somewhere.

Vampires in Boston?!

No one bullies them...we just want to know why they're vampires.

Hahaha. We had "weird" kids in high school but it was never taken to this level.

California, here we come.

I woke up with the themesong in my head, so I started rewatching the series. I always forget how much I love this show until I start it from the beginning. Even though the first season was the best and the others are on the dramatic side, I still love it. I've spent the day in bed with food and my computer, watching the show. I don't feel like being productive. It's been one of those days. So I'm having a comfort food/tv show day.

Who are you?
Whoever you want me to be.

INFJ

I retook the Jung personality test and got INFJ instead of ISFJ. INFJs are Idealist Counselors, whereas ISFJs are Guardian Protectors. Apparently INFJs are rare.

"Counselors are scarce, little more than one percent of the population, and can be hard to get to know, since they tend not to share their innermost thoughts or their powerful emotional reactions except with their loved ones. They are highly private people, with an unusually rich, complicated inner life. Friends or colleagues who have known them for years may find sides emerging which come as a surprise. Not that Counselors are flighty or scattered; they value their integrity a great deal, but they have mysterious, intricately woven personalities which sometimes puzzle even them.

Counselors tend to work effectively in organizations. They value staff harmony and make every effort to help an organization run smoothly and pleasantly. They understand and use human systems creatively, and are good at consulting and cooperating with others. As employees or employers, Counselors are concerned with people's feelings and are able to act as a barometer of the feelings within the organization.

Blessed with vivid imaginations, Counselors are often seen as the most poetical of all the types, and in fact they use a lot of poetic imagery in their everyday language. Their great talent for language-both written and spoken-is usually directed toward communicating with people in a personalized way. Counselors are highly intuitive and can recognize another's emotions or intentions - good or evil - even before that person is aware of them. Counselors themselves can seldom tell how they came to read others' feelings so keenly. This extreme sensitivity to others could very well be the basis of the Counselor's remarkable ability to experience a whole array of psychic phenomena."

I don't know how true that is. Maybe I'm a mix of both. If that's possible. Because I'm not great at communicating.

Wait.

Tendency to hold back part of themselves

Not good with money or practical day-to-day life necessities

Extreme dislike of conflict and criticism

Have very high expectations for themselves and others (both a strength and weakness)

...yes.

Je t'aime.

I can't wait until it's warm and I can go home and just sit on a beach. And get good ice cream for $3.

CHALLENGE

I'm going to see how long I can go without wearing pants. Why? No specific reason. Social experiment and a test of my wardrobe. Skirts, dresses, shorts, leggings are all fair game. Possibly capris. But no pants, except sweatpants to sleep in. Allison and I were discussing (birthday) party themes and decided we need to have a "No pants, 80s music and ice cream" party, so maybe that could be the end of the no pants challenge. That'd be nearly a month without pants. I think I can do it. I need more black leggings, though. Those are a staple.

Yesterday's outfit: pink shirt, black mini skirt, blue tights. I forgot to take a picture but was in Jenn's photo project, so I'll steal one of hers once she develops them.

More reality TV.

From here:

Season 23 of The Real World on MTV is now having casting calls throughout America after kicking it off in Philly, Austin, & Minneapolis the last weekend of February.

Real World 23 will film later in 2009 after the currently filming Real World Cancun, the 22nd season, wraps by the summer.

The types of people between 18 and 24 years old most sought after for Real World number 23:

• Physically challenged or handicapped
• Obese or struggling with weight issues
• Going through the immigrant-to-citizenship process themselves or an immediate family member
• Was adopted via the foster-care system
• Grieving over the loss of a spouse or significant other
• Deeply passionate about a cause or social issue

And from here:

Jon Murray of Bunim-Murray Productions told The Hollywood Reporter that the 22nd season of the The Real World has already started in Cancun Mexico.

This has no direct relation to The Real Cancun movie although filmed by same Bunim-Murray production company back in 2003 and incidentally lost approximately $2,000,000 at the box office.

The Real World Cancun “house” will be the ME Cancun Resort located at Boulevard Kukulkan, km. 12.

The Real World Cancun cast will work with the spring break company StudentCity.com to serve as guides for visiting college students.

StudentCity.com is based out of the Boston area and I myself worked directly with the Executive Vice President Jacqui Lewis in Cancun back in 2001.

In 2001 I saw that StudentCity and MTV were forming a collaboration for Spring Break events and shortly after I started the MM Agency for the Real World cast members.

I am sure Jacqui will be working with the Real World Cancun cast members and have them ready to deal with the drama once college Spring Break hits in March and the high schoolers in April.

Real World co-creator Jonathan Murray even told The Hollywood Reporter, “They’re going to help give people a safe and fun vacation. They also might have to bail somebody out of a Mexican jail, stuff like that.”

Looks like The Brooklyn Real World was only a short respite back to the olden days of the show and the Cancun season will usher back the Las Vegas drinking and hookup drama era.

I probably should have posted those in the opposite order, but you get the idea. MTV used to be more about music, as well as opening people's minds and attempting to educate their target audience (okay, it also had spring break specials, but the advertisements celebrating queerness in the 1990s and things like Choose or Lose, I think, helped to counter spring break specials), and now it's become ridiculous. The Real World used to showcase "different" kinds of people (queers, mostly...that's all I seem to focus on anymore) in order for people to learn about them, but the Cancun season seems wicked trashy. Maybe they're going to try to get back to what it was with S23, but...I don't know.

ANOTHER shot at love.

From MTVrealityworld.com:

After two shots with Tila Tequila and one double shot with the Ikki Twins MTV has decided to bring back it’s hit bisexual dating show, A Shot At Love, for a fourth season.

According to the casting page, MTV is “scouring the country once more in search of the most eligible, alluring, outrageous and adventurous men and women” to see if they “have what it takes to hold the key to our brand new bachlorette’s heart.”

Wait a minute…. brand new bachlorette? I would’ve put money on Rikki coming back for a second season without her twin sister Vikki.

I guess we’ll have to wait and see. In the meantime, if you want to try out for the show you can go to http://shotatlovecasting.com/ or http://www.gotcast.com/casting-calls/MTVs-A-Shot-at-Love-4/53666

What's the twist this time? In S1, the contestants didn't know Tila was bisexual at first. In S3, they didn't know that there were twins until after the first elimination. Who are they going to get to be the "brand new bachlorette?" A Playboy Bunny? A celebrity? Unless they come up with an amazing new girl (...maybe a guy instead? FRATERNAL TWINS, one female, one male, both bisexual? Celebrity twins? Triplets? Oh, the possibilities are endless), the shock value of the show is going to disappear. Just one more reality dating show that will bring MTV another step closer to VH1's trash factor. But I will probably still watch it.

Queer

One of Allison's friends has started using the term "Gays and Friends" instead of "the LGBT(Q) community" because it's easier to remember and easier to say (three syllables as opposed to nine). I'm writing my paper proposal for Queer Film and Video and I had to stop myself from writing "gays and friends" because it almost slipped out.

Also, we watched Survivor in TV class yesterday and when I came home, I told Molly that there should be an all queer cast one season, and she started talking about how you could separate the people, that transgenders could be in the middle, and then started talking about how all the people should be black (keep in mind that Molly is pale with freckles and red hair...and she somehow slipped into a weird Southern accent while talking) and that it'd be an island full of different sexualities and religions. "We could call it" (big sweeping hand gesture) "AFRICA!"


"They like both sides!"
"What? That's what a bisexual is, Molly. Not a transgender."
"No, that's not what I meant! They understand both sides. So they could be in the middle."

"You'd have the African American Africans and then the Native American Africans and then the Muslims...and the Native Africans. Hm. What could we call them?"
"Africans?"

"And they'd all be black!"
"Molly, go back into your room and shut the door and let me finish watching I Love Money 2."

This is what I'm doing instead of doing homework.

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/JTypes2.asp

I'm an ISFJ: Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Judging. Some of the things written about ISFJs are completely wrong but a lot of them are scarily correct. Like, from this site:

~ISFJs live in a world that is concrete and kind. They are truly warm and kind-hearted, and want to believe the best of people. They value harmony and cooperation, and are likely to be very sensitive to other people's feelings.

~ISFJs need positive feedback from others. In the absence of positive feedback, or in the face of criticism, the ISFJ gets discouraged, and may even become depressed. When down on themselves or under great stress, the ISFJ begins to imagine all of the things that might go critically wrong in their life. They have strong feelings of inadequacy, and become convinced that "everything is all wrong", or "I can't do anything right". (Also, if you don't respond to me, I'll flip out. It doesn't say that, but I will.)

~The ISFJ is warm, generous, and dependable. They have many special gifts to offer, in their sensitivity to others, and their strong ability to keep things running smoothly. They need to remember to not be overly critical of themselves, and to give themselves some of the warmth and love which they freely dispense to others.

~ISFJs generally have the following traits:

Large, rich inner store of information which they gather about people (...I'm a computer!)

Highly observant and aware of people's feelings and reactions

Excellent memory for details which are important to them

Dislike doing things which don't make sense to them

Value security, tradition, and peaceful living

Kind and considerate

Likely to put others' needs above their own

Learn best with hands-on training

Extremely uncomfortable with conflict and confrontation

Another site said: Admittedly, the problem is sometimes aggravated by the ISFJs themselves; for instance, they are notoriously bad at delegating ("If you want it done right, do it yourself").Because of all of this, ISFJs are often overworked, and as a result may suffer from psychosomatic illnesses and that a fictional ISFJ is Ophelia.

...great!

Drinks

Jenn linked me to The Secret Language of Cocktails.

"Margarita: All of your relationships have either begun or ended at a wet t-shirt contest."

Complete opposite of my life, but it made me laugh.

"Heather, if you have to ask, I don't know if I can explain it to you."

1. Fast & Furious.

That's right. Not The Fast and the Furious. Fast & Furious. "New Model. Original Parts." According to the IMDB page, the main actors are the same. I don't really understand. There are three The Fast and the Furious movies. So they made a similar one and took the "the"s out of the title? WHY? Why make ANOTHER F&F movie? And why give it a title that's so similar to the first?

2. Old Navy commercials.

Especially this one.


It's supposed to be a family friendly store. Old Navy sells everything from baby clothing to adult clothing. Maybe it's just me, but I don't think that's an appropriate commercial for the Old Navy market. (I think it's funny, but...I don't know.)

3. Portia de Rossi.

She's great. Paid For By Married Gay People Who Are Sorry.

4. Shameless plug.

Leanne Marshall, the winner of the last season of Project Runway, is coming to Emerson on Wednesday. She'll be speaking at 8 pm in the Bordy.

5. Model.

Today and yesterday were our photoshoots for Emerson's Next Top Model. I'm secretary of the Society and acted as Photoshoot Coordinator (I'm still mad I didn't get a clipboard!), and the shoots went really well. We have to go through all the photos tomorrow and select each girl's best photo from each shoot. Twelve girls, twelve to fifteen shots per shoot, five shoots. That's too much math for me. I go to Emerson. We don't do math. But that's a lot of freaking pictures.

1. Purse in the background.
2. Can't rip the folder.





Baby big cats!



MY FAVORITE KIND OF DOG.

Hm.

Today was weird. Watched kind of an odd movie in the first class, had a discussion that made me feel weird in the second (plus someone in the class doesn't value other opinions and I had to hold my friend back from punching said person in the face), then went to a meeting about LA, which is weird. And then hours of Fashion Society stuff.

I don't know.

I never want to end up like this.

This guy owns 500 cats. He has his own ranch. Of cats. A thirty acre ranch. There are cat sized buildings. A town hall, a church, a guard shack, an inn (cabins around a giant puddle that acts as a lake) and a Wal-Mart. FOR CATS. HE HAS 500 CATS.

I don't know how I feel about this. Allison showed me the website and I couldn't speak in complete sentences. I'm kind of in shock. I understand being lonely after your son moves out, but really? Five hundred? With a Wal-Mart? What's inside the Wal-Mart? Can the cats shop? Do they have shopping carts?

I want a tiger but I don't want a tiger sized Wal-Mart.

Luck and intuition play the cards with Spades to start

For the final Video Field project, my group is doing a short narrative about high school zombies. Possibly with vampires.



I think I'm going to end up being one of those people that completely loses touch with reality and thinks she's in a fantasy world and ends up in a psych ward.

There was a little bit of drama, but other than that, the week is off to a good start.

Paper #1:


Paper #2:






Additionally, my friend Sarah has the same Media Criticism and Theory professor I had last semester (I have the professor this semester, too, and that's the class paper #1 was for), and today she told me that he used my Textual Analysis paper as an example and talked about it to their class a few times. Plus, I have an idea for my historical analysis final paper for QF&V and had it approved and now I just have to write the 1500 word proposal.



Studying for the stupid Video Field Production quiz is not allowing me to work on things I actually want to work on. I had classes from 2-6pm, Fashion Society stuff from 6-11pm, I just had a giant mug of apple tea and now I get to study for field. WHICH I DON'T WANT TO DO.

Oh, RuPaul.

Daily News (New York)
January 12, 2009 Monday
SPORTS FINAL EDITION
RUPAUL TAKES A HEAD SHOT AT TYRA

BYLINE: BY CRISTINA KINON

SECTION: TELEVISION; Pg. 75

LENGTH: 407 words

LOS ANGELES - Famed drag queen RuPaul is returning to television with a new reality competition show for Logo.

"RuPaul's Drag Race," a competition to find the best drag queen, premieres Feb. 2 on Logo, a network aiming to reach gays and lesbians.

Make no mistake, RuPaul told TV writers here, the show is not inspired by Tyra Bank's "America's Next Top Model."

"She learned everything from me," RuPaul said. "I let her borrow all my used wigs."

Ouch.

Hahahaha.

I'm trying to decide if I want to use "RuPaul's Drag Race" or "A Double Shot at Love" for my final Queer Film and Video paper. I'm analyzing a reality show because I plan on using the paper as a starting point for my thesis (plus I'm using The L Word for the final paper for Long Live TV), but I'm not sure which show would be better to do a historical reception and textual analysis for. Thoughts/suggestions? EDIT: Nevermind, new idea.

You'll be with me, like a handprint on my heart