...In which our heroine has little bits.

...Of movie stuff from all over.

First is the trailer for Nine. Normally, a musical, especially a musical directed by the same guy who did Chicago would make me run the other way, the vomit. But there's one reason I'm excited for this: Daniel Day-Lewis, oh how I love thee. The supporting cast is excellent except for Fergie, who couldn't even die with grace in Planet Terror. It looks interesting:

Then I got this thing of beauty in the mail today:

Normally $90, I got it for $35 on Amazon. For that I got 2-disc editions of The Shining, 2001: A Space Odyssey, A Clockwork Orange, Full Metal Jacket, and Eyes Wide Shut. Kubrick is one of my favorite directors and his films are visual treats - I'm especially excited to watched the European cut of Eyes Wide Shut, a movie I don't really like, but I think is stunningly beautiful.

My list of summer movies to see: Drag Me to Hell, Away We Go, The Hangover, Moon, Food Inc., Public Enemies, Bruno, I Love You Beth Cooper, 500 Days of Summer, Funny People, Taking Woodstock, Paper Heart, The Boat that Rocked, Extract, and most epically of all, Inglourious Basterds. This is in addition to the 86 movies in my Netflix queue. 

The Cannes Film Festival is this weekend and all I can say is le drool. New films from Quentin Tarantino, Jane Campion, Ang Lee, Isabel Coxiet, Lars von Trier, Terry Gilliam, and Sam Raimi. Columbia has sent students to Cannes before, and it's one of my dreams. I wanna go! *stomps like a four year old.*

And on a personal note - my final film is fin! We finished yesterday and I'm really happy with it, editing be damned. Hopefully I'll be able to post it as well as my second project and show you folks that I actually do stuff in clown college. 

...In which our heroine has a record for the year.

Around this time last year, I made a playlist of all of the songs that were the soundtrack to high school. Of course being the completist/nostalgist that I am, I had to do the same for this year. We cleaned the apartment out last night which was a much sadder task than anticipated, but my awesome Motown playlist helped.

There's 130 songs on the list, and there's a 130 I'm forgetting. A lot of these songs are representative of full albums – In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Feed the Animals, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, Led Zeppelin IV, In Rainbows, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, A Ghost is Born, Frank's Wild Years, Person Pitch, Merriweather Post Pavilion, You Forgot it in People, Electric Warrior – but then the list would be ridiculously long.

A lot of these songs are too hard to listen to right now, but I think that'll get better. Even though they make me sad for the moment, they are all sonic memories of a year well spent, more or less. They are all moments that I can archive with a single song, hoping that I can hold on to the memory attached.

Without further explanation, here's the list of songs that I laughed, cried, slept, played cards, argued, had sex, built forts, made out, drank, cuddled, sang on trains, smoked, had adventures, ate, cooked, met people, lost people, made connections, got infatuated, fell in love, hated, studied, wrote, wasted time, and grew up to in my freshman year of college.

Can't Get Enough of Your Love – The Afghan Whigs
In Memory of Elizabeth Reed – The Allman Brothers Band
The Purple Bottle, Banshee Beat, Bluish, My Girls, For Reverend Green, Lion in a Coma, No More Runnin – Animal Collective
I Say A Little Prayer for You – Aretha Franklin
My Body is a Cage – Arcade Fire
God Only Knows, Feel Flows – The Beach Boys
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Dear Prudence, Blackbird, Rocky Raccoon, Penny Lane, With a Little Help from My Friends – The Beatles
E-Pro – Beck
Thirteen – Big Star
It's Oh So Quiet, All is Full of Love – Bjork
Your Touch – The Black Keys
Sweet Leaf – Black Sabbath
No Woman, No Cry, Exodus – Bob Marley
Skinny Love – Bon Iver
Landlocked Blues, Lover I Don't Have to Love – Bright Eyes
7/4 Shoreline, Lover's Spit, I'm Still Your Fag, Anthems for a Seventeen Year Old Girl – Broken Social Scene
Video Killed the Radio Star – The Buggles
Lovefool – The Cardigans
Sea of Love – Cat Power
Johnny B. Goode – Chuck Berry
Everyday is Like Sunday – Colin Meloy
Suite: Judy Blue Eyes – CSNY
Fascination Street, Just Like Heaven, Same Deep Water as You, Disintegration – The Cure
Touch It, Technologic, Television Rules the Nation – Daft Punk
Woof Woof – Dan Deacon
Changes, Space Oddity, Suffragette City – David Bowie
What Sarah Said – Death Cab for Cutie
O Valenica, Here I Dreamt I Was an Architect, The Mariner's Revenge Song- The Decemberists
Sludgefeast – Dinosaur Jr.
The Cover of the Rolling Stone – Dr. Hook
Miss Misery, Thirteen – Elliot Smith
Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man – Elton John
White Winter Hymnal – Fleet Foxes
Like This – Girl Talk
Apology Accepted – The Go-Betweens
Cry – Godley and Creme
Album of the Year – The Good Life
Mockingbirds – Grant Lee Buffalo
Glad Girls – Guided by Voices
Higher and Higher – Jackie Wilson
ABC – Jackson 5
Acid Tongue, Rabbit Fur Coat – Jenny Lewis
Do You Wanna Touch Me? - Joan Jett
25 Minutes to Go, Folsom Prison Blues, Jackson – Johnny Cash
Wuthering Heights – Kate Bush
There She Goes – The La's
Good Times Bad Times, The Battle of Evermore, Dazed and Confused, Whole Lotta Love, That's the Way, Tangerine, Kashmir, Misty Mountain Hop – Led Zeppelin
Do You Believe in Magic? - The Lovin' Spoonful
Paper Planes – MIA
Heatwave – Martha and the Vandellas
I Heard it Through the Grapevine – Marvin Gaye
Angel – Massive Attack
Master of Puppets – Metallica
Beat It, PYT – Michael Jackson
Cowboy Dan, Gravity Rides Everything, Doin' the Cockroach, Tiny Cities Made of Ashes – Modest Mouse
Mahgeetah, Golden, One Big Holiday – My Morning Jacket
Fake Empire – The National
After the Gold Rush, Cortez the Killer, Cowgirl in the Sand, Like a Hurricane, Old Man, Ohio, Everybody Knows This is Nowhere – Neil Young
Buffalo Stance – Neneh Cherry
Holland, 1945, In the Aeroplane Over the Sea, Oh Comely – Neutral Milk Hotel
The Man Who Sold the World, About a Girl – Nirvana
Comfy in Nautica, I'm Not, Carrots/Good Girl – Panda Bear
Shine on You Crazy Diamond – Pink Floyd
Street Spirit, 15 Step, Nude, Idioteque – Radiohead
Kiss Me on the Bus – The Replacements
Beeswing – Richard Thompson
Portions for Foxes – Rilo Kiley
Under my Thumb, Wild Horses – Rolling Stones
Then He Kissed Me – The Ronettes
All I Want is You – Roxy Music
Kenya Dig It? - Ruby Suns
A Change is Gonna Come – Sam Cooke
America, Cecilia – Simon and Garfunkel
1979 – The Smashing Pumpkins
Mambo Sun, Jeepster, Monolith – T. Rex
Marquee Moon – Television
The Eraser – Thom Yorke
Goin' Out West, I Don't Wanna Grow Up, Hang on St. Christopher, Hang Down Your Head – Tom Waits
Ball and Biscuit, Dead Leaves and the Dirty Ground – The White Stripes
Reservations, Jesus Etc., Radio Cure, Spiders (Kidsmoke), I'm the Man Who Loves You, California Stars, The Late Greats, Handshake Drugs - Wilco

...In which our heroine is getting it all together.

Five days left in my freshman year of college. My final film is pretty much edited, so that leaves me with a paper and a final, and that's it. I've been cleaning clothes out, starting to pack a little, all that fun stuff. Everything ends, blah. Goodbyes suck, always.

Lots of stupid drama is ongoing. The same thing happened last year - it's like everyone realizes they don't have to see each other anymore and suddenly all the real feelings and old issues come out. It sucks, but in some ways I think it helps as far as finding out who you want to be, who you want to hang out with.

I bought my 2-day pass for the Pitchfork Music Festival. Accompanying me will be everyone's favorite iconoclast, AshleyAnn. Lollapalooza kinda sucks this summer, so Pitchfork is a good alternative for my festival urges. 

Manifest is Friday which should be a good time. I'm helping Emily move this weekend which should also be a good time, when it's all done that is. Job hunting continues, the tally now stands at 9. I'm going to campus employment tomorrow to try for something because I've been threatened with Bob's if I can't find a job here. 

And then, there's this, titled only #4:

...In which our heroine is puzzled.

I have an interesting best friend. She is as clever and arty as they come, and I mean this in a completely positive way. She sees the world unlike anyone else I have ever known, and I am all the better for it, lonely fire hydrants in all.

Her latest project is this, which I got in the mail yesterday:

Apparently, it is a riddle of some kind for me to figure out. It reminds me so of Amelie, which means I am thrilled and excited to put the pieces together. I have a feeling this will not be so easily solved, but the fun will be in the finding.

On an aside, I've now applied to SEVEN places and ZERO have called me back. Honestly, I'm just a girl trying to find an honest living in the big city, gimme a break.

...In which our heroine has a new crush.

I just added Mad Men to my Netflix queue, for two reasons mainly. Yeah, so it's critically acclaimed and all that madness, and inspired one of my scripts although I've never seen it.

The reasons would be these two:

I want the body of Christina Hendricks. She is fantastically curvy and those boobs - I'm so jealous! And she was on Firefly. Oh and then there's Jon Hamm who is the definition of tall, dark, and handsome. He was hilarious on 30 Rock.  And the show is set in the '60s. I am so sold.

Christina gets another picture, because she is stupid gorgeous. 

...In which our heroine wishes a happy birthday.

Happy Birthday, Katydid in the City! You're a whole year old today. Go celebrate, blog-style, whatever that may be.

...In which our heroine parties.

I do not go to a typical college. There are not Greek keggers every weekend - it's a dry campus. So for one to find a party, you must go elsewhere. This is what I did last night.

Taylor lives in Wrigleyville and has thrown some epic parties this year. Last night was "Glow in the Dark II." Black lights, lasers, smoke, and DJs: this was not a high school party. It's still weird to me to go places where alcohol is just available and I don't have to work to get it. I still feel very little in those situations. Honestly, I don't drink much and last night was the first time since December probably that I had liquor, Jello shots to be exact. I don't really enjoy drinking that much but every once in a great while, I enjoy it. Blame Popov vodka in high school for that mentality.

Anyway, to the point of this. I always feel like an impostor, like I'm not cool enough, old enough, know enough people to be at said parties. Emily went with me which was awesome, we danced the night away. I just don't get the whole party attitude. Get drunk, dance with a stranger, and hook up with them. I felt trashy just being a part of it, being hit on by strange guys and dancing with them, I dunno. It just never has felt right to me. I know, it's the normal thing to do but it all seems so artificial. But don't get me wrong, I had a great time last night doing the "normal" college thing, it was a nice change of pace.

Shooting was fantastic today. The actors were very professional and gave great performances. I don't really want to be a director, but I think I'm pretty decent at it, at least so far. Working with actors is a whole challenge in and of itself, but it's a pretty fun one. 

A busy few days and more to come as the semester ends. Tonight, sleep and Synecdoche, New York.