I am writing from the Omaha’s Eppley airport, where my plane is currently delayed an hour. I’m flying to Florida for the weekend. I am very excited to be in warm weather, though I’ve gotten fairly attached to my rotation of scarves, so they will be missed. I am also looking forward to seeing family and relaxing.

In other good news, a film studies class that I proposed looks like it’s going to be a go for the upcoming semester. I hope I’m not jinxing it by writing before it’s official, but things are looking good. I’ve always wanted to teach a film critical studies course and be able to choose which films to screen and what topics, theories and genres to cover, so this is really exciting for me. Especially since most of my students won’t have seen any of the films before, and hopefully will be exposed to some interesting stuff that they wouldn’t normally seek out themselves and give them a greater appreciation for the art form.

Oh, and an article I wrote on Slumber Party Records for The Reader comes out today. I wasn’t able to pick up a copy, so I hope someone can pick up a copy for me to see when I return. Maybe I’ll check around in the airport for one, now that I think about it. It should also be up on their site sometime soon.

I really want to visit Sweden. Or move there.

Today (technically yesterday now) I bought a book titled Screenwriters’ Masterclass by Kevin Conroy Scott from Borders. I had two coupons and I think it was a great purchase. I’m hoping that it will inspire me to start doing the one thing I haven’t done that I really planned to do here in Omaha: write a script. Not come up with an idea or write an outline or write 15 pages and abandon it, but finish the whole thing. 112 pages. Or 107. Either one of those is a good number.

So the book is a compilation of interviews the author conducted with writers, discussing one particular work of theirs, plus the whole writing process and other fun stuff. He’s chosen a diverse and talented group of screenwriters, including Lukas Moodyson, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Lisa Cholodenko, David O. Russell, Michael Haneke, Wes Anderson, Chris Weitz, Scott Frank, Guillermo Arriaga, Paul Laverty, Francois Ozon, Carlos Cuarón and Darren Aronofsky (among others). From the skimming I’ve done, it looks like it’s pretty solid stuff too. I didn’t notice any embarrassing questions and the answers look pretty meaty. It also reminded me that I still have to see Lilya 4-Ever, a movie I’ve wanted to see 4-ever, or about 5 years.

Anyway, thought someone else out there might find it interesting. It should also provide me with the opportunity of making more double-sided, photocopied handouts for my students to ignore. More importantly, let’s hope it does the trick of getting me in the writing mood.

Conagraopoly! How exciting! The limited edition, hard-to-find game created by the innovators at ConAgra Foods. Look at how much fun we’re having.

Forget about Park Place and Marvin Gardens. You can purchase Hebrew National and Slim Jim. Oh, you didn’t know about Ettore Boiardi, the original Italian chef behind Chef Boyardee? If you had Conagraopoly you would!

An annual tradition of decorating Christmas sugar cookies.

Yeah!

Meet the Snuggle Bees! Don’t we look like rockers? I would be scared of us. I mean look at the look we’ve got going…yeah, pretty intimidating.

Dear Weather gods, El Nino, Global warming, Sun, and Thermometers,

I hereby request that you bring the temperature back into the double digits, or at the very least, out of the negative wind chill range. It is seriously cold. A cold so cold that my brain froze out any hint of memory of cold that cold. And I think I’m getting a cold.

Warmly,
Lindsay

I am discovering a new phenomenon brought on by Rock Band. No, it’s not wrist fatigue and back aches, although I have fallen prone to both. I have found myself actually liking songs by The Killers and Weezer, two bands who I had what could best be described as an elitist attitude toward prior to this obsession with Rock Band. When You Were Young by The Killers? Killer song (pun intended). I find myself singing, “He doesn’t look a thing like Jesus, But he talks like a gentleman, Like you imagined when you were young” nearly every day.

I fear that I will soon be buying the new Flyleaf album and hiding it in my closet. Or maybe I will invest in the South Park created band Timmy and the Lords of the Underworld. I see dark things in my musical future.

The Bemis. Photo taken at an earlier, less snowy date.

Saturday was a cold, snowy day but Jamie, Erin, Sean and I made it out to the Bemis (Jamie and I made the trip twice, in fact). The following photos were taken from an exhibit/show titled “Visual Art by Musicians.” Let me know if that isn’t descriptive enough. If you want to see a list of all the artists featured, just click on the Bemis link above.

Some artwork. Left by Derek Presnall (Tilly and the Wall), right by Kianna Alarid (Tilly and the Wall).

Photos by Nick Zinner (Yeah Yeah Yeahs).

Artwork by Jacob Thiele (The Faint).

Jamie admiring the antics of Derek Presnall, captured on video.

Flowers Forever. They are a great live band, Derek has a lot of energy and fashionable accessories, a killer combination. Their upcoming CD is coming out on Team Love February 5 (out in stores Feb. 19, pre-order available now).

You can download three songs at Team Love.

Fourth of July. From Lawrence, Kansas. She’s In Love is a super catchy song, and they closed with it.

Today, Sarah Vowell wrote an op-ed piece Radical Love Gets a Holiday. It’s a great read, of course, and a great reminder of Martin Luther King, Jr. on this day.

On Sunday, NY Times magazine had a piece on Friday Night Lights and the franchising of television by Virginia Heffernen.

Also, New Wave on the Black Sea was an interesting article on the recent output of accomplished Romanian films by A.O. Scott. I am really anticipating the release of 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days.

1. Watching this week’s recorded episode of Project Runway
2. Seeing The Savages, most likely tonight
3. A new Friday Night Lights tomorrow
4. Playing with the Snuggle Bees before we go on an extended hiatus
5. Tomorrow night’s art opening and show (Coyote Bones, Flowers Forever and Fourth of July) at the Bemis Underground
6. Pulp’s Paper Dolls art exhibition
7. The weekend! Freedom!