I’m leaving for Park City, Utah tomorrow. I’m super excited. I hope I can remember how to snowboard. I know I’ll remember how to Rock Band (yes, it’s now a verb). I’ll take some photos and maybe post some here, if you’re lucky.

I’m in between classes right now, so I have a week break. It feels necessary…although I’m actually really excited about the upcoming class called The Art of Film. That should be a lot of fun to teach.

Also, last night I saw Thunder Power!!! and Honeybee at The Waiting Room. Both bands were great. It was the first time I’ve seen Honeybee live, and I was really into it. They’re catchy and have some interesting instrumentation (say that five times fast). I can’t wait until they have music on a physical CD.

Also coming up next week: Mamma Mia, the online premiere of the Thunder Power!!! video I directed, Tilly and the Wall at The Waiting Room and much, much more.

I’ve got a new idea for a short film that I want to film this summer. I’m not far enough along to really talk about it in detail yet, and I don’t want to jinx it in any way, but I just wanted to document my excitement for this project.

I’m going to start writing.

Rainn Wilson interviews Todd Haynes, in preparation for hosting the Independent Spirit Awards.

For those of you interested in keeping up with the changing cultural landscape of Omaha, American Apparel will open in the complex that currently houses Slowdown, Film Streams, Secret Penguin (graphic design), BBB Ltd.(skateboarding and urban apparel shop) and Urban Outfitters. It should be open in a few months.

There’s definitely an interesting discussion to be had about owner/CEO Dov Charney and his behavior at work and official statements, including testimony from his current sexual harassment trial (3 counts), but that’s a longer story/post…maybe for another day…

The Reptile Garden was the fiction piece in The New Yorker a few issues back. I read the short story on the plane to Florida and loved it. I love it when The New Yorker introduces me to writers that I haven’t heard of or read before, like Marisa Silver and now Louise Erdrich. The story really stuck with me, so I thought I would share it with anyone who might be interested. Also, for you Minnesotans, the author Louise Erdrich owns a small independent bookstore in Minneapolis called BirchBark Books.

Friday night Thunder Power!!!, Flowers Forever and Baby Walrus played at the Bemis. What an awesome line-up. For those of you who read this who aren’t in Omaha (which is probably most of you), please check these bands out. They all make really great and different music. You can buy the Flowers Forever album at Team Love, and the Baby Walrus one here , and you can listen to Thunder Power here. The show was to celebrate the releases of the Baby Walrus and Flowers Forever albums and also a fundraiser for Kianna from Tilly and the Wall’s bulldog Foot Foot who needs ear surgery. The Bemis is a great place for shows — it’s a basement art gallery and the shows are usually in this small room off the gallery. So it’s basically a warm, sweaty, sometimes smelly place with no stage and very little light.

Thunder Power!!! played a great set and sounded really good. Flowers Forever played their album in order. Derek was his usual energetic self, and the crowd was really into it — a lot of dancing. Baby Walrus closed with another amazing set. I’m always really impressed with how good they sound live, especially since their songs have unusual arrangements and layers and stuff.

Flowers Forever.

Baby Walrus.

I caught about 15 minutes of The Breakfast Club on TV today and I must say that the dance sequence in that movie is so awesome, hands down one of the best. I want to learn each one’s moves down to a T. Anyone down for a re-creation?

I am currently writing from Panera, where I am trying to finish my two short writing pieces due tomorrow. I am also trying to keep up my motivation to drive to Film Streams to catch The Diving Bell and the Butterfly tonight at 7 pm. It’s the last day it’s there and I really want to see it on the big screen. It is FREEZING and windy out, the type of weather that really pushes you to go home, curl up with hot chocolate and watch a movie or read a book (or play Rock Band).

I saw There Will Be Blood last week, another one I was intent on catching in the theater. My reaction to that film could be summed up as frustration. First of all there was a group of teenagers that decided to do all of their social catching up during the film. I moved twice during the movie, standing up and staring at them in the back row both times, but could still hear them. I was seriously close to walking up to them and asking them why they even came in the first place. I played it over a few times in my head, getting down what exactly I would say (during the film), but didn’t do it. So, suffice to say it was a less than pleasurable experience that was only magnified by the last third (or perhaps half) of the film. I could write a very long passage on the film, but I will refrain for the time being (mostly because of my current time constraints and large amount of work I have to get done).

I also recently watched 2 Days in Paris, which was overall a pretty good and enjoyable movie, despite its flaws and the annoying habits of the characters.

I finished Extras Season 1 Disc 2. That show is funny. I love the two main characters. I loved Patrick Stewart’s screenplay pitch.

Up next (all of which I currently have rented): The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, La Vie en Rose and Interview (which I’ve had for weeks now and have still not watched), and of course finishing Gilmore Season 7.

SNL is slated to return next week with Tina Fey as host. The following Saturday Ellen Page is scheduled to host. I’m pretty excited for both of those. They’re also hoping to do like 4 or 5 new ones in a row, instead of the usual 3 then break schedule that they’re on. They’ve got to keep up with the political stuff, I guess, and make up for lost time.