The ravings of a deranged bibliophile (bibliophibian?)

Things that take up too much time that I don't have:

• ironing
• eating
• blogging
• the internet
• work
• writing
• reading

I can only do so many of these things in a day. And I don't get paid to do the ones I really want to do, so instead I have to cut back on doing them so I can eat and iron and be ready for work. So that I can get paid. Life is dreadful and confusing.

I'm having to come to terms with "giving up" on a book for the first time in a long time because 1. it is a library book and 2. other things (see: EVERYTHING FROM THAT STUPID LIST UP THERE) are preventing me from finishing this book. Yes, even other books. Because working at a library is a temptation the likes of which I have never experienced before. I used to think toy stores and book stores and ice cream shoppes and boys were all bad, but that was before I became a librarian. I can get any book in the state of Maryland. Any book I want. I dare you to try and stop me. (Power like this should never be given to a deranged bibliophile. I literally love every book. And now have means to get to them. It's a dangerous time for books everywhere.)

This is my life. Real and true. (www.wondermark.com)

I've started referring to things like this as "librarian problems." But I'm sure I need to develop a more general term for it. For now, I'll have to settle with "crazy book people problems"

Time to go iron and eat and get ready for work.

XOX
Emilia

Gatsby, Good Omens and Catching Up

Guys, I am behind on blogging about stuff! I am very behind! This is a catch-up post. After you read this, you will be up to date on my goings on and we can all be goings on with our lives. And I will blog more frequently. Promise.

• I finished my librarian training and I start work tomorrow and I am SO EXCITED.
• I finished reading Good Omens by the illustrious Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. It was VERY GOOD. I finally understand what all the fuss is about. I don't know if I should go through the trouble of reviewing a 22 year old book here, but I will just say it was: very funny, very poignant, very very clever, and extremely enjoyable. A unique take on Revelations and the apocalypse and so nice to read when all we seem to get these days are zombie apocalypses. Guys, the Bible did the apocalypse first, and it was scary as all get out. And Good Omens made me think about the apocalypse again, but in a new, cool and interesting way. Zombie apocalypses just don't hold a candle in my mind.
• ...that being said I'm about to start World War Z by Max Brooks which is about... the zombie apocalypse... *sigh*
• Also reading: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler. I can't get enough of Daniel Handler. I just started this and so far so good. This one I absolutely will review. 
• Also also reading: The Adventure Time Comics. Just finished issue 4. These comics are so well written (by Ryan North of Internet Comic Fame, and my first internet celebrity crush) and capture the tone of the TV series so well, I challenge you not to fall in love with them. I hope you accept. 
• The end of Sherlock Series 2 just finished airing in the US and now I finally feel like I can talk about the ending out in the open to everyone. If you haven't seen it yet, don't talk to me about Sherlock. I might spoil it. Even if I try not to, I still might. It's a bad habit. To be fair, my whole relationship with that show could be categorized as a bad habit.

I think that's it. I can't come up with anything else. Now I'll act like a real blog. This is the trailer for a movie titled The Great Gatsby:

I have very mixed feelings about every frame of this trailer. I will say that Leonardo DiCaprio looks more like Gatsby than I thought he would. And Carey Mulligan looks like she might make a good Daisy, even though I think she's a little young ( I did just watch her play a silly, frivolous Isabella Thorpe in 2007's Northanger Abbey; she played naive and foolish very well and that may bode well for her as Daisy.) Toby McGuire is just not my Nick. At all. Or my anyone for that matter. And I'm worried about the trapeze artists, and the glitter, and Gatsby throwing his shirts. And hopefully it will all come together and be one big beautiful Baz Luhrmann film and not.. a mess of symbolism and excess and flapper dresses. I'm not above bringing my heavily annotated copy of the novel to the theater and getting up to go read it somewhere if the movie goes horribly awry, that's all. Ugh. 

XOX

P.S. Northanger Abbey was so good! It was introduced to me as "fluffy and silly and wonderful" and it was all of those things. I'll be sure to write something up about it later, as it will give me an excuse to talk about JJ Feild as Henry Tilney who is very nearly my favorite Austen leading man. 

-Em

Movie Reviews and Life News As Seen Through A Haze of Cold Medicine

At home, sick with the sniffles. Thus, not too too much to report except all the lunatic ravings that develop in your head as you cocoon yourself in fluffy blankets, tea-drunkeness and tissues. Instead, how about a movie review:

A Dangerous Method

Starring: Michael Fassbender('s moustache), Viggo Mortensen('s cigar) and Kiera Knightley('s jaw)

Interesting but not engaging. The acting was solid and the story was interesting, but I've always had a problem getting behind something where I actually hate every character. Even the characters who are being wronged are sort of generally unlikable due to their inability to see that the are obviously about to be wronged. The movie just ends up being a sort of "who's the most petty psychoanalyst?" contest, which, while perhaps historically accurate, isn't the most engaging topic for a film. In case you're interested, I think Freud wins; he was a huge dick (and I'm sure he's have worlds to say about that phrasing.) If you're interested in psychology, Kiera Knightley getting spanked or horrible people being horrible to each other, this is the movie for you. Otherwise, I don't think I'd recommend it. (Oh, by the way, I watched this at a friend's house, and he was kind enough to note when you first see Kiera Knightley's boobs- 1 hour and 13 minutes in. However, he also said that said boobs were not enough reason to watch the movie. So, there's the masculine opinion.)

Oo! How about another? Just remembered that I also went and saw The Pirates! Band of Misfits this weekend. This one featured the vocal stylings of Hugh Grant, Martin Freeman, David Tennant, Salma Hayek and tons of other talented actors. And it was very good. It was done by Aardman animations, and their absurdly lovable humor is potent here. It was a very fun hour and a half and I would highly recommend this to anyone. Particularly though if you have a love of claymation, redemption stories, or have ever thought that Queen Victoria might have been a bit off. Also, a fantastic soundtrack, which I will say no more about here, but you should really go see it. And -another bonus- no obnoxious psychoanalysts!

Also, I said I was going to blog about things, and so here I am blogging along without mentioning something that is pretty important to me: I just got a job as a librarian. This is something that I think I might really want to do, and I am beyond thrilled to get an opportunity to try it. Hopefully I will be admirable at it and will grow up to be a sexy librarian, a sassy librarian and then a sweet old librarian (as this is what I assume the life-cycle of a librarian is.)

There is other stuff that I could say but I'm a bit grumpy due to the whole strange gravelly sound my vocal cords are now appropriating. Guys, I thought we sounded good before. There's a reason I've never taken up smoking, okay? Self prescribed antidote: more tea. Surely this will help.

Other things that I'm doing today: reading Good Omens by Neil Gaiman & Terry Pratchett, posting stuff on a friend's Etsy site for her, sleeping. Oh man, I am gonna sleep so good. We'll talk about Good Omens once I've finished it. 

XOX