Bearshorty's musings

I went to campus today for the library and general lack of distraction from working at home. In fact, I got so into what I was working on that I didn’t want to stop for lunch. I actually made myself go to lunch and even at lunch pulled out some papers. I’m hoping to keep this momentum for whole of summer.

In the morning I met up with Medusa for breakfast at my favorite breakfast diner. I got a Belgian waffle with fruit because I haven’t had that in a while. It was pretty good but, I think, after having oatmeal or bagels or eggs for breakfast for a long time, I actually rather have a proper, not too sugary breakfast next time.

I talked to a few people in the department and showed some Minsk pictures.

Mama still can’t be alone, so she drove me to campus before work and she picked me up at 3. I wish I could do a whole day at school more consistently, but it is not going to happen right now.

( SYTYCD Top 9 Perform )

Hollywood is too incestuous - connecting actors who played vampires through sex.

Highlander S1E6 “Bad Day in Building A.” That was a ready good episode, to my surprise, part “die hard” and part horror movie. MacLeod was pissed and very angsty. Tessa continues to impress me as a character.

USA vs. Algeria! GOAL! Go USA! That was a great way to end this round of World Cup and ending up on top of Group C is just cherry on top. And we got into the next round. Yay!

Highlander Season 1. Episode 1. God the titles are cheesy. At least the only woman character in the pilot called the guys out for not discussing things with her. And she seems very cool. Very 90s TV, and I think once I get into it I can really enjoy the series.
I also checked out some episodes with Peter Wingfield – he is actually even hotter now as he is older. Apparently, he played a very minor character on “Caprica,” now I will have to rewatch.

SYTYCD Top 10 Perform. I almost forgot it was on tonight, again. I think the whole listened to some forums and recaps since they tweaked how they treat all-stars by letting be on stage more and letting them talk in the rehearsal footage. The childhood memories segment is a bit silly, although seeing them as little kids is cute, especially Alex. And judges, stop complaining about the wardrobe – the dancers have nothing to do with it.

Jean-Marc and France’s paso doble – Christina (Pasha) – that was pretty good. But then anything with Pasha and an open shirt would be good. Christina was in her owl style, which helped. And the dance ended on a really nice move with her being on top. Good start to the show.

Mandy Moore’s contemporary - Adechike (Alison) – he still dances too much of the steps, and tries to fake a smile. He needs to be more in the routine and not thinking so much when he dances. It was a fine dance but nothing I will remember tomorrow. Having guys dance with no shirt on is becoming a pattern lately, which is nice, after all those girl outfits.

Tyce’s broadway – Alex (Lauren) – Tyce wanted a specific style so this was more technical dance critique that I understood. I like the piece as a whole but I also really like the judges’ critique because they really know what they are talking about since Nigel, Mia and Adam were in the dance world a long time. And I understood what they meant about Alex’s need to adjust to style specifics now. He is very adorable both on the stage and when discussing childhood memories – he is the one I watch the most right now.

Travis’ jazz – Ashley (Mark) – Travis got notes from the judges for choreographing more of a contemporary then jazz but so far it was my favorite dance of the night. I finally started to like Ashley. The piece was to Annie Lenox’s “Wonderful” and I really enjoyed the dance and the lifts. And, of course, it helped that Mark had his shirt unbuttoned. I had a great time watching this, and I disagree with Nigel, because rather than learning anything new about Ashley I just learned about her. And, Nigel, commented a bit on not ignoring the girls (without really addressing the show’s bias there).

Lil C’s Krump – Billy (Comfort) – I wasn’t sure about this. And Billy is not that gangster- he is as far from gangster as can be. But he did try really hard, so lots of points for him for trying. Nigel hated the music and I loved Cat’s response to him that he wasn’t supposed to like it, the young people are supposed to like it. Good effort, Billy.

Jean-Marc and France’s Argentine tango - Robert (Anya) – that was very nice. Robert is very suited to ballroom, actually with his height and grown-up look and he and Anya looked great together. So I thought this dance was very hot like it was supposed to be. The judges were mixed on it, but I really liked it.

Stacey Tookey’s contemporary – Melinda (Ade) – the concept was interesting, she was Mother Earth and Ade was Man and it was about squandering Earth’s resources –so environmental message. I really liked Melinda in this – he face expressions and lines were very good.

Nakul’s Bollywood – Jose (Kathryn) – Nigel made a World Cup reference which I’m sure went over Jose’s head. That was really fun choreography and music and Kathryn outdanced Jose by a mile. But like the judges put it - the dancing was all wrong but Jose brings just joy and enthusiasm to it that it is hard not to enjoy it.

Tessandra’s lyrical hip-hop – Lauren (Dominic) – Lauren really got into character for this routine about abusive relationships. This is really fine choreography. But Lauren really took notes from last week and improved. And because Dominic had to be serious and didn’t speak much, he didn’t bug until the very end of talking to the judges when he started to caress Cat’s arm. And in the end Cat unintentionally, I think, made a rally dirty comment asking Dominic if he wanted to go to a deeper place (this was right after Adam’s comment that Lauren went to a nice deeper place in her performance). Dominic reacted to the dirtiness and so did the judges in the background and I think Cat a bit red and tried to play it off. Hee. But both dancers brought nice emotion to the piece.

Tyce’s jazz – Kent (Cortney) – Kent continues to be adorable as an 18 year old farmboy who is very tentative at touching a real girl. Cortney was all like, go right ahead. The dance was nice. He is not very manly yet, that will come with age. Cortney outdanced him. But it was ok.

Bottom three for me are Adechike, Billy and Jose – the last two because they were completely out of their element but that is the show. Nigel also make another dig at Travis by saying that ‘this’ was jazz.
Bottom three for me: Adechike, Billy and Jose – the last two because they were so out of their element. I hope Adechike goes home. Best dance for me was Mark and Ashley.

Tonight’s show is pretty much introducing me to the girls and making me really care about them for the first time, really. Ashley, Melinda, and Lauren all stood out for me tonight. I think I will vote for the girls to give them at least a bit of heads up. All-Stars in general dance awesomely. Judges were really good with actual critique but sometimes they really shouldn’t give points just for enthusiasm.

Neil Gaiman’s short stories are awesome. I’m reading it slowly, about one story every morning; I’m savoring this collection. I really liked “The Goldfish Pool” story – it had nice humor about Hollywood in it. It is about an author who was invited to Hollywood to talk about a screenplay based on his book and the Hollywood-speak and run around was just wonderful.

This is awesome: Pride and Prejudice in emoticons!

“Every Little Step” This is a documentary about “Chorus Line” auditions. I read about it in SYTYCD recaps somewhere and decided to watch it on Netflix. The guy who auditioned and got the role of Paul was magnificent – he made me cry just from his audition. Argh Tyce. They were so right about his ego. It is weird seeing a dancer that I know as a choreographer more. This is a really good documentary for an insight on how Broadway process works.

SYTYCD One of 11 goes home. I haven’t watched yesterday’s performance show yet, since I went to the movies and I taped it. So I really have no favorite or least favorite performance yet. I’m going off the reviews online and judges’ comments in clips. And I don’t know many dancers this season yet. Which makes the experience watching this episode all very neutral. I have a feeling girls will be in more trouble in this format. The group dance was nothing special. I knew it, all girls are in the bottom three. We don’t get that “one boy, one girl is eliminated” and boys always have advantages in this type of competition. I can, for example, distinguish all boys by name but girls, at this point, still blend together since they have to dance in similar ways. Solos: I liked Christina’s solo. Melissa and Alexi were just OK. Usher’s song is very danceable but some women dancing in it make me cringe, but that is a lot of hip hop – women only are seen as sex objects. It was actually creepy to watch Justin Bieber video since it was all about finding someone to love and he looks barely out of puberty. Alexi is eliminated. Sad for her, but again I’m not too invested in the results yet. The best part of the show where the two professional Broadway dancers dancing to a Sinatra song from “Come Fly with Me” – now that was dancing!

More discoveries from Pollan’s book: 1940s apple has three times the iron of today’s apple due to how they grow apples now with artificial soils and fertilizers.

World Cup begins!

Schedule and swoonworthy soccer players

I ended up watching Kid and Kid’s Brother kind of by accident this afternoon. Mama was outside for fresh air and volunteered to look after them as their dad had an emergency. Then a few hours later, she pretty much pawned them off on me. I brought out crayons, let them borrow Star Trek: TNG season one DVD and watched the original “Karate Kid” on Netflix with them. Well, they mostly wanted me to fast forward to part with actual karate battles. They really liked the last scene.

SYTYCD. Top 11 exhibition. Mark! Twitch! My eyes were just drawn to Mark in Wade and Amanda Robson tea party dance . He is probably my favorite dancer in all seasons so far. Cat said judges in her own special way! How I’m happy my show is back! They are putting choreographers on stage (really approve) and letting them explain what the dance was about.

First impressions:
Lauren - 18, wow, not unusual, forgettable
Kent -18, farm boy, early favorite, cutie pie
Alexi – ball of energy
Melinda - mature
Jose – 21, not as irritating as I thought he might be
Christina – 24, salsa dancer
Alex – 23, I already expect great things of him and Billy, makes me smile
Billy – aah, 24, another cutie pie
Adechike – I’m not sure yet.
Ashley – I’m not that impressed yet, doesn’t stand out.
Robert –pretty, not sure about him

Dances:

Travis’s jazz – Lauren, Kent (Mark and Kathryn) – very interesting dance, again I just watch Mark as usual.

Tyce’s Broadway - Alexi, Melinda (Alison and Lauren) – my eyes are on Melinda – dance nothing too special.

NapTab hip-hop – Jose (Twitch, Comfort, Dominic) – entertaining. Do I really have to put up with Dominic again? Well, as long as he just dances. Urg, he is coming on to Cat again. Stop it! Twitch continues to be awesome. Jose was good at his style.

Jason Gilkinson’s Latin – Christina (Anya and Pasha)- She is at such a disadvantage with Anya and Pasha without a shirt. I was not really watching her. Pasha is yummy. Awesome routine.

Mia’s contemporary – Alex and Billy (Ade) – time and journey of life – Beautiful! Billy as a child, Alex as an adult and Ade as an old man. The lines of all are so wonderful and Alex’s movement is so pretty. These two are so my favorites.

Sonja’s jazz – Adechike, Ashley and Robert (Neil and Courtney) – such a Sonja’s dance, but I’ve seen better. No one stands out here.

My feet are much better after a day in other shoes. I will need sneakers tomorrow but hopefully my feet won’t complain too much.

This morning we drove to a supermarket to get alcohol for my birthday party and to get food. It was a real huge supermarket, definitely not something I saw as a kid. I changed $20 too. We went to the fur store next (well, it was the story for hats that also had fur coats), and after a bit of trying on coats, I bought myself a new fur coat for about $450. There was a nicer blue one that I liked a lot but it was too tight. My Aunt bought that one. Mine has a hood and cute decorations. Mama didn’t like it as much as another one but I loved it and so did Papa and Aunt Vera. It was my purchase (and my credit card) so it was my call. I really didn’t plan to buy a coat nor did I really want a new one since my winter coat is super warm, but my old coat is ten years old and does not look very impressive, and it is a bit cheaper to buy in Belarus and my grandparents are giving me money for my birthday. So overall, I bought a new coat and it is soft and fuzzy.

After that we went to Katya’s where Aunt Vera and Mama went shopping for the day, thankfully alone, and Papa, Lenya and I went to the WWII museum. I love that museum. I became a pioneer there so it holds special memories. I really liked the exhibits on the advancing Nazi troops into Belarus, evacuations, partisan (guerrilla) units, deaths in occupation and a room dedicated to Masherov. They are building a new site for the museum so next time I will visit, this building will be gone.

I’m getting oriented in the center of the city again. I’m remembering where everything is and how to walk there. This took about a week. After the museum, Papa wanted to check out some buildings and then we went to PatioPizza, an Italian restaurant at the center of the city. We sat inside and got Gifts of Sea pizza and Mexican Pizza for Lenya (he doesn’t like fish or mushrooms). We also got a basic pizza for free because we had a child with us. The pizza was decent, but, of course, I had better.

Lenya was very shy throughout the excursion. He would answer questions on the basic level but would not really talk that much. He is still adjusting to us. I wish we had more time here. We also stopped by a store or two to get some souvenirs and Lenya’s magazine (100 Great Russians – a weekly magazine- Feodor Dostoyevsky today). And then we went home to wait for Mama and Aunt Vera to get back from shopping. Meanwhile, I listened to a gory program on TV about Gogol’s death and I was cross-stitching. Then we went home to get ready for the theater.

I read a weecap for “SYTYCD”. I’m just missing the audition episodes. Watching that show feels like summer.

We went to see Gerhart Hauptmann’s play “Before Sunset” with Rostislav Yankovsky – he a big actor name. He is over 80 and he carried the play on his shoulders which was very impressive. I really liked the acting. I didn’t really like the music or style of the production or the play itself very much, though. The plot is about a 70 year old widower who gets involved with a very young woman and how his four children and children’s spouses can’t deal with it. (“Copenhagen” remains my favorite non-Shakespearian play that I saw live.) Papa sat right under the air conditioner and he got really cold so tea was in store for us all when we got home. The play was in the Russian theater (former synagogue). I used to go there often as a kid since Sasha’s and Katya’s other grandmother worked there in the wardrobe and we would get in for free.

( picture of the play )
Tomorrow – book market. We are getting up early.

I was all mellow from the brain use of the last couple of days so I took it easy. I did manage to go to the bank to transfer some money so that I can pay my credit card bill. We also ended up cleaning the garage because the hose leaked and there was water all over. But other than that I just let the mellowness flow through me.

My favorite part of the day was going through the semester worth stacks of papers and throwing out a lot and packing away the grade ledger and relevant course materials. (I made a folder this year with every single handout, so I’ll have it all not just saved on the computer but in the printed pages too.)

I also watched “Maurice.” I can’t believe that movie was made in 1987, a Merchant/Ivory production no less. And it was weird to see Hugh Grant in a serious dramatic role and he was pretty good at it too. The movie is based on posthumously published E.M. Forster’ novel about what it meant to be a homosexual in early 20th century England with the main character learning to embrace it despite social consequences while another attempt to blend in and try to be something he was not. The narrative structure was a bit English but a good movie overall.

Finale of SYTYCD. The dancers got eliminated in the order I thought they would be: Ryan, Ashleigh, Eleanor, Kathryn, with Jakob and Russell remaining in the final two. I knew Russell would win and it made me a bit sad when he actually did because I was really, really rooting for Jakob. But I guess Russell deserved it too and it was not a horrible result or anything. Jennifer Lopez song was a bit ridiculous, and the whole show was very uneven. I really can’t think of really stand out dances this season. Last season addiction piece and the butt dance both just leap to mind but that is because Mia Michaels is interesting in her choreography and she wasn’t there this season. And Wade was only doing half a season, although his top 20 group dance was fun. But I did like many dancers this season even as I wish this show would just go back to summer.

Eight books out of ten of Amazon top selling authors of the decade are written by women. That is sort of cool. And Shakespeare made it into top 10 authors of the decade. J.K. Rowling is number one, of course.

I finally called payroll personally. I really don’t like calling on the phone and dealing with people. I get a bit anxious at it, like I shouldn’t ask for things. Unless, of course, I feel really frustrated about a situation, like I am now. Payroll tells me that they don’t have the forms for the second class and only the department can turn that in. I also sent another email to the person in charge of English payroll; she should be back on Friday. I will be on campus on Tuesday so I hope to bug them even more and in person. I kind of need to pay tuition for next semester. I also gave a call to my union; they said they would pass my info to someone who might help. I’ll just wait and see.

I discovered how much I like “Obstacle course” in the Wii fit plus. It is just fun to jump and run and avoid giant pendulums and logs. And I get quite a workout from it too. I don’t want to over do it but it is a really fun game.

“Julie and Julia” came from Netflix today. I wanted to see it since I saw the trailer for the first time last year. Meryl Streep was amazing as Julia Child and Amy Adams was good too. Someone at work had some negative gossip about the real person Amy Adams played but I will just treat it as gossip. The movie was about love of food and finding yourself and all that, but my favorite part of their portrayal of marriage and loving relationships. It is nice to see that love between people who support each other and fit well together. Overall verdict: liked the movie a lot.

SYTYCD. Since I missed the performance show on Tuesday I watched some clips in the morning to catch up on some dancing and then I watched the results show in the evening. Ashleigh didn’t dance because of injury but she was still voted into final six (the finale this year will have six, instead of four). Mollee and Legacy went home. I actually liked these choices and I like everyone in the final six. I think I want either Jacob or Kathryn or maybe Eleanore to win the whole thing, but I will enjoy all the dancers. Nothing particularly stood out in the clips I saw online this week, so I was not even remotely sorry for missing the show. I am, however, looking forward to the finale.

I finished “Lions of Eldorado.” The book switched perspective in the middle of the story from Stella’s point of view to Terai’s point of view and his valiant effort to save the planet from an evil mining corporation who really wants to rule the universe. Stella just became a love interest as I predicted as she served her purpose of bringing information. The prose is not really inspiring and the dialogue was often too expositionary and awkward. And the main character is stereotypical. The book was interesting to read, I just can’t get into the story without analyzing its many faults and too many anvils and “social messages.” Verdict: meh.

For the final reading in my Basic Composition classes I assigned the article called “From frying pan into the fire.” I one of my classes the students didn’t really know the phrase, which is a bit scary. I mean they could technically figure it out logically but they refuse to use their brains.

We found out today that Sasha had laparoscopic appendectomy last weekend and is still in the hospital recovering. He didn’t really have appendicitis, just an intestine inflammation but since they were doing exploratory surgery, they figured they might as well take it out. Still, surgery is still surgery and I’m glad we found out after the fact so I didn’t have to worry too much.

We set up the Wii that Papa got for himself for his birthday. Well, really his parents paid for it with their birthday check. So we were playing Wii for the first time. It was really fun. I tried some tennis and some bowling before Mama commandeered the remote control and was just playing herself.

My dance show was postponed for Obama’s Afghanistan speech I know that the foreign policy decisions are more important and it was interesting to watch. And it is interesting to see his West Point audience. He didn’t fudge anything which is refreshing – he admitted to corruption of Afghanistan government and the distraction of Iraq. He went on a bit too long at the end and “let me be clear’ which he inserts in every speech is worthy of a drinking game. Still I wanted my dance show and was surprised Fox actually pre-empted something on their regular channel. But I guess it was about war and stuff, so they treat it better than health policy.

SYTYCD. Top 10 show. It was a good show. Nothing stood out too much except Jacob/Ellenore pairing. They actually managed a good quickstep and had a fabulous Sonya jazz number that was worthy of their garden dance. I don’t like that YouTube clips are not stable links. I wish Fox put out a DVD of great routines or something. Nothing else really stood out for me.

I got to sleep in today. I do love Tuesdays. I did have a pretty ordinary morning, nothing too special going on. But I did get to sleep in.

After lunch Mama and I went for a walk, so I figured we might as well go to the store to pick some ingredients for my annual cranberry/orange muffin cake. I’m making two tomorrow – one to take with me to Bear’s house for Thanksgiving and one for my parents. I picked up some milk, flour, an orange (which I made sure to tell Papa not to eat) and the disposable baking bread form that I always forget the name off.

On the way back we saw our neighbor kids, Alexis and Andrew, just get back from school. So they ended up coming to our house to do their homework and hang out. They got too much energy and can’t sit still. Still it was fun to have them around, I always feel like a kid myself. They did their homework and then I gave them some art supplies and they had a little art competition. We also played a little uno. Then my head got heavy for some reason. I just drank water, just in case, and send them home after a while. Maybe the weather is changing. I’m just pretty much just ignoring my head. We hung out for about two hours, I don’t think I have the energy for more, but it was fun.

SYTYCD. This was one fun night for me. I always forget this show is on until about 6pm and I check to see what’s on TV. (I’m conditioned for it to be on in the summer) But I love this show once it starts and today was especially good choreography and dancing. There were 12 routines, two per couple, so there was little filler and much dancing. My favorite couple is Jakob and Ashleigh and they hit both their dances: a Sonya’s jazz and a cha-cha. They are just beautiful. Ashleigh certainly won me over in the last five weeks. Ryan and Eleanor are my second favorite couple and they had a good night too with a lindy-hop and a broadway. They always get into character well. Legacy and Kathryn are third for me and while their waltz was alright, their Sonya’s jazz was awesome. Now that Mia is not choreographing this season, Sonya took over in originality. The other three couples are OK but I’m not really invested in them. Russell and Noelle had an ok samba but a great Tyce contemporary. Nathan and Molly still dance like two little kids and their hip-hop was alright while their can-can (yes, can-can) was a lot of fun. Karen and Victor had a nice tango but a really sucky hip-hop. Overall, I enjoyed most of the dances and will probably vote for Jakob/Ashleigh and Ryan/Eleanor. Yes, I actually vote sometimes.

After finishing my non-fiction books that the library provided, I’m back with the book Papa gave me about two month ago by Francis Carsac (real name François Bordes), a French sci-fi writer, translated into Russian. In Russian, the title is “Lions of El Dorado” but I can’t find the equivalent on his Wikipedia page. He has never been translated into English and his sci-fi works are from 1950s and 1960s. I could tell the period the book was written from some racist and sexist slant to his story so far. Stella Henderson is an estranged daughter of a magnate; she is now a journalist looking to do a profile on a far away planet called Eldorado due to its enormous mineral resources. Unfortunately for people wanting to completely exploit those resources, the planet has a native population (roughly equivalent of native Indian/African/colonial tribes), so there is limited plundering. There is a sort of frontier town mostly populated by men. There is also an independent geologist, Terai Laprad, who pretty much lives with the natives most of the time and has a pet lion who is smarter than the average lion (the lion was genetically engineered). The guy is a patronizing asshole so far, but he is our girl’s tour guide into the native lands so she could write her story and probably a future love interest. There is a young geologist accompanying them on the travels, mostly to “preserve the reputation” of Stella who is trying to be so tough. But the story does flow and I’m allowing certain leeway because of when this story was written and some translation dialogue awkwardness and I’m trying not to overanalyze. Carsac was a professor of prehistory and geology and an expert on ancient stone tools. He loved archeology and had scholarly books on paleontology. Papa loves this book so I’m giving it a try.

SYTYCD. Top 14. A much better show than last week. Only one dance really sucked (Kevin and Karen’s broadway), three were standouts – Jakob and Ashleigh’s Tabitha and Napoleon hip-hop, Ryan and Eleanor’s Travis Walls contemporary and Legacy and Kathryn’s paso doble. Russell and Noelle’s foxtrot was OK and Molly and Nathan’s pop jazz I didn’t care for but that is mostly because they are just like little kids. Channing and Victor’s blackbird dance (Tyce’s jazz choreography) was certainly interesting but it was in the middle of the pack for me because of how others danced. I hope Jakob and Ashleigh and Ryan and Eleanor make it into the Top 10 because they are my favorite couples to watch. Travis has become a great choreographer, especially for what this show requires, all his three routines so far had great story and engaged the audience. Today’s show really worked.

While I was watching SYTYCD there was a Reebok commercial that was the worst commercial I ever saw. It was longer than the one on YouTube I’m linking. The whole time I’m watching it in perplexed horror wondering what exactly is being advertised. You want to sell women’s shoes, really? Can you, Reebok, not be so horrifyingly objectifying?

Deuteronomy WTF moment of the day: chapters 31 to 34 finish up the book with Moses handing off the leadership to Joshua, saying final song and blessings and dying on a mountain not on promised land’s soil. Moses was 120 years old so he knew the end was near. The song is supposed to reinforce the laws (Torah) especially if people dare to turn to other gods. These chapters are pretty straight forward. We end with death of Moses and mourning over him and a tribute to him. They is a ray of hope too with Joshua feeling the new power of leadership but the book firmly ends on why Moses was special and there will never be anyone like him who saw the face of God. That is it for Deuteronomy and that is it for the Torah. It took me exactly two month to read it and I’m just glad it is finally done. It was certainly an interesting experience to actually read the whole Torah. I started in Russian but ended up reading it online in English. I realize stuff is still lost in translation but still it is good to read the actual Torah not the children’s version.