damn the muse

... caught in a car's headlights.

I'm pretty sure that was the impression the parental unit when I met her. This after having finished the afternoon session of the MBE. The morning was ok, but the afternoon was brutal. It felt like I had just survived a massacre, relishing what few right answers I could muster.

I don't like saying if I aced it or not. I think I'm just satisfied with walking out of there able to breathe. That and I was glad I was able to recognize pretty much everything.

I'm not going to think about this again.

Posted by yasmín at 6:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Cinematography: In their own words. We know who my favorite is, but let see who wins. Pan's Labyrinth. So far I think this movie has won every nomination. It deserves it. Ah, there's the music.

Visual Effects: Pirates of the Caribbean. No contest.

Foreign Film: The Lives of Others. Upset. I'm kinda sad.

Posted by yasmín at 9:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Oscars are Green. Hmm... I think I'm intrigued. I love how they keep baiting Al Gore to make an announcement. Oh, that was brilliant. They cued the music right as he was about to make a so-called announcement.

The first two songs were kind of ehh.

Again with the Nicholson!

Here comes Animated Film: Happy Feet

Adapted Screenplay: The Departed - A hint of things to come? Oy I think that the long speeches are going to start. Yup, cue the music.

Blunt and Hathaway are so cute, and I'm loving that Streep playing around with them. So Prada.

Best Costume: Marie Antoinette

Now they're presenting a humanitarian award to Sherry Lansing. She's wearing a gorgeous dress, and she's so accomplished too. Kudos.

Posted by yasmín at 8:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The choir was wicked cool!

Wow, they just censored Greg Kinnear. And he and Carrell were so funny.

Sound editing: Letters from Iwo Jima
Sound mixing: Dreamgirls - My friend just killed me. She asked if mold was growing on Beyonce's dress. Oy, poor woman. She just doesn't pick them well.

Oh, supporting actor is coming up. I wonder if there is going to be an upset. I love surprises. Wow, Alan Arkin won. Definately an upset.

LOL. Ellen is trying to give Scorsesee a screenplay.

Ok, the dancers are cool. They just did an interpretation of Happy Feet. So nifty, and so cute.

Posted by yasmín at 8:11 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Will and Jack Black? Seriously, this is cool. Now they included John C. Reiley. The Oscars used to rush through everything, and so far I'm entertained. And the men want to take home Helen Mirren. I don't blame them. She looks amazing for her age.

Makeup: Pan's Labyrinth. Woo-hoo

Aww, now the kids are presenting. So cute.

Animated Short: "The Danish Poet"

Live Action Short: "West Bank Story" - ok now that I've actually seen a clip of this, weird!

One thing I've noticed is that the speeches have been blessedly short. Granted, none of the big presentations have started yet, but so far I'm impressed.

They just showed some clips from Letters from Iwo Jima with narration by Eastwood. I'm really looking forward to seeing that movie.

Posted by yasmín at 7:53 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Ellen calls it celebrating the nominees, and the montage was nice and funny. They used Peter O'Toole, and it ended with the lullaby from Pan's Labyrinth. I'm so hoping this takes a few awards. Actually, go Mexico.

She's saying it's an international awards show because of all the nominees.

Dude! Jack Nicholson is bald!

Aw, she just picked on Leo DiCaprio, and he just blushed!

Ellen just danced. So far I loved the intro.

Here come the first presentations. A very snazzy looking Daniel Craig too, but the bow on Kidman's dress is kinda iffy.

Art Direction: Pan's Labyrinth. Yes! Oh yeah. Here comes the sweep.

Posted by yasmín at 7:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Out of all the dresses I've seen tonight I've been impressed the most by Rachel Weis. She said she was wearing Vera Wang, and she looked fabulous. I can't say the same about J. Lo. She was supposedly wearing vintage. Methinks she just wanted to look like a long lost Dreamgirl.

As for the Oscars, I'm pulling for the Mexicans. I hope they show del Toro the love. He so deserves it.

Posted by yasmín at 6:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I'm actually doing this, aren't I? The hardest part has been convincing myself to relax. I've been a pro at it until the last two days. Then suddenly the doubt crept in. I need to do a reversal. And just so that I can prove I have a handle on my life, I will be blogging the Oscars tomorrow! The bar will not destroy my life.

Posted by yasmín at 4:18 PM | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBacks (0)

Fashion Week in NYC had a surprise this week, and it included wheels. Last week one of the fashion shows was dedicated to raising money for spinal cord injuries, and four of the models gracing the runways were in wheelchairs. The wheelchairs were designed by four separate designers, and the event managed to raise over one million dollars.

Here's to being fashionable.

Posted by yasmín at 9:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

According to Pop Candy, the first season of Beauty and the Beast is now available to own, or rent if you're a Netflix hag like me. I don't know, but every time that show is mentioned, I just sigh. The music was gorgeous, and oh, it was that good! It was all about Vincent and Katherine. And there's the sigh again.

Posted by yasmín at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I deserve an award or something for stupidity. I thought the bar exam was in a week. I thought it was the 20th, 21st, and 22nd. I've been studying this way since December. So today while researching the so-called new MBE questions, it puzzled me to read that the MBE was going to be on the 28th. I hit reload, and even downloaded the manual, but the date didn't change. Was Texas different?

No, I was just under this insane belief that the exam could never overrun into March. Now I have an extra week.

I think I want to die. Maybe cry.

Posted by yasmín at 7:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I think I lost another student. Or maybe he'll show up on Tuesday unannounced, and I'll have to suddenly pull out a lesson plan from thin air, because right now I just don't want to put in the effort. This really is horrible on my part, and really, I can sometimes wing it with my conversational students, but there is something about this one, he can throw me off. Knowing my streak for being a perfectionist I'll have something prepared, and he won't show up.

Oh well.

This is not the end of the world. I'm ecstatic! Thrilled. Ask me again on the 23rd.

My brain is making plans, and if I make it to the 19th, I'm hoping it won't be riddled with holes. I kept repeating the definition of negotiable instrument all day yesterday. I thought I was going mad. It was also the point were my head felt full. That moment were I'm pretty sure nothing more will fit, but please, oh please let's not forget that I have to go over Sales and Secured Transactions! Somehow I know I'm going to become obsessed with PMSI's again. What is it? It's perfected for twenty days, but after that if you don't file you're SOL. Until then it beats out everyone, but I know there are exceptions. It's all so thrilling and useless. I'm going to explode. Secretly, I just want to throw this all up on paper on Day 3.

Walking time bomb.

And then it's all over. No more bar exam for me. Ever. Because 5 timers rule.

If I did lose this student it kinda sucks, but here's hoping that he'll show up on Tuesday. If he doesn't then more will come, and it's more study time for me though I will be winding down by next weekend.

Posted by yasmín at 1:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I just scored 90% on a round of Constitutional Law questions. My score may go down next week. My scores have been pittiful the last few days! I need to revel in this. I can accept that I might not master Contracts and Property, but I really need the other subjects. I'm going to fraking gloat.

Posted by yasmín at 11:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

It spread from a text message to the net. Suddenly, Anna was dead. I had never logged on to the internet to confirm something as I did with this, and wow will this be an interesting legal battle.

Anyway, I'm not dead. I'm trying not to get sick, but my allergies are trying to kill me. It's not cool. And suddenly blogging isn't as fun when impending doom is right around the corner.

Posted by yasmín at 10:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Today is turning out to be a really sucky day! I wish I could read some people, and I hate that some people know how to push my buttons. That little fact riles me.

Some things happen for a reason. I know that this one was meant to be. I still hate that it bugs me to no end. Stupid stupidness.

Posted by yasmín at 1:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

A few months ago I saw this very long trailer that used music by Enya. It was the song, "Book of Days," which was the theme song for the movie,Far and Away. The song and trailer were so, so, companions. Actually, it was rather long, but it got the point across. This was a movie set in the times of Kings, and there was romance. Oh, and Peter O'Toole and James Callis had roles in the movie that just happened to be based on the Book of Esther. Sign me up!

The movie, One Night with the King, is based on a novel adaptation of the Book of Esther, and one of the first things it has going for it is its production values. It doesn't look cheap. Rather, every scene is rich with detail and color and extras, and it really adds to the movie. But who cares about costumes when James Callis as Haron is chewing up lines and spitting them out like nothing. Seriously, BSG is probably more challenging, but his acting really elevated the movie because the actor playing the King needed lessons.

As the story goes, and it was slightly convoluted, the King "loses" his wife, so he searches for a new one. Women are rounded up from around Persia and the surrounding areas. Among them is Esther, a Jew, who hides her identity in order to save her life. She finds favor with the King, and soon becomes the new Queen until her past comes back to haunt her.

The actress who plays Esther is amazing. She brings depth to the character and spunk, both which are necessary when compared to the King who can't decide what he wants to be besides eye candy. Yes, eye candy. Actor Luke Goss spends much of the movie shirtless, and he has the prettiest eyes, but he was the worst King. He acted like a child King! His bare chest was the only redeeming quality, and even then that's only slight.

The movie as a whole was amazing. It didn't preach, and if there is one thing I respect in a film is that it gets its message across in a subtle way. This is no Passion of the Christ, nor is it a Sunday School cartoon. It's a simple story with romance and adversity, and sometimes that's enough.

Posted by yasmín at 11:51 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Joss Whedon will not be doing Wonder Woman. Dude! So not cool. He broke the news on Whedonesque, and well, here's hopeing that he'll have time for Goners and tv, which he seems to hint at.

Via Lisa at Dark Isles.

Now I must go show the Joss love at Whedonesque.... Did I mention that now would be an excellent time for another Serenity movie?

Posted by yasmín at 9:48 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Gov. Perry just signed an executive order that would require all girls be vaccinated with the HPV vaccine starting in 2008.

Perry sidestepped opposition in the Legislature from conservatives and parents’ rights groups who fear such a requirement would condone premarital sex and interfere with the way Texans raise their children.

Beginning in September 2008, girls entering the sixth grade — meaning, generally, girls ages 11 and 12 — will have to receive Gardasil, Merck & Co.’s new vaccine against strains of the human papillomavirus, or HPV.

Perry also directed state health authorities to make the vaccine available free to girls 9 to 18 who are uninsured or whose insurance does not cover vaccines. In addition, he ordered that Medicaid offer Gardasil to women ages 19 to 21.

Was it Merck, or was it common sense? Texas becomes the first state to make the vaccine mandatory, and this type of news just blows me away. I'm also waiting to hear news of a lawsuit because some parent some where is going to claim that the vaccine is going to make their child sexually active.

Oy Vey.

So, cheers to Texas.

Posted by yasmín at 9:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

If you're here, it's because you found me via Brendan Loy's Blawg. I hereby promise not to spoil the new Harry Potter book if you happen to stumble across my site. There will be no mention of it for three days following the July Bar Exam. I can't promise waiting any longer than that.

Good luck to all you summer test takers.

Posted by yasmín at 12:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)