Thing of the Day: The iPad

It's been a long time since I thought about my iPhone. We parted in the most devastating of ways. The story is tragic and hard to tell, but for the sake of full disclosure: it was May of 2009 when, two connections into the three connecting flights that would take me from Copenhagen to New York, I found myself in the Berlin airport starving and against all will, ordered two double cheeseburgers and large fries only to find that the McDonald's in the Berlin airport (and, as I would soon find, all establishments serving food in the Berlin airport), does not accept credit cards. Okay. I could deal with that. Hold my order, unfriendly German airport employees, as I go to the Currency Exchange window, reach for my iPhone to use my wonderful currency converter application and determine how many of my leftover Danish Kroner coins I would need to convert to Euro coins to purchase any from of sustenance, and...

...realize that I have left my iPhone on the (long gone) plane. And to make things worse, the German Currency Exchange does not accept foreign coins, only notes, which I lack, or my credit card, with a minimum exchange of 50 dollars, which, although it would have bought me a lot of double cheeseburgers, would have certaintly caused Margarita to confiscate said credit card faster than she did upon my arrival in the states (~18 hours). Oops. Hungry, iPhone-less, missing Scandinavia and with four pieces of incredibly heavy and bulky carry-on luggage, I moved on to layover number two, blocking out the memory of that awful day forever.

Until now. I love my Blackberry. I love it almost as much as these people love their Blackberries, (shoutout, Stace!) I would never even consider switching over to an iPhone as a primary cellular device (mine (RIP) was for utilized exclusively for the crucial purposes of taking snazzy pictures, playing extensive games, and utilizing the iCalendar)--but I think I am ready to commit myself to another Apple product with my whole heart and iTunes library--I need an iPad.

For those of you who believe that an iPad in any way resembles a Kindle or a Nook, you are wrong. Kindles and Nooks have made it clear that they are evil robots promoted by genius marketing. Anyone who knows me at all knows I will never have anything to do with the Nook or the Kindle (case in point, frantic BBM from recently turned 21-friend: "Nikkkkkkkkkkkki!!! My dad got me a KINDLE for my birthday! What do I doooooooooo??!"), ever. The iPad is a different story. Despite having a really poor and un-clever name (really, Steve Jobs? I preferred Apple Tablet), it is quite possibly the most useful and wonderful Apple gadget of all time. If you do not take my word for it, watch the video. Although Stephen Colbert just pulled one out mid-Grammys, the wondrous device is not available to us common folk until mid March. Wah. Although (glass half full), that gives me plenty of time to watch the video on repeat and convince Margarita why I need to own one.

In non-gadget related news: being back at school for my last semester ever is good/weird. On the one hand, everything is exactly the same, and on the other, it is so remarkably different. After a less than perfect fall semester, and a non-ideal start to this one, I have decided to make the absolute best of my final one by focusing exclusively on the things that matter and spending less time on those that don't or in the long run, won't. In the past few weeks, I have really tried to focus on that which makes me the happiest--I love 4 out of my 5 classes (Mass Media, Exploring Film Soundtrack, Fiction Workshop, and World Jewish Communities), have gotten a volunteering gig at the Vanderbilt Children's Hospital (I start next week and can't wait, although the idea of working with long-term and permanent patients is scary and devastating), have been taking fitness classes for the first time since this summer (I spent roughly a third of tonight's hot yoga class in child's pose on the floor trying not to pass out), and of course, eating my way through Nashville with my friends (brunch at Allium and dinner at Cha Chah this week were exquisite).

This week, I am looking forward to: my best friend's birthday (and subsequent dinner at Sambuca...mmm), (AH TAYLOR SWIFT JUST WON ALBUM OF THE YEAR YOU GOOOOOOO GIRL), the best TV show of all time coming back for a final season, (LOSTLOSTLOSTLOST---I would like for this to be a separate post entirely so will refrain from going into detail about my feelings/predictions for season 6), the Superbowl (I don't like sports perse but I like organized drinking activities/TV, so this will do), more potential snow days for Nashville (it snowed a grand total of 6 inches this weekend and the entire city has shut down due to there being approximately 4 snowplows total in all of Tennessee), and it being February, which is so superior to January, and contains two of my favorite holidays (Valentine's Day and Mardi Gras) in one weekend. I plan on celebrating Valentine's Day by watching the movie Valentine's Day and eating copious amounts of chocolate and wine. I plan on celebrating Mardi Gras by roadtripping to New Orleans with everyone I know at Vanderbilt and an engaging a Hurricane, Hand Grenade, and bead infused weekend of debauchery. I love New Orleans and haven't visited since Halloween 2008 and can't wait to see my Tulane bestie (hi, Emma), eat street food, and wear costumes for absolutely no reason.

Oh, and I GOT A NEW COMPUTER! Farewell forever, Inspiron...may you rest in my bottom drawer along with coasters I steal from bars, business cards from people I will never call, old Scattergories score sheets (high point of the semester thus far: playing a 12 person, liquor accompanies, game of Scattergories before we all went out mid-snowstorm on Friday night), phones/cameras that have died and are now resting in electronic limbo, assorted candies, and other things that I really should just throw out/recycle but due to some strange hoarding tendencies, can't bear to part ways with quite yet.

Thing of the Day: Avatar

Things that are embarrassing but still sort of awesome: when you are riding the subway alone listening to the Glee soundtrack loudly in your headphones and casually bopping one foot along to the beat and the blatantly homosexual and wonderfully flamboyant purple-coated man next to you taps you on the shoulder and says "Gurlllllll, that's my jaaaaaaaaaam.

I miss you, Glee. Return to my television repertoire immediately. What I was riding the subway to was the show Fuerzabruta, which was really strange, kind of cool, and would have been significantly better if I had dropped a small amount of acid or a similar hallucinogenic material prior to entry to the theater. Watch this clip. It was weird. What wasn't weird was the show that I saw last night, Next to Normal. It's choreographed and set by the guy who did RENT, and like RENT, does an excellent job dealing with depressing and serious subject matters via upbeat musical melodies.

Speaking of upbeat musical melodies--I am obsessed with the new Lady Gaga/Beyonce song. A Lady Gaga/Beyonce collaboration proves two things to me: 1)Everything is right with the musical universe, and 2)Ebony and ivory are finally living in perfect harmony. Also, how did Gaga/Miz B know how I felt about my Blackberry when out on a Thurzday night? And I cannot text you with a drink in my hand eehhhhhhhh.

And finally:

On Monday night, I finally had the opportunity to see Avatar the way it was meant to be seen, in IMAX 3D. It was nothing short of a perfect film experience. James Cameron, how did you create that wonderful wonderful planet? What I would do to frolic in the forests of Pandora and play with larger in than life glow in the dark plants and fly on the backs of magnificent creatures to whom I was connected via braid link. Although in my ideal universe, I think the creatures would be considerably cuter/less terrifying. In Avatar, Cameron does a fantastic job combining fantasy with fact. Is the brutal war on Pandora because they have a magical substance that sells for ten million per kilo ("When someone has something we want, we find a reason to make them our enemy) loosely mocking America's own war on Iraq? Um, duh. The evil lieutenant dude even says "we will fight terror with terror." Does the Na'vi's love and appreciation of their nature and their planet compare quite shockingly with our own races' constant destruction of it for our own purposes? Yeah, clearly, in IMAX 3D. If the movie had absolutely no plot at all and consisted solely of 12 foot tall blue creatures with astonishingly human facial expressions running about and blowing shit up would I still think it was the most visually stunning film I had ever seen? Abso-freaking-lutely. Avatar is, after all, the most expensive movie ever made (it is also the fastest to gross 1 billion dollars in theaters, but that may perhaps be because IMAX tickets cost me an absurdly high $16.75) and every penny poured into the special effects was worth it. I don't know when the last time I saw an IMAX movie was, but Cameron has come a long way. When you are watching Avatar you feel like you are literally in the film. Animated and sparkling flora and fauna jump out at you. You can reach out and nearly touch the lovable blue aliens really well-built torsos. When predators launch and explosions startle, the theater audibly gasps. Despite the two and a half hour running time of Avatar, I was fully engrossed for every single second.

That being said (spoiler alert) there is no way those Na'vi critters would...mate...exactly like humans do. Come on, make out scene leading to wake up in the morning spooning scene. You could have been a little more creative. Perhaps some tail binding action? Maybe some sparks flying from the tree of life? Disappointing, J.Cam. Additionally, I would have liked to see more baby Na'vi. We had a few quick glimpses towards the end and they were remarkably cute. Maybe throw in a few dozen more in the DVD version?

Overall, this movie left me thinking that humans kind of suck. For example, on Pandora, a woman would never attack the McDonald's drive thru employee because they were out of McNuggets. It should be noted that I found out about this incident via a friend gchatting me that "it reminded him of something I would do." Said friend also sent me this gem about a woman who stole an ambulance to drunk-drive to her boyfriends' house because she "really wanted to see him" and "had a pretty good time" doing it for similar reasons. I don't thank my friends enough on this blog.

As you can see, I have not done much in 2010 thus far other than see plays and movies. The reason for this is three-fold. Firstly, it is really freaking cold in New York. I've been setting up interviews for a job in Chicago, and am really not sure I will follow through due to hatred of such weather. Secondly, my dentist, who is a good family friend, removed one of my wisdom teeth on a whim the other day because once I graduate, my mother's phenomenal dental insurance will no longer cover such procedures and I "have an abnormally small mouth, so we should really do this as a precaution." Spare the jokes, and thanks, ghetto Russian medical practices. And thirdly, I have all but given up my social life via New Years resolutions. Clearly I don't expect these resolutions to last long at all (I'm thinking week after sorority rush at Vanderbilt), but I am giving it my best shot as long as I'm trapped toothless in 24 degree weather.

Till then, a glass of Cabernet Sauvignon and Sex and The City season 4 on demand (how I love being home).

Thing of the Day: 2010 (Twenty-Ten)

Full disclosure: as I write this, I am watching Jersey Shore in my Snuggie, which is actually not even a Snuggie--it is the significantly more ghetto Costco version of a Snuggie, and a disgusting mustard yellow shade. When I came home for Christmas break, I found this and a similarly ugly colored forest green faux-Snuggie resting comfortably on the section of my living room couch that is usually reserved for snacks, and ever since then my sister and I have been parading around in our new garments (these "Snuggies" also have hoods. As far as I know, real Snuggies lack hoods, which is really very silly since hooded Snuggies allow us to not only be warm and comfortable but also pretend we are dementors/Death Eaters and chase each other around the house screaming normalcies such as "Expelliarmus!" and "Give-me-the-remote-us!" If I were Snuggie Inc. I would definitely implement a hooded version. Also perhaps one that comes with feet. Although that would just be a onesie...). Snuggies aside, I'm really proud of all the characters on the Jersey Shore, especially Snooki, who really seems to have matured since she got punched in the face by a stranger. I hope she succeeds in her mission to find love with a Guido on the shore. I've been thinking lately that Snooki would be an ideal character for a reality dating show. It could be like I Love New York, but Snooki is considerably kla$$ier than New York will ever be, and I'm sure she would not have to repeat her show for a second season. When I googled "Snooki Dating Show" on a complete whim I was shocked to find that Snooki totally agrees with me. Although I was thinking of something titled "Snooki's Got Nooki" or "Nooki for Snooki," and her self-chosen potential title is the considerably inferior "Snookin' for Love." Dear MTV: If you read my blog, credit, please.

A few other thoughts:

1. New Years 2010 was...interesting (And its Twenty-Ten, not Two Thousand Ten. Come on, people). After a mediocre actual New Years Eve that culminated in having to take the subway uptown because we couldn't get a cab in the 15 degree weather, we woke up in our Times Square hotel, looked around at the confetti and glitter and eager bright eyed tourists, and decided to try again. We acquired brand new 2010 glasses (bravo to the genius who designed the 2010 glasses...before seeing them we were very concerned with how the eye holes would be placed now that it was no longer 2-eye-eye-something, but, big success!), wore them for the entirety of our family style Italian meal at Carmine's, and just when we thought the evening would culminate in wine and resolution-writing in bed, some friends saved the day by inviting us to Greenhouse. New Years Take 2 was considerably more successful, thus the only resolution we wrote was: In Twenty Ten, if at first you don't succeed, pick yoself up and try again (you can dust it off and try agaiiinnnnnnn...I miss you Aaliyah). Still working on other New Years' resolutions, but they include gems such as working out more/eating less, wasting smaller amounts of time reading strangers' blogs/StumblingUpon/other internet activities, making post graduate life plans, finding useful hobbies, running half marathons, being nicer to people, etc etc.

2. Why is Avatar 3D IMAX sold out every time I try to go see it? I am completely incapable of planning to see a movie a full day in advance, so nearly every day for the past week I have woken up and checked showtimes for the one movie theater in Brooklyn playing Avatar in IMAX and found it to be sold out every single day. Can the rest of New York City really be that much better at planning than I? All I want to do is see these blue creatures everyone has been raving about so I can blog about it, but the world seems to be against me. FOMO, Avatar.

3. Staying in Times Square for the past few days (thanks, Lauren!) has really got me thinking about tourists and tourism. As a New Yorker, I hate New York tourists. I hate their stupid I <3 style="font-style: italic;">The City. But I really don't mind other tourists. In fact, I think I like other tourists. I can only assume this is because when I am in other places, I too am a tourist, but in reality other tourists just seem more intelligent than those in New York. I was really curious about what the most visited tourist sites in the world were, so I consulted my best friend, Google who informed me that NYC, which I for some reason thought to be #1 (please consult picture on right hand corner of blog), is #5. Additionally, I have only been to 4 of the top 10 most visited cities (#1 Paris, #2 London, #5 New York, #10 Rome). I wonder what it is that drives so many people to go to the same places, and who it is that decides The Eiffel Tower or Times Square or The Colosseum is that which should be seen. But whatever it is, I would like to be a part of it. Bangkok, Hong Kong, and Shanghai, here I comeee.

4. Speaking of New York, I just finished a wonderful novel, Let The Great World Spin, by Colum McAnn, and in one paragraph it summed up exactly how I feel about the city: "New York had a way of doing that. Every now and then the city shook its soul out. It assailed you with an image, or a day, or a crime, or a terror, or a beauty so difficult to wrap your mind around that you had to shake your head in disbelief. He had a theory about it. It happened, and re-happened, because it was a city uninterested in history. Strange things occured precisely because there was no necessary regard for the past. It had no need to belief in itself as a London, or an Athens, or even a signifier of the New World, like a Sydney, or a Los Angeles. No, the city couldn't care less about where it stood. He had seen a t-shirt once that said: New York F*ckin' City. As if it were the only place that ever existed and the only one that ever would." Oh, New York. Every time I think I am over you, you reel me right back in.

5. For those who are not interested in great books, a great movie: I just saw Up In The Air. It made me think, a lot. Additionally, George Clooney is beautiful. If none of this convinces you, it is currently the highest rated movie on Rotten Tomatoes, which is the only real place to criticize movies. Go see it.

6. And finally, or those who are uninterested in great movies, great TV/great eats.
Double food porn tonight: The menu that I'm currently obsessing over, and the premiere of the White House episode of Iron Chef America on The Food Network (Bobby Flay + Mario Batali + Michelle Obama?! Leaving on the TIVO queue forever).

As usual, this blog post failed to have a concentration. So for new beginnings' sake, Thing of the Day: 2010.