Summer Wrap-Up

Today is August 31st and I can feel summer drawing to a close. My friends are going back to their respective schools; others are settling in at jobs. My day to day life won't be much different as the seasons change, but I feel different. The humid summer haze has lifted, leaving cool, breezy days.

We're approaching my favorite time of the year. Labor Day through New Years; I love autumn weather, pumpkin picking, hiking, drinking apple cider and eating pumpkin pies. Before you know it, it's Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. Just typing this has made me all giddy.

It is still summer, though, so I'd like to wrap up by sharing some of my favorite summer photos. More will surely follow after our Labor Day Festivities, but for now, enjoy:

Pet Post: Tiki the Love Bird

If you know me, you know that animals are a huge part of my life. And if you've ever been to my house, you definitely know I love pets. Since they're so important to me, I figured I should write a little something about each of the current animals living in my (parents') home.

I'll start with the oldest: Tiki, our Peach-Faced Love Bird. I'm not exactly sure when we got him, but I'm pretty sure I was still in middle school at the time. So that makes him around 10-years-old.

He seems to be a generally happy little bird, even though he's been single since we got him. For a good portion of his life, we would cover his cage at night (as one often does with birds). And I guess he was lonely, because he'd pull the fabric inside through his cage bars and proceed to hump it. He's since gotten over that, and happily sits in our kitchen.

Tiki doesn't like bird seed much anymore. Mostly because he's been spoiled by receiving food straight from our dinner plates. His favorite snack is fresh corn; if he sees anything yellow on your plate he'll squawk and dance until you give him some. He also like's spaghetti.

I love his lime green and sea blue feathers. He's definitely a beautiful pet. Stay tuned for my next pet-post, featuring Malakai, the oldest of our cats.

Peanut Butter & Co. and other NYC Adventures

Yesterday, after some minor transit problems, we went into New York to check out Peanut Butter & Co., a peanut butter specialty shop and cafe of sorts. I am more than a little obsessed with peanut butter, so I was excited.

When we finally got there (240 Sullivan Street, New York, NY‎), my initial reaction was, "Wow, this is a nice bathroom." Because I had to pee pretty bad, and more importantly, wash the subway grime off my hands. After that, I grabbed a Stewart's Root Beer and started pondering my order.

I was a little apprehensive about spending more than $6.00 on a peanut butter sandwich, but I wasn't about to go with plain ol' PB&J (also, surprisingly, I don't like PB&J). I opted for the Cinnamon Raisin Swirl on white bread. Its ingredients: peanut butter, cinnamon, raisins, vanilla cream cheese and apple slices. I've made sandwiches with the first three before (delicious), but the vanilla cream cheese and apple slices were a nice touch. The sandwich was bigger than I expected, and came with some carrots and chips (which made paying almost $7 not too bad).

The sandwich was very tastey, but it got a little nauseating towards the end. After I ran out of bread crusts, I was left with lots of gooiness. Which can be good, but the consistency and sweetness got a little overwhelming. Probably would've been better if it were toasted. Other than the food, the cafe had a cute, retro-decor theme that I was oogling at. All in all, it was an interesting dining experience. I'm not entirely sure I'd want to go back; I feel like I can just replicate their recipes from home.

After PB&C, we went to Panchito's. Between the seven of us, we downed three pitchers of sangria and paid roughly $16.00 each. Not terrible, especially since it's New York. But not good, either, since I only had three small glasses. At least there were free nachos.

Lastly, we staggered our way to Cooper 35 Asian Pub. We sat inside at first, which was hot and miserable. I wasn't drinking at this point, but the drink I tried ("American Cream Soda") was terribly made (not enough syrup in the Ginger Ale?). Luckily, we moved outside to their little patio and things perked up. Some of the other stuff I sampled wasn't terrible. And hey, more free chips. Ended the night with chocolate cake shots (and due to their mistake, we all had one instead of just three of us) and brown-bagged beers for the train.

To conclude... I like New York. I mean, it's O.K. I wouldn't wear one of those shirts that say "I ♥ New York". I just can't get used to the smells, the noises, the lact of plant life, the hurried lifestyle, the prices, the homeless... blah blah blah. The list goes on.

I'm glad I'm only a train ride away from all the city has to offer. But passing through the tunnel on the train ride home, New Jersey is a welcome oasis.

Party Friday

Last night, I hosted a "Jim Carrey" themed party. It was the sequel to the "Will Smith" party we had last year. I admit, it wasn't nearly as successful, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

I wore a big, orange sweatshirt and spray-dyed a blonde wig blue to be Clementine from Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (my favorite movie, ever). Rob was Fingerling, Carrey's alter-ego in The Number 23. But then he jumped in the pool and washed off all the temporary tattoos I gave him.

There were several Ace Ventura's and Cable Guy's. We had a Truman Show Carrey, a Horton, some Who's, the Riddler, some other random supporting characters, and even a Finkle. I was surprised to see no Lloyd Christmas's, Stanley Ipkiss's, and no Grinch's.

We spent the night watching Jim Carrey movies (I can't find my The Mask DVD - what gives?!), drinking, playing beer pong and watching the passing storms. All and all, a pretty chill party.

The next big party is Labor Day. I am really looking forward to September through December. Summer is fun, but I love Fall and early Winter. Pumpkin picking, hiking, camping, Halloween, Thanksgiving and of course, Christmas. It's the best time of the year.

Inglourious Basterds Movie Review

First off... if you haven't seen it yet, don't read. Spoilers ahead!


I saw a 12:01 AM showing of Inglourious Basterds, and I had been looking forward to it for awhile. First, let it be said that I like Tarantino films, but I'm not obsessed with them like some are. The Kill Bill movies are good. I loved Grindhouse. But other then that, eh. Pulp Fiction and Reservoir Dogs are classic, but I don't really like them. (omg)

I feel like Inglourious Basterds missed out on some good opportunities. My biggest issue with this move: it's damn long. It's 2 hours and 32 minutes with end credits. This would've been OK, except I found myself getting bored on more than a few occasions, which is sad. Tarantino is usually all about action and gore. I thought, "A war movie about Nazi killers, this is going to be gore central!" And don't get my wrong, it had its moments. But they were few and far between. And I feel like there were only one or two action scenes.

So what was all that time filled with? Blab blab blab blab. Soooo much talking. Slow, drawn out, pause-filled conversations. I get what he was trying to do... build suspense, etc. etc. But I wasn't suspensed. I was thinking, "Hey, when they gonna kill some Nazis?"

I expected to see the Basterds hunting down some Nazis. I expected to see the Basterds for more than 20 minutes. The only time they were really killing Nazis (except for at the end, or in flashbacks), was at the beginning - and we saw that part in the trailer. That's it. Other than that, they sort of bumble around France. I heard on an interview with Samm Levine (one of the Basterds) that Tarantino had them all come up with back stories to their characters. But it really didn't freaking matter because they were only in the movie for five minutes.

I also wondered how the Basterds managed to be such an intimidating force, when they all came off as rather dumb at the end (pretending to be Italians when they barely spoke the language, etc.). Not that Tarantino bothered to address that question, because we don't see the Basterds capturing any Nazis (only after they captured them, not the act of capturing).

The movie was more about Shosanna, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. She's a beautiful Jewish girl, who's family was killed at the beginning - after the longest, most boring conversation ever between Hans and King Leonidas (the whole time I was waiting for him to murder the guy, but he just cries and gives the Jews away). For some reason, she gets away, even though Hans had every opportunity to kill her. But I guess he likes the thrill of the hunt/there wouldn't be a movie if she died in the first 20 minutes. And then somehow she owns a cinema with token black guy? Her story (for the Nazis) is that she inherited it from her Aunt and Uncle, but that has to be a lie since she's Jewish, and the names she gives are fake. And if it was really owned by her relatives, the SS would have known it was owned by Jews, and certainly wouldn't let her inherit it. So I don't know. She stole it?

Dan, my movie going friend, brought up that her (Jewish) Aunt may have married a (non-Jewish) fellow, from which she used the last name to hide her heritage. But here's the thing about the Germans... they knew and had records of just about everything. Hans knew everything about Shosanna and her family when they were out in bumble-fuck France, so they certainly would've known about her Jewish aunt living in the city, owning a business. Even if they managed to slip through the cracks, they would've checked up on who was inheriting the place. I don't know, I'll let this one slide for now.

Moving on... there were parts of this movie that were quite good. I liked Fredrick, the handsome young Nazi hero that tries to date Shosanna. He made me a Nazi sympathizer for a good hour or so, which sucks. It was an interesting move on Tarantino's part; giving Nazis a more human side rather than just turning them all into monsters.

I wanted to see more of Eli Roth smashing Nazi heads. Wanted to see Hugo go berserk on some Nazis. The basement bar fight was probably the closest we got to seeing any action, and it happened in a split second... and only after like an hour of banter. Then suddenly everyone was dead and I was sad. If the Basterds were so tough, why did they suck at killing a bunch of hammered Nazis?

Towards the end, Clever Hans figures out Hammersmark (German actress) is a traitor, and the "Italians" she brings to the premier of Goebbels' new propaganda film are the Basterds, planning to blow the joint up. He's so enraged that the actress, a symbol of Germany's pride, is a traitor, that he STRANGLES her. He leaps up and CHOKES her to death. Which was awesome. Throughout the film, you get the idea that Hans is uber Nazi, loves the fatherland, hates traitors, yadda yadda yadda.

Next scene, Hans is conspiring with the recently captured Basterds to allow them blow up the cinema, kill Hitler and the other high ranking Nazi officials, and end the war (as long as they make it seem like he was on the Allies' side the whole time, allow him to come to America and escape the tribunal, basically fuck Germany in its ass).

Excuse me?

He had every opportunity to have the other Basterds (still seated at the premier) removed, killed, taken care of. He certainly would've been glorified by the Germans for such an act. And you know, throughout the movie, I kind of thought he was on their side, so that would've made sense. Especially after choking that bitch, remember that part? From like five minutes ago?

Yea, so that was my other biggest flaw with this movie. It would've been slightly more understandable if there was no way he could stop the cinema from blowing up. Then he really wouldn't have had a choice; he would've been one of the few high-ranking Nazis left, and surely would've gotten his ass chewed. But that wasn't the case. He made it quite clear he could stop the Basterds. Erf.

Despite the problems, I really liked the end. The part where Shosanna switched the propaganda film with her own, the fire, her face projected over the smoke, Hitler's mutilated face. All quite entertaining.

From this review, it probably sounds like I hated this film, but I didn't. I probably wouldn't want to sit through the whole thing again, and I would've liked it more if they shaved an hour off it. Nevertheless, it's worth seeing. As far as summer films go, this one was great compared to such marvels as G.I. Joe and Transformers 2 (I assume... I'm not dumb enough to spend money and actually see them). I'll give it 3 out of 5 stars.

French Braid

Today has been less than eventful. However, I did learn how to do a French braid. The only problem is my hair is awkward lengths. Here's the best I could come up with:


I kind of like it.

My First Photo Shoot

On Saturday, August 15th, I had my very first photo shoot. It was with Cudzoo, an awesome group of ladies who perform with their band, The Faggettes.

I was pretty nervous, and the whole ordeal was rather stressful. We had the shoot in the city, and we got a little turned around during our drive to their apartment. Luckily, we figured it out and were able to get shooting on time. The whole thing only took about 45 minutes, which was good because it was boiling hot.

I took 388 shots in total, Rob had an additional 140 or so. I was confident that I got a few good shots, but I surprised myself. I think the series came out exceptionally well, especially since my camera equipment is low-end and my skill level is amateur. Here's one of my favorite shots; for the rest, you'll need to grab the September issue of Jagazine.

First Post

So it happened, I finally succumbed to Blogger. I tried having an independent blog of sorts; didn't work out. And as much as I love my 7-year-old LiveJournal, nobody reads it anymore. So time to join the rest of the world and start blogging.

I'm mostly going to use this blog to document "growing up". Basically, my life from college graduation, onward. I've got a bunch of things to do, especially in the coming months. I have a job, so that's an accomplishment in itself. However, that combined with designing Jagazine makes little time for anything else.

My major to-do list is as follows, and this blog will serve to document my progress:

• Slowly obtain the living essentials I'll need when I move out for good
• Renovate the furniture I already have so that it looks good when I move it
• Find a decent place to live, with big fenced in yard, by early 2010
  
• Save up enough money for a new car by late 2010, early 2011

This is all easier said (typed) than done, but it's a start.

I guess a mini-bio would be a good way to end this first blog post. My name is Jessica. I'm 22-years-old, graduated cum laude from Rutgers University. New Jersey, born and raised, though I have a love-hate relationship with this state. I am a graphic/web designer. I can make pretty pictures, but I can also code things. I am an amateur photographer with a Nikon D60, so all my extra money goes into buying lenses and gear.

When I'm not working, making art, or taking pictures, you will probably find me obsessing over some kitten. I'm an animal-lover to the extreme. Under our roof, we've got a dog (Dexter), six cats (Malakai, Mama, Kirby, Gremlin, Princess, and Matilda), a love bird (Tiki), two ferrets (Chase and Logan), and a rabbit (Perry). [Only the dog, two cats, and rabbit our coming with us when we move -- otherwise I'm sure finding a rental would be utterly hopeless] I also volunteer for Howling Woods Farm, a wolf/wolfdog rescue and Tails of the Tundra Siberian Husky Rescue. So yes, animals are a big part of my life. When I'm old, fat and retired, I plan on buying a farm and rescuing all the old sick animals nobody wants to adopt.

OK, got a little side-tracked with all the animal rambling. Hopefully this blog will be worth reading as time goes on. Goodnight!