Instructions

If you are cool, and you want to continue being cool, you should pick up a copy of the Red & Black today and check out the story on the front page that isn't about bombs or book signings. Because, yeah, that would be by me.
So go check that out! Go!

I Always Thought That I'd See You Again

The "Tiny Dancer" scene in Almost Famous is one of my favorite movie scenes ever. Something that should seem so schmaltzy and corny manages to come off as meaningful and hopelessly realistic. It reminds me of the time in 11th grade when we were working on President Sheets or some such APUSH nonsense at Katie Cornelius's house and gradually, one by one, broke out into a chorus "Fire And Rain" somewhere among Cleveland, Kennedy, and Clinton. Moments like these actually happen, and I swear it's not just because we're weird kids.
I swear.

Anything But Good Intentions

Although I resisted heartily at first, I'm getting really excited to see Elizabethtown. When I first saw the trailer for it this summer, I just thought, Eh, Kirsten Dunst and figured I'd see it on video if I heard it was good, but then I saw better trailers, and then I read articles about it (particularly the one in the current issue of Paste, the greatest magazine ever), and the more I know about it the more I want to see it. I love Cameron Crowe, of course, and I looked at the soundtrack and any movie that features music from both Ryan Adams and Elton John can't be bad. And I love how Crowe tends to make the music such an integral part of the film. Today on my iPod I listened to the Cameron Crowe mix that showed up in my mailbox courtesy of Drew a couple birthdays ago and it's just so lovely the way he does that. And then I keep seeing similarities between this and Garden State (besides the painfully obvious plot similarities, of course), and I don't see that as negative at all-- I can see this being another Garden State, if not in its indie appeal (Orlando Bloom and Dunst are about as mainstream as mainstream gets) then in its effect. Perhaps this will be the soundtrack that plays incessantly in coffee houses in college towns across America this year. Crowe even mentioned in the Paste feature that he was a Garden State fan and wished more filmmakers would take a page from Zach Braff's book (don't we all?).
So on Friday, after classes but before matinee prices are over, we're going to go see it. And I hope it lives up to the image I've built in my mind, because just good intentions won't cut it.

The Stuff Of Athens Legend

I was informed last week that at the Coldplay concert at Philips Arena, which a few of my friends attended, Michael Stipe of REM joined Chris Martin & Co. to perform "Nightswimming." Jealousy abounds.
Ah, the ever-elusive Michael Stipe. It's a running joke that he is everywhere I am not-- he always seems to pop up at shows I wanted to attend but didn't. When I am in Athens, he is likely in Alpharetta, sipping iced tea with my parents. When I am locked in my bedroom studying, he is up all night at the SLC, frantically putting the finishing touches on his Political Science paper. Right now, he is over at the boys' apartment playing Halo 2, and when I go over to say hello, he will be in my apartment, rifling through my things. He and I are opposing poles, and it would take quite the strong force to ever get us together.
Which is unfortunate, because one of my goals is to have my very own Michael Stipe sighting before I graduate.

The Lord Giveth

Today I get to play my favorite game once again: Dodge The Gideons. That's right, kids, it's that time again when the old men in cheap suits come out of hiding and chase you down the streets of campus wielding little green Bibles. And my goal is to not be forced to take a single one before the day is over. It's like Frogger, Jamie said.
The Gideons really kind of scare me. I don't know why, but every time I look at them I get creeped out. They remind me a little of The Gentlemen from that really scary episode of Buffy, "Hush." I think that it wouldn't surprise me if they were serial murderers, or if they hung out in little cabins in their polyester suits wearing tennis shoes and sipping Kool Aid, waiting for the End Times. Creepy as hell.
It's 10:31 a.m. and so far I've been accosted by a total of about five Gideons, which is pretty decent in comparison with previous years. I think they're catching onto us. In any case, thus far today, it's Amy: 5, Gideons: 0.