blossom layout

Kind of new layout. Sort of. Not really. Different graphics and color scheme. Still the same code and … layout. Placement of things, y’see.

Changed because I figured plaid and a holly sprig were not well suited to March or the following months.

I hope it’s a decent layout, because I missed Natalie Portman’s interview on the red carpet show in order to upload it! (Yeah, it’s taken me that long to update about it. Think how long it’ll take me to write entries about … whatever it was I’ve been bouncing around in my head for the past month that I can’t quite recall now. O_o)

(And woot! Natalie is now Academy Award-Winning Actor Natalie Portman, for the rest of her life, for ever and ever! XD)

rise in the morning, sleep in the dark

I think I’m giving up mentally. But that could just be today.

This morning I woke up at 6:45 so I could sign up for next quarter’s classes (yes I have a really late registration date *kills rhyme*). I had enough time to walk around my room to wake myself up (and prove to myself I wasn’t going to fall over) and pull on a sweatshirt and take out my retainers and make a cup of ocha. Woo, 15 minutes go by fast when you’re not awake!

After that it was fun. Somehow it zoomed from 7 to 7:30 (giving Livejournal layout help in that time wasn’t a good idea, I suppose) and I had just enough time to make eggohan and get my stuff (including undrunken ocha) and get to my car, where I spilled a little of my ocha and had to run back up to get a rag to wipe off the back window so I could see.

Then when I got back here, I tried to take a nap, or at least rest my eyes for a few minutes, but I couldn’t settle down, I kept getting up. Having a cup of ocha then half a Dr. Pepper at lunch was probably the cause. Even now I’m still moving. O_o Or that may just be some weird … sleep-deprived, half-awake thing…? I don’t know.

Then from 5-ish to 5:35 I put up my new layout and tried fixing things (still don’t know how to make the date show up for every entry). Then ate dinner for 10 minutes before I left for lecture.

Came back, watched Gilmore Girls and Veronica Mars. Odd, but I’m thinking of the VM episode more than I am of the GG one. (I just started watching VM this season; it’s right after Gilmore Girls, and I don’t feel like going to bed or getting on the computer. This is pretty much the one night of television that I have. Other than random Mythbusters viewings on Wednesdays, but I usually don’t because Tuesdays and Thursdays are my heaviest days.)

So. Layout. Um. It’s Natalie Portman. I was just looking through the galleries at NP.com and thought these were layout-able images. I had a lyric or something to go with it, but I couldn’t remember it, so no text other than flimsysilence-dot-net. I think I randomly picked the colors from the colors that were saved in my Photoshop from whatever project I’d worked on last. *laughs* I do that a lot.

Natalie Portman and heels

I’d always wondered why Natalie Portman wore heels. It would seem like a person like Natalie Portman, who is empowered and seeks knowledge and … I don’t know what else, would be against something so opressing and … not exactly demeaning … as heels.

I’m not totally against heels. I’d wear 2-inch heels if I ever found shoes I liked that were comfortable, and wouldn’t cause me to hurt my back or tendons or anything (if worn for a long time). But I won’t go higher than that. It seems stupid to me. Ruin parts of my body, just to look “better” by other people’s standards?

Take Sarah Jessica Parker. She hurt her ankle somewhat recently because she wears heels all the time, causing her tendons to weaken, so when she was running (in heels) there was just no strength to keep the pace. Seriously? She’ll give up the ability to run just for a few inches? I like to think that I can run, if I ever need to. (Living in L.A. … maybe I’d need to run from a gang shooting. Or a crazed driver. You never know.)

But then I read this article, where she says she feels like starting a revolution against heels. Yay! I’m not totally wrong about her! (Then one wonders how much say certain celebrities have in presenting themselves to everyone.)

(I say heels are oppressive and somewhat demeaning, only because my Ethnic Studies professor likened Western style of beauty to the burqa worn in the Middle East. She meant how women feel they need to dress in specific ways. But I think American women have more of a choice in the matter. We don’t have a group of people with guns ordering us to dress a certain way. Although I kind of agree with what she said, mainly because whenever I look in shoe stores I can’t find many nice non-killer heeled or even unheeled shoes.)

V (for the Guy Fawkes mask-wearer)

Last night (erm, Wednesday night *looks at date/time of entry*) I went to see V for Vendetta with Daddy. Right when I stepped in the theater and the previews were loud (we were running a tad late), I thought, ‘Oh no, I forgot it’s a violent movie, and violent movie = loud volume which means me plugging my ears for the entire time.’ (Although there were times where it was very talky and I could unplug my ears, there were still a couple scenes where I found the background music to be too loud.)

But anyway. What do I think? I honestly cannot answer truthfully. I really have no idea. I’m biased on both sides. It’s a Natalie Portman movie! But then, it’s just another Oooh don’t let the government get too much power or else movie, with killing and explosions. It did have an interesting way of addressing it/“solving” the problem though. So … meh.

I wonder if there’s something wrong when during one scene in the movie I thought, ‘Is this Guy Fawkes mask the one that Neil Gaiman wanted from his childhood, or is it just specifically designed for the movie?’ And, looking at his August 21, 2005 entry through the handy Search function (which I will not be linking to … no showing up of my blog in his access logs, nosirree!), I suppose it is. ^^;;;

I never understood the Guy Fawkes thing. Perhaps that problem stems from the fact that I learned about Guy Fawkes (and Guy Fawkes Day, somewhat) from a children’s book by Diana Wynne Jones, called Witch Week (which I still have, and which I realized last night that I absolutely love it, despite not having read it in quite a few years). (I couldn’t quite figure it out, did he or did he not really succeed? [I never claimed to have good analytical reading skills.])

(Also, *pokes fingers together* I never thought I’d be one to develop a crush on someone whose face I never see. heh)

Star Wars costume design

Gah! Shouldn’ta read the news at Natalie Portman Empire. They mentioned that Natalie Portman wrote an intro to a Star Wars book …

I want!!! O_O But it’s two hundred ninety-freaking-five dollars …

Actually I don’t really care about the special stuff (swatches, wookie belt buckle…), I just want the costume designs/sketches. ^^ That’s always been my favorite part of the SW Artbooks. (Yeah, I spent $50 for just a few pages of illustration….)