So I started watching this a while ago and stopped halfway through because it's kind of "Leaving Las Vegas" with a different cast and a strangely happier ending, if that even makes sense. There's certain genres of movies that generally do nothing for me -- mob movies, James Bond, etc. -- and substance-abusing leads in a downward spiral is one of them. It usually doesn't do much for me unless everyone hits all the right notes.

I'm completely unsurprised by Denzel getting nominated, and I know he's kind of the guy who can get nominated for reading the phone book, but this performance is one of the best ones I've ever seen him pull out. He's completely fucked up, he's a complete asshole, and yet you *still* somehow manage to find sympathy for him. I'm always impressed by the lengths that he'll go to, and while I'm always a little "eh" when it comes to drunks in film confronting their demons, I really got the character thanks to Denzel's work.

I kinda wish John Goodman had been nominated for a Best Supporting Actor for this. He's only in a few scenes but he steals every scene he's in. He's one of those actors I really wish would get recognition from the Academy for his film work. (I hear he also did great in "Argo", which doesn't surprise me, but ... well, I still have to see that one, too.)

I think my only problem with the movie is that the religious references do feel a bit heavy-handed at times to the point where I was afraid the end would be him having a literal come-to-Jesus moment. In the end, I was okay with it even though I sort of cringe away from a lot of the bang-you-on-the-head religious stuff in the movie, but I think they presented the religious characters in the right ways. You were supposed to feel a certain way in response to the characters -- as in, you were supposed to respond to them the way he does -- and you do. I felt for the people who were at the crash scene even though I don't agree with them, I thought the stewardess was very nice but I think if I knew her in real life she and I would both know I'm never going to her church, I sat there while he was visiting the co-pilot and his wife thinking, "Oh, man, these people make me want to drink."

I liked it, though. I did kind of laugh at myself, though, if only because as soon as the plane screwed up and started going down, I knew why. I think I may have watched too many episodes of "Air Crash Investigation", you guys. ;)

*

Okay, seriously, I can already see the screeners on the torrent sites. That was quick. :)

How to end up saying, "Wait, what?" over and over again for, like, five minutes:

1. Watch today's "Lizzie Bennet Diaries" ep.
2. Make a Tumblr post which only says, "Oh, my God, Lizzie, say 'I'm sorry' already before I reach through the computer screen and throttle you."
3. Check later on.
4. Notice the post got liked by one person -- the actress who plays Lizzie.

Well, at least SHE agrees with me. *snerk*

(Seriously, you should have heard me yelling GODDAMN IT LIZZIE at my computer screen this morning. I'm siding with Lydia Bennet, webseries. Look what you did, LBD. You BROKE me.)

I convinced my Math Throughout History professor to let my class watch an episode of “School of Hard Sums” — i.e., “The Dara-O’Briain-Does-Math-Problems-Against-Students-And-Other-Comedians-For-Funsies Show” — before we took our final tonight.

I feel as though I should get an A for that alone.

So yesterday I cleaned my apartment from top to bottom, and this morning I got the very nice check I've been waiting for since last week. (I got a letter last week from my DHL job from six years ago saying, "Hey, you've got a retirement plan with us that you haven't touched! What do you want to do with it?" and I could not call them up to say, "OMG I NEED TO CASH IT OUT!" fast enough.)

So I deposited the check this morning and since then:

-- I haven't been able to get in touch with the doctor or the dentist, both of whom I need to schedule appointments with
-- The cat spent the entire morning puking in every room
-- My deposit isn't registering as deposited into my account just yet according to every bill website I've tried to pay towards
-- Oh, and after stopping at the local grocery store, I hit one of the many, MANY potholes the guys currently doing roadwork and replacing our sewer system have left around town and broke my transmission pan.
-- Because of that, I now have no car either today or tomorrow, both of which I have finals during.

I'm really lucky I'm going to be able to afford to get it fixed and my brother's going to let me borrow his car for school, or else I'd probably be in tears right now.

(By the way, the car problem made telling my mother an "I told you so" moment, because she's on the town council and I complained to her not long ago that the roads were awful, since they're fixing the sewer system and then going back and paving the entire town at the end. You may have noticed that it's December, and that by the time they get finished with the sewers, it'll be January at least. You know, when it tends to SNOW. At which point, my mother informed me, they will put off paving the roads until spring. Because that's SMART.)

The book's still coming -- I swear!

Before I get into it, I just wanted to thank anybody who was able to help with my rent. I was lucky enough to get the money into my checking account before my landlord could cash the check, so I'm cool on that front. And tomorrow, thanks to my dad (who nearly popped a gasket when he saw just how bald my front tire is), I'm getting my stupid tire replaced.

In any event, I planned to hunker down and get "Monsters of Moosic" editing completed today, but considering I spent the last two whole days on the computer trying to get my hours in, I desperately needed a breather. I spent most of the morning working on it, but I took a break at lunchtime to go help my mom pick out a Christmas tree, and then went with my parents to my cousin's house to let her new puppy -- half shepherd, half Burmese mountain dog -- fall asleep on me (you know, now, while she's still small enough to do it without smothering me).

And now I am going to bake for a while, because baking is relaxing, and also because it'll give me something to eat this week while I'm finishing up finalizing the book. I don't have finals until next week, so it's literally all I have to do other than get my work hours in.

Er, let's not think about that last part. *makes face*

I'm still on track to finish the editing within the next few days, but I do have to get my work hours in for this week and, as per usual, I'm WAY behind. (Ugh.) So I'm setting the date when I will be finished and sending the book out (and posting it to Amazon, Kobo, and hopefully iPad, if Apple gets back to me sometime this century) as Sunday. I have my last major assignment for school tonight (my Japanese mathematics presentation -- cross your fingers and hope that not being able to stop yammering in front of an audience will make up for me being all, "Holy crap, HOW do I explain this problem again?!" last night when I looked at my Powerpoint), so as of 6:50 pm tonight, the only thing I have left to worry about school-wise are my finals.

Anyway.

Thanks to those of you who pre-ordered, because I'm broke as hell and that really, really helped with putting gas in my car and picking up a few groceries. If anyone else wants to pre-order:

I'm asking three bucks a copy, but if anyone would like to chip in for more, I'd appreciate it.

Here's the blurb I'm putting on Amazon:

My name is Sean Patrick Boggs, and people try to kill me all of the time. So do dragons, wizards, necromancers, werewolves, vampires, and every other conceivable creature in existence. See, I'm a latent. I'm just waiting for some traumatic event to trigger my repressed magic and give me control over the abilities I've been waiting my entire life to fully access. Until then, I'm a walking bag of very expensive spell ingredients and a future threat wrapped up in one poor tortured body. Now, one huge secret is about to make my life a whole lot more dangerous.

It's very snarky. Also, there is Scarlett. You will like Scarlett. Scarlett is adorable. And pointy. But mostly adorable, so it evens out.

1. I should be done with it on Friday, barring any unforeseen problems. I still have to do my stupid job and I've got a presentation in math class on Thursday, but I should be okay to publish by then.

2. I'm getting a cover! Which is good because I downloaded Photoshop, looked at it for about two minutes, maybe whimpered a little bit, then finally said, "FUCK IT," and almost flipped my laptop.

3. If you want to buy it and would like to pay for it early, that would be very nice and I would be eternally grateful, because I have quite literally no gas in my car and very little food in my house. Um. (One good thing about living in Pennsylvania is that I somehow made it to class last night because I pretty much coasted half of the way there and half of the way back. Yay for big hills, I guess.)