Dear Peepsters,

Okay. I'm tired of reviewing crap. I'm bored of it, I'm sure everybody else is bored of it, so it's time for a CHANGE.

I will probably keep readinginbed.net for awhile... just because I like the name and there is about five years of blogging history in those archives.

So now I'm starting nursing school, I figure it's a good time to document my adventures, and thus I have created........

NURSE SHEENA to the rescue!

It might save your life, but it will probably most likely send you into seizures.

Anyway, I hope it's a good read and that I'll have some crazy stories to report.

See you on the flip side...

XO,
Sheena

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**** - movie, drama



It's a little hard for me to watch a movie when I know the ending is sad and that people die... but Milk was so raved about and I think its message is very pertinent, so I decided to suck it up and watch it.

Sean Penn was really good, of course, and all the other gay boys were fine, although didn't stick out too much for me (except for Diego Luna, but that was because he was WEIRD in it).

But I think it really struck the right tone, despite the fact that I'm a sucker for sap and will gladly have my heartstrings tugged. I love a good cry over the death of a tragic figure, but you know... I felt like Milk didn't milk it (har har).

You see the character's flaws as well as his strengths, and although he's portrayed in an obvious positive light, I don't think he was glorified, and I think that's what separated the movie from other biopics I've seen. So all around very good, and I definitely recommend. I wish we had somebody like Milk to galvanize the current gay rights movement.

Labels: drama, four stars, movie

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***** - miscellaneous

[Pictures to come if W.'s waterproof camera survived... nobody's holding out much hope, though.]

Seeing as I'm a veteran of the River Tolt, you'd think I would have the good sense to stay away.

Thankfully, that was not so, and I once again braved the "Not-Your-Typical-Lazy-River-Float". This time, though, I was prepared.

Things that are a MUST on the "Never-A-Dull-Moment" Tolt River are:

• Your own air mattress--DO NOT SHARE. Tubes are okay, but your butt and hips will take a beating. The most important thing is to have your own craft. Sharing will limit your ability to maneuver and you will probably hurt a lot more later.


• Shoes or aqua socks. Flops will be goners and anything that isn't secure on your feet won't be as good when you've met up with a submerged log and have to get out and run on the rocky banks after your escaped float.


• A hearty breakfast, unless you can survive on soggy Junior Mints and Whoppers.


• A hot day and an early start so you don't freeze as the sun wanes.


• Non-breakable beverage containers. No more Wyder's Pear in glass bottles that will break off in your hand if you decide to fall over your raft into a bunch of rocks.


• Lots of beer. The drunker you are = the less scared you'll be = more FUN.


• Extra rafts, if perchance you decide to crash into a giant fallen tree and rip a 3-foot gash in your tube.


• YOUR WITS.

If you have all of the above and like to have a good time, then you will come away from your Tolt experience much the better and probably more alive.

And most important of all, kids, don't forget to giveth to the Tolt before you taketh your amazing experience (it likes beer and destroyed floats).

Oh, and expect to bleed... at least a little.

Labels: five stars, miscellaneous

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*** - movie, drama



Okay, so the book is probably my all-time favorite. I've read it about a gazillion times (translation: 7 or 8 times) and have always been so in awe of how AMAZING it is. Harper Lee is a friggin' genius.

Anyway, the first time I watched TKAM was sophomore year of high school, and I remember being disappointed by it. This time was, unfortunately, no different.

The problem, really, I suppose is trying to cram only a choice few out of so many extraordinary moments into a 2-hour movie. Along the way, characters, and all of those other moments that make the novel truly great, get snipped out as well.

The end product then contains these themes that run right smack into the next one and the whole thing just seems hurried and slap-dash and contrived. The only part where it slows down is the courtroom scene, which comprises the best 20 minutes of the film.

So I'm a little sad that I can't enjoy this movie more, but on the other hand, I'm really not surprised. TKAM is so brilliant, that I really believe that no mere movie could ever do it justice.

Labels: drama, movie, three stars

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**** - movie, comedy



Although this is pretty much a modern ripoff of 1960's Best Picture winner, The Apartment, I still enjoyed it a lot... mostly because Simon Pegg is a funny dude and because I actually like Kristen Dunst (I have this vague feeling that most people don't for some odd reason).

[Anyway, first, people, watch The Apartment. It's a Billy Wilder film, and showcases Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine when they were in their fresh and young 20s. And if you say that B&W films bore you, then I SHUN you!!]

So the premise of both movies is a guy tries to climb the executive ladder thinking it'll make him the happiest man on earth, but of course, in movies, money and social position never make people happy. Instead, cute chikadees like MacLaine and Dunst do! So it's part comedy, part romance, part drama, part coming-of-age and all of these parts actually fit pretty well together and make for an entertaining story.

But really, everybody, watch The Apartment first!

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***** - miscellaneous


I've only recently become enamored with podcasts, which is a little weird since they've existed for I forget how long, but at least three or four years, right? I never got on that bandwagon, but hey, now I'm here and it's GREAT.

There are the obvious popular ones like "This American Life" and "All Songs/Things Considered", etc., but I've just discovered this "Stuff You Should Know," and I already really lurv it.

Firstly, Josh and Chuck are hilarious... I end up snorting with laughter on the bus, which probably disconcerts most of the other riders, but I can't help it.

Secondly, the topics really are great, ranging from things like cannibalism, the eye of a tornado, salt water as a fuel, and the Great Pacific Garbage Patch (which I HIGHLY recommend because it talks about things like plastic decomposing into tiny bits of plastic that are called "mermaid tears" because little turtles and fishies and Nemos eat them and DIE... anyway, good for global awareness).

Thirdly, who doesn't want to learn about all this great stuff on their commute to work, right? I would listen to it all day if I could, but then I would just be sitting at work doing nothing and bosses don't usually like nonproductivity. (They don't usually like blogging either, but that's a different story...)

Labels: five stars, miscellaneous

 2 comments

**** - website



I can't figure this Labels thing out, guys. If you click on the book label, it'll take you to a page my book reviews, but it will only show 20 of them. Which is, obviously, not all of them. And I don't understand how to have it show more...?? GARR.

I thought labels would be the answer to all my genrefication problems, but it is NOT. UNCOOL, blogger!

So anyway. There's all these things I want to do to reorganize this place, but it's not woooorking. Wahhhhhhhhhh.

I guess that's my biggest problem with Blogger... if you want to customize your layout and not use their preformed templates, then they make it REALLY hard to manipulate stuff and you have to search through a million forum posts in order to figure out anything. But when I tried WordPress, I couldn't get THAT to work either. It's like these blog sites are trying to make you conform... they're the MAN and they're trying make me assimilate.

So anyway, how do I DO this??

Labels: four stars, website

 1 comments

***** - foods



Somebody please make these for me. PLEASE!!!

Labels: foods

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**** - fiction



Sequel to Love Walked In, which I reeaaally liked, so I was excited to finally get my hands on a paperback version of this. I think Belong comes off as a little more chick-lit-ish... I'm not sure why, but I felt like the themes in Loved were more original and intriguing, whilst Belong is a little more cliché and was very suburban drama--Stepford-y, I guess. But, I still enjoyed it and I think it was worth picking up just to see where all the characters ended up, several years after the first book.

Labels: book, fiction, four stars

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*** - movie, drama, biopic



I don't know much about Bob Dylan except what I learned during senior year of college in American Popular Song (I took it for an easy credit, but that class actually came in pretty darn handy for Scene It: Music).

So as I was watching this, I was pretty confused. For the entire time. Wait, Bob Dylan was black when he was a little boy? Was he the inspiration for Michael Jackson? Wait, his name was Woody? Or was it John? Or Jack? Or what the EFF is going on???

That said, it was actually kinda fun and cool to watch, and I liked Bob's weird accent that he had throughout with most of the actors playing him. I don't think it was very poignant in any way, and wasn't very gripping... but sometimes, you just want to watch a bunch of people with weird hair speaking in funny accents, so really, I think this is the perfect movie for that.

Labels: biopic, drama, movie, three stars

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**** - fiction, short stories



The only beef I have with Jhumpa Lahiri, and it's not a very big one, is that she's just a wee little bit too depressing. Or maybe depressing is not the right word... her books just exude melancholy.

It's like a drug, actually. Every time I finished a story, I would feel this sadness seeping through me... this overwhelming despondency at the way life sometimes doesn't work out. And that's really all the book is--stories about the failures of life.

And it sounds like it wouldn't be good, doesn't it? It sounds like reading this book might make you want to jump into a bathtub full of box jellyfish, but the writing is so good, the moments in the plot where ... I don't know how you would describe it, but I get a tingling... I get chills! (as they would say on SYTYCD).

So really, it is worth it! Even for a happy ending kind of gal like me.

Labels: book, fiction, short stories

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*** - movie, drama



Okay, so you made me cry a lot, Will Smith and Rosario Dawson, and I mean a LOT, but that's not so unusual when we're talking about movies with people dying and lots of tragedy and atonement.

What IS unusual is that there was so much hype surrounding this supposed "twist" in your plot, when I didn't think it was very twist-y at all. Not so much twist-y as incredibly depressing and slightly ridiculous. And you know, things would have been much better had you, Will Smith, not used the L-word with Ms. Dawson here, who, yes, is lovely, but you knew her for what, like THREE DAYS??

COME ON!! And really, to be in love with some strange woman while you're still having hallucinations and dreams about your dead wife, is just sick. Sick!

But the cinematography was gooorgeous. And I do love me some box jellyfish, mm-HMM.

Labels: drama, movie, three stars

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*** - fiction



Book Club Choice - 4/09

Okay, here is my train of thought as I read through this:

Ugh. This is weird. And post-apocalyptic. I hate post-apocalyptic stories. Or do I just hate dystopian stories? Whatever, this is crummy.

Okay, this is getting interesting, even though I don't understand what's going on. But that's okay, because none of the characters do either.

I wonder how this is going to resolve, because it's going to be really gooood!

I'm almost to the end! The revelation is going to be so enlightening!

WTF!!!!

So basically, it leads you on a pretty good story for the most part, and there's an underlying mystery to everything, and there are theories for what happened to the earth, and then ... and then...!! It doesn't explain anything. WHAT A TEASE.

Stupid, stupid book.

Labels: book, fiction, three stars

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**** - movie, drama



I have problems with movies that I think are going to be painful to watch. In the end, yes, the parts where Jamal gets tortured and the part with the mercury in the eyes is definitely cringe-worthy, but I think I overestimate the cringiness in relation to the watchability... and yes, I'm just making up words here.

So let's see... there was all this hype and all those Oscars... I thought I'd better at least watch it once. So I did, and it was good... but I've seen better. Since the only other Oscar nominee I've seen is Frost/Nixon, I can't really say if it deserved to win this year, but I wouldn't say it didn't deserve to win.

And all the actors who played Jamal were so super cute! Despite him looking so much younger than Latika in the end... but whatever. I can forgive anything as long as there's a sweet Bollywood dance scene at the end.

Labels: drama, four stars, movie

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**** - Online Music Service



I've mostly used Pandora at work, which is... you know... not bad, and they have lots of information on the songs, albums, artists, etc. Their "autoplay/genius/music genome" whatever is likewise okay for some types of music, and horrible for others. I've found some good music on Pandora, so I have to commend it for that.

But... BUT!!! Grooveshark is like ... 10x better. Why? Because you can listen to the songs you want to listen to, immediately! It's like having the most gigantic iPod library with you AT ALL TIMES (that you're at a computer...).

No, like, really. You can search for a song, any song, and if they have it in their library (which they do 99% of the time), then you can click on "Play", and it will play it! Right then! It won't search for music that's "similar" to the song, it won't recommend other choices, it won't make you pay for it, it will just play it.

You don't even have to sign up for an account to listen to music! It's helpful to sign up to save favorites and playlists and all of that, but it's not necessary. Also, their autoplay is just as good as Pandora's, which pretty much negates any of the latter's appeal. I don't know how Grooveshark does it (that's some crazy copyright agreement), but I don't really care either, as long as it works.

The only reason I gave it 4 stars is because it will sometimes cut the music off for a sec or two and say my bandwidth is too low when I KNOW it's not. And it seems to happen only for certain songs, which is weird and random, but whatever. It's only slightly annoying.

So join! And favorite me so we can be buddies and stalk each other's favorite songs and playlists.

Labels: four stars, website

 2 comments

***** - foods


Yummy gooey goodness.

I've always hated oatmeal. Who knows why... something about its consistency and mushiness and taste all combined to make me despise oatmeal. It would SOUND good... mm, brown sugar and maple? Strawberries and cream? I'll give it a go! And then... disappointment.

So of course, I've been hesitant about ever trying Cream of Wheat. Hot breakfast cereals didn't seem to be my thing, you know?

But they have it in the work cafeteria, so I decided to try it one day and... DELICIOUS! Thumbs up, Cream of Wheat! Way to not be gross!

Many of you will say that Cream of Wheat is very like oatmeal... especially when I put granola in it. But IS it? Are you SURE?

Consider this marked difference: I hate oatmeal, and I love Cream of Wheat! That makes the two very UNlike, in my opinion.

So never mind any arguments of rationality... the truth is in the farina (whatever that is).

Labels: five stars, foods

 1 comments

** - graphic novel



Book Club Choice - 3/09

This book was WEIRD. Weird and CREEPY.

A common thread of our discussion was how weird and creepy it was, and how all the sexuality of the book made everything weirder and creepier.

We all thought we probably wouldn't recommend this book to anybody, unless you count D's suggestion for goth chicks who are cutters, but nobody really counts D's suggestions in general.

I think some of the worst readings are when you don't understand the characters' motivations. I'm reading this thinking, "WHY the heck would anybody do that?! It seems so stupid!" And of course, it is stupid and ends in misery and disaster, but what can you do?

All you can do is keep reading and get subsequently depressed about the horrible outcomes, put the book down, and wish you hadn't spent all that time on it.

So there you have it. My honest opinion.

Labels: fiction, graphic novel, two stars

 1 comments

"If they just realized that we only get one chance at life, and a piece of land is a piece of land. My husband is just going to get 6 foot by 6 foot, and that's all any of us are going to get."

-Kate Carroll, whose husband, Constable Stephen Carroll, was killed in a string of attacks on security officials in Northern Ireland, the first deadly acts of political terror in the region since 1998's peace accord

Labels: miscellaneous

 0 comments

***** - Mystery



I was on a mystery binge with P.D. James for awhile, but I got kind of tired of the Englishness and the strange plots and unlikeable characters, so when my boss recommended Love, I thought it sounded pretty interesting.

About a bunch of rich, white, bored housewives making trouble for themselves in a upscale Connecticut neighborhood... and of course, one of them ends up hanging from a tree, murdered. Lots of great characters, but not necessarily lots of suspects, and it's a very enjoyable read all the way through.

It does make me think about cheating and what a selfish act it is. If I was married for several years, and found out my husband was having an affair, I don't think I'd KILL him, but I like to think I'd drop him immediately. I hate to think of myself as a pushover or easily manipulated, and my rational side knows that there's always more fish in the sea.

However, would I really break it off that easily? I'm not sure... it's so easy to believe people when you want to believe them... I want to be tough and believe that there is no moral ambiguity when it comes to cheating--it's always wrong. But would I forget all this if really happened to me??

Labels: book, fiction, five stars, murder mystery

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**** - fiction



I'm a big fan of WWII. Not a fan of the fact that it happened and 60 million people died, but you know... it's possibly the greatest thing that ever happened in the history of the world.

So this was an interesting perspective--on the German side. Liesel and her foster family take in a Jew and hide him in their basement for a couple of years, profoundly changing her life and perspective.

Of course, there are consequences, but the story is very readable and has an interesting narration style. Gets a little depressing towards the end, but I suppose I should have expected that. I mean... it IS Germany at the end of WWII--not a very fun place to be (if you're German).

Not as mind-blowing as I thought it would be, but it was pretty solid, and I'd recommend it for literary war buffs.

Labels: book, fiction

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