all our lonely kicks are getting harder to find

1. So after exhausting myself writing two papers yesterday right near the deadline, I'm taking a much-needed break today. Even though I have another five-page paper due Tuesday, and a 3000-5000 word essay due in a week and a half -- which I only found out about last Wednesday. Crap. :( At least I don't have that much else to do this week, and I'm starting to get over my cold, which is good.

2. The only truly cool thing I did this week was go see Andrea Gibson perform in town Tuesday evening, and she was absolutely amazing. Seriously, words can't even describe how good she was (not like I'm all that good describing how good something is when I'm half-tired anyway :PPP)! She had a great on-stage presence with an awesome rapport with the audience, and the way she performed her poetry was, to be slightly clichéd and over-the-top, spellbinding. Definitely worth missing the two screenings I had to go to at the same time. ;-)

(For those of you who aren't familiar with Andrea Gibson, I have links to some videos of her performing in my last entry, but here are some others: "Swingset" || "Crabapple Pirates" || "Unfinished Masterpiece" || "Photograph" || "How It Ends" || "For Eli" || "Andrew")

3. I finally got to see The Social Network today, and I really liked it! It's a very well-done movie -- the acting, dialogue, and cinematography were all top-notch. That said, I still wouldn't put it in my "favorite movies" list, considering that it didn't really grab and engage me the way I was hoping it would. (I still think The King's Speech deserved its Best Picture Oscar anyway. :D)

4. Tai chi has been canceled this semester.  Boo.  DX  At least I didn't pay for the class (even though I was meaning to but decided to wait)?  That's consolation, at least.

5. Finally got around to playing Puerto Rico with the gaming club this afternoon, which I really enjoyed! Check it out if you can/are interested, as it's quite fun. (I also really enjoyed History of the World, which we played a couple of weeks ago, though I don't think I mentioned that yet. :B)

5a. Speaking of games: vethica recently pointed out to me that an online version of Dominion exists! Even though I'm not at all good at it, I have a lot of fun with this game, and I'm wondering if maybe any of you might be interested in playing? If you're interested but never played before, here's some more information about it, and I've uploaded the game rules here. Anyway, I'm always looking for more opponents, so although I'm not sure when I'll find the time in my busy schedule to fit a couple of games in (even though a game usually lasts around a half hour, so it's not that long), if you're interested in playing just let me know, through AIM (when I'm online), e-mail (mecteol@gmail.com), PMing me, leaving a comment here, whatever. My username over there is quadruplify, BTW, surprise surprise. XD

6. As I mentioned in my last entry, one of my professors this semester did an interview on The Daily Show on Wednesday! If you missed it, here it is:



And for all you Canadians reading this, here's where you can see it.

7. Finally, a big welcome to thecityofdis, theeonenonly, monochromejive, and minamoto, who I met through various friending memes this week. Hello new people! *waves* I don't have a real intro post right now, but this is the best I've got (or here if you prefer Dreamwidth). If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask! :D

(And to those I met over at russia_sushi, sorry about the lack of giant gay robot ninjas in this post. D: I know the Transformers franchise has some if y'all are interested, but now that I've mentioned it, I.........kinda want to come up with my own. And now I think I have an idea for a book series or movie or TV show in my head right now. Great, just what I need, another one. :3)

The situation in Egypt seems to have taken a turn for the worse; after yesterday's peaceful "million man march" on Tahrir Square in Cairo, pro-government counter-protesters have come out of the woodwork begun clashing with the anti-Mubarak protesters who have been on the streets for the past week. Because the attacks appear to be coordinated and tend to be coming from plainclothes police and security officers, and it's very likely that Mubarak's government has planned the recent violence; as a result, three people are confirmed dead and at least 1500 others have been injured. Meanwhile, Mubarak has promised electoral reform and to step down when his term ends in September, despite continued calls for his immediate resignation. The only good that seems to have come out of today is that anti-Mubarak protesters have re-taken Tahrir Square (though this might not last for long), and the Internet in Egypt has been turned back on.

ontd_political has their latest live-blog here, though the one before that has an exhaustive list of liveblogs, Twitter accounts, articles, and other resources; because I won't try to replicate that here, go to those links first for the latest information. I've also been retweeting some good bits of info on my own Twitter (to all my Twitter followers: sorry about all the spam XD).

Here's a list of some of the best articles and analysis I've come across over the past couple of days. There's a lot this time, so recommended readings are in bold:

Other liveblogs I've been following:
Al Jazeera: Tuesday 2/1 || Wednesday 2/2 || Thursday 2/3
The Lede @ New York Times
Mother Jones
Mondoweiss

( Cut for length... )

As always, feel free to link to this page to "boost the signal," and also if I missed anything you'd like to see in this list, let me know in the comments (especially if they're from non-mainstream or non-Western sources). Hope these posts haven't been too annoying for y'all. ;-)