Oh, the Nerdiness of it All

I am about to announce something to the whole of the internet. I am a self professed Twilight nerd. There are times when I am embarrassed of my deep love for all things Stephenie Meyer, but for the most part, I don't mind. Instead I embrace it. However; I do take comfort in the fact that I still maintain a life outside the world of vampires, werewolves, and their love lives. Twilight is not and never will be "MY LIFE". It's just that when I like something, I like it with every part of me. Nothing can change it either. Just the way I roll I guess.

As I'm sure everyone knows, Twilight had a monster weekend this week with the release of the first movie in the series. And after an ENORMOUS (and when I say enormous, I mean huge, crazy, and double the budget) box office intake, the studio that made it is moving up production of the second movie, New Moon. And I am STOKED. Like, the 100%-absolutely-excited-and-psyched kind of stoked. Ah. The movie. I did truly love it. Cheesy? Yes. A little choppy and full of strange camera angles? Definitely. Ridiculous? To the max. Full of beautiful people? Ooooh yeah! Rob Pattinson embodied Edward Cullen in every possible way. From the sarcasm to the absolutely brooding beauty, he was true perfection. I might legitimately love him...okay, not really. But I do think he is fabulous. AND! Was it hilarious, sexy, charming, awkward, and filmed in a beautiful location? Done and done. All I had to do was overlook the little faults and focus on the performances of Edward and Bella. I found them to be absolutely adorable and even believable. Not to mention, they had sexual tension you could cut with a knife and participated in the hottest, possibly most amazing kiss I have ever witnessed. Believe it.



The thing is that people are bashing it. And I'm all for people having their opinions. It's a good thing. But when it comes to bashing, not okay. All I have to say is: WHOA! Settle down. It's just supposed to be a fun and entertaining movie. It's called an adaption for a reason. Yes, there were things I wanted to see that weren't there. And yes, I didn't like a few things. But that's okay. It's hard for me to find a movie where I liked everything about it. The most important thing to me was that I DID feel the exact same feelings that I felt when I read the book. The excitement, the pain, the anticipation, the tension, the desperation. It was all there. And that is really all that matters. That and seeing Edward and Bella, on screen and almost tangible. What can I say? I just love their love!

"As the Good Books says..."

The title of my blog is taken from the film "Fiddler on the Roof". For those who have not seen the greatness that is "Fiddler on the Roof" (a love that happens to be a product of my childhood), Tevye, who is quite possibly one of the greatest fictional characters EVER, is an Orthodox Jew that mostly rocks. He sings about "Tradition" (much better than my dad who, bless his heart, tries to sound and dance like him), sports an awesome beard and hair shirt, and lives in Czarist Russia. Oh, to watch that movie daily. Well, maybe not daily because it is LONG as can be. A good three hours plus. It was "Fiddler on the Roof" that prompted me to read my favorite book, My Name is Asher Lev
because I wanted to know more about Orthodox Jews.

I have a reason for writing about "Fiddler on the Roof" and Asher Lev: I have made a decision to branch out and take a little bit of a leap with my education. While I will keep my major PDBio for now, I am going to try something new. And that would be looking into Jewish Studies as a major or minor. A minor at least, but I make no guarantees that I will keep my major what it is right now.

This all stems from not only my fascination with media involving contemporary Jewish culture but from a class I took last Winter about Judaism in the ancient world. I have never been so enthralled by a class. I loved going to it more than almost anything...except Anatomy. The curriculum required that I read a book called This is My God by Herman Wouk. It details what Orthodox Jews believe. It is a fairly comprehensive look into the everyday lives of Jews across the world. A Jewish Studies minor requires me to take Hebrew (how cool would it to be to write on my Med School application to say "I speak Hebrew"?)and a few other classes about Jewish beliefs and culture. To say the least, I am very excited. Keep your fingers crossed for me that it will work out...

Why So Serious?

As a child, I loved Halloween more than almost anything. Christmas, summer, and Star Wars were the only three things that invoked more joy in my heart than Halloween. My mother would make us elaborate costumes and I would secretly trade my cute little pumpkin trick or treat bag for the biggest pillowcase I could find. I am fairly sure I have never been a girl for Halloween...Robin Hood, a clown, a pumpkin (both gender neutral), a fireman, G.I. Joe, Batman, Clark Kent, and the list goes on. This year would have been the first year I would have been portraying a female character if I had dressed up. I had a plan to be either Mariah Carey or Pam Beesley of "The Office" fame.

Over the last few years, I discovered I have little passion left for Halloween. There is only one thing I find to be of any value concerning this holiday: carving pumpkins.

I used to watch my dad carve pumpkins that were elaborate and pretty much awesome. I would try to imitate but fail miserably and end up resorting back to carving traditional triangles-for-eyes jack-o lantern. But now, I have a handy electric knife, awesome patterns, and a lot of practice under my belt. The only thing I don't have is matches. And so I decided to use my Christmas lights! They look a little funny because of all the different colored lights, but it works. And instead of carving one pumpkin, I went all out. This year it was four, one more than last year. My original plan was to carve Barack Obama, Jim Halpert, The Joker, and another unknown pattern. However, I was in NO mood to have my Obama pumpkin smashed by haters, so I altered the plan...



One of my favorite Pixar movies is "The Incredibles" and I thought since it was Halloween, I ought to do something kid friendly. Hence the Mr. Incredible



I did carve the Joker and when I finished and put the lights in, I was afraid. Oh yes...I was scared of a pumpkin.



And JIM! I just love him...happy!



Then last of all, we have Jack Sparrow. I carve him every year it seems. It's just that he's my favorite to carve because he's just so cool! I always screw up though...



And that...is all.

Yes We Can

"She is my HEARTSONG!"

When one thinks of T.V. shows of the 90’s, things like Seinfield, Friends, 90210, and even 21 Jump Street (Very young Johnny Depp? Watch it.), come to mind.
But one of the greatest and most underrated television shows to come from the decade of boy bands and ugly clothing was Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman.

Just a few weeks ago, my roommate Susie and I were discussing some of the things we love, even going so far as to discuss our guilty pleasures. Susie suddenly became very serious and turned to me. She bit her lip and giggled a little. “Erin,” she said looking ashamed, “I have always loved the T.V. show Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman…” I immediately shot up out of my reclined position in bed and yelled “ME TOO!” We both grinned and giggled, proceeding to talk about how much Dr. Quinn absolutely inspired us both to find a man like Sully and to be our own woman.

This blog is, you guessed it, entirely about the gloriousness of Dr. Quinn.

The main character is Michaela Quinn, the female doctor from Boston that rocks my world. How can a female doctor who adopts 3 random children, moves to the Wild West, and manages to woo a beautiful but rugged mountain man NOT be awesome? She is quite possibly one of the most beautiful women on the planet. And her dresses always seem to be very floofy and girly even though she always gets splattered with blood and guts. She also has a very strong moral compass. She’s always fighting about soe kind of moral dilemma going on in the little town of Colorado Springs. But there is one serious flaw she possesses: the woman does NOT know how to kiss. Every time she and Sully share a kiss, she ends up looking like a dead fish with her lips all puckered out. It’s just no good.

Dr. Mike adopted three random children when their mother unexpectedly died: Matthew, the brooding older brother who ends up being very good looking and kind of a rebel (and gay in real life…dern), Colleen, the girl initially following in Dr. Quinn’s footsteps to be a doctor but instead marrying the marvelous Andrew, and Brian, the goober of a little brother that is just a flat out idiot with a good heart.
In the first season, Matthew and Brian have utterly horrendous girly haircuts that resemble mullets or perhaps something a pilgrim might have had at the first Thanksgiving. Pretty unfortunate if you ask me. But luckily, they got haircuts at the same time and looked just fine. I thought all was well on Dr. Quinn. Oh no. Colleen randomly switched actresses! She was this obnoxious, sort of urgly blonde haired little girl (who happens to be really hot now. I think she was a Bond girl) to a foxy redhead who ends up wooing the handsome Andrew, another town doctor. Apparently, from what I’ve learned on imdb.com, the first Colleen didn’t want to stay on. I’m not complaining about the swap though.

One thing about Matthew that I think is funny. He loves this immigrant girl (can’t remember where on earth she is from) named Ingrid. Ingrid is nice and great for Matthew and they decide to get married. Happy right? False. The writers of the show decided Ingrid needed to DIE. So she gets bitten by some wild animal and dies of rabies. RABIES? Really, Old Yeller?

The other residents of Colorado Springs are what make this show great. Horace, the awkward and weird looking telegraph operator who is in love with Myra, the woman working as a…lady of the night in Hank’s bar. Loren, the nasty old general store owner. Jake the…what does he do? He’s lame. Hank, the bar and brothel/hotel owner. Dorothy (or Theadorthy as we like to call her) the woman the runs the town newspaper and is Dr. Mike’s bestest friend. Robert E. and his wife, Grace (I think), the adorable black couple that make the townies bearable as well as being the owners of a café and horse stable. And the Reverend, who isn’t very reverend-ish because he pursues every unmarried woman in town.

I will finish with my favorite part of the show. Sully…he is my heartsong. His first name is Byron, which is definitely grounds to go by the last name. Only old English poets should go by the name Byron. Sully is a white man that is secretly an Indian. His best friend is named Cloud Dancing (But we call him Dancing Cloud because it rolls off the tongue a little easier) and whenever they see each other they say “Ah-ho!” in greeting. We of Wellington 33 have adopted this method as well. Just don’t yell it across the way or people might think you are pointing out a particularly trashy woman. Back to Sully: he owns the most beautiful dog (a Husky…I want it) and he carries a tomahawk to hurl at people that threaten Michaela. It’s drama all the time with Sully. The only downside to him is that his hair is sick. It’s all long and matted. I mean, he is a mountain man and all, but if you are going to be that beautiful, at least get a haircut, brother.