bear tooth

After dinner we found that there was enough time to make it to the Bear Tooth cinema in time to see "Speed" a movie about extreme skiing. We realised we should have come hear to eat :( We thought we didn't want to wait almost 2hours to eat (when the movie started) but it turns out there is an eating area in the lobby of the cinema. We totally could have gone there. Oh well. As it was we were way too stuffed to order anything for the movie, not even soda. Ooh!! I totally forgot to mention... The Bear Tooth is a cinema that has taken out every other row & replaced it with tables. You can buy slices of pizza or a whole one & beer or soda, wine, burritos, salads, deserts... They give you a little mini traffic cone with a number on it & bring your food to you in the cinema. It's so fun! We were so bummed to not get to order. The movie was fun. I don't really get skiing. Regular skiing, let alone extreme skiing so all the guys in it seem pretty crazy to me. But seeing the amazing mountains of Alaska I can totally see the appeal of wanting to "conquer" them & ones like them. We will have to go back to that cinema. It was awesome. And, it's only $3/ticket!

gwennie's

After the bank museum we were hungry. But instead of the usual fast food or somewhere we'd already been we looked in a guide book and found a place to eat. We finally found Gwennie's family restaurant. Wow! What a weird place. The flourecent lights had a yellow cover & the tables were green so there was a weird colour to everything. The walls were huge stones, and all the people that worked there were dressed funny. Very off. We had a friendly japaniese grandmother waitress. We didn't stay long but I guess it was what were looking for. ...?

bank museum

After getting everything done at headquarters we thought we'd try & see a historical museum that is in one of the Wells Fargo Banks: the Alaska Heritage Museum. We missed it last year. We got there 30 min before it was supposed to close and it was way fun. The woman there was so nice and there were great paintings and native artifacts. Well worth it.

training

Sort of teaching people about handling the dogs. It's so badly organised though and they aren't even really telling people what will be expected of them tomorrow. The very basics. It's getting bigger every year & it's so unprofesional. Something's gotta give.

29

Happy Leap Day everyone! We'll see you again in 4 years. Happy actual birthday to everyone who is born on leap day & doesn't get to celebrate on their birthday every year :)

wall to wall bodies

There are soooo many people here this year! About 3 times as many as last year. And last year there were more than the year before. We'll be lucky to get one team of dogs, let alone more (A had 4). I should have gotten my card last year. Goober.

base camp

We made it to the Meliium Hotel where the Iditarod headquarters is. We're gonna take our dog training & get our handler card and see some mushers speak. (did you notice it's colder than yesterday?)

full spread

They told us a "continental breakfast" came with our hotel room. Now, we've had that deal before (mostly on our cross country trip) and it was anything from an open box of donuts to cerial & danishes, so that's what we expected here. Yesterday we slept late & were going to Snow City Cafe anyway so we missed it. But this morning, were were there. Wooo! Boy howdy they sould not call it "continental". There was a whole kitchen back there with a buffet with fruit, pastries, scrambled eggs, juice, coffee/tea, and you can make your own waffle. It was all so fun. Until we sat down next to two couples who were lamenting the world today & crazy right wing crap. Did put a bit of a damper on it but the food was still great (for a hotel free buffet). We'll be back tomorrow.

minimalist

We were looking up something on my blog from last year (which day was what) and I realised I didn't have many posts at all! Only 2 on a couple days! Hmmmm. I guess I'd only had the phone a couple months at that point and was still figuring it out, but that's crazy! In New York this summer I sent a post on average every 5 miutes (almost). It was crazy! So, maybe I'll find a happy medium. :)
(note: we looked up my blog on Alex's iPhone & realised we hadn't seen one since we left LA, where they are literally everywhere. Everyone has to be so trendy there)

humpy's

As we are, apparently, in a rut we are having our traditional Thursday before the race dinner at Humpy's. It is an amazing place to people watch, get a great burger and good beer (acording to Alex). They again are having a reindeer sausage eating contest. The lead so far tonight is 11(!). Ya think we'll be back next year? Uh... Yeah!

anoyance

I hate that when I send a post from my phone (as most of the posts are) and I forget to put a subject in so there is no post title! Aaaak! And when I'm travelling, like I am now, there is no way to go in and fix it. Bummer. I guess i'll have to remember to fix it when I get home.

Another anoying thing... My phone has gone weird on me? Or is is cingular? All morning it's been telling me the correct date & time. But whe we were at Gwennies I notices the picture I took was filed in the wrong place. The photos are named with the date and time as their name and it all of a sudden says it's the 28th!?!? What the heck? So weird? Did some machine at cingular, uh, at&t decide the 29th was wrong? So now my photos are named & filed wrong. My texts are in the wrong place, my e-mails are in the wrong order. Ugh. Maybe I'm too dependent on technology :)

One last anoying thing is that there is no spell check in texting. I know the nature of texts is to spell words in all funny ways but I don't do that. All my bog posts are through text & even when I'm writing a regular text I tend to write as if sending an e-mail or letter. I just think it's nice & polite. But I'm typing so fast on a tiny phone keyboard so almost every blog post has spelling errors. I sometimes try to read it over before hitting send but I'm always just trying to get it sent so don't do that (see anoyance 1). So, please forgive the spelling & gramatical mistakes & be thankful I've posted anything :) That's what I'm going to tell myself.

books!

Yea! Our favorite Alaskan bookstore, Title Wave Books. Ahhhh. Home.

interactive art

Thay have a whole exhibition on the natives & a lot of it is interactive. Here's me wearing seal gut mittens, one with reed/straw lining. It make the world of difference. We had to get the book on the exhibition. Of course.

you are what you read

Thay had a great childrens part of the museum & this was one of the pieces. Love it!

art and artist

Alex sketching at the Anchorage Museum. what great stuff they have!

wow!

Not sure how much you can see in this phone pic but the view of & across the Cook Inlet is amazing.

mmmmmm

Brunch! Yummers.

this is how people get sick

It's below freezing outside but it's soooooo hot in our room (with no wisable way to turn down the heat) we had to turn on the air conditioner! So dumb. Wven opening the window didn't help. Oh well.

oops

So... Uh... On that last post, when I wrote it's -1°f what I meant was -1°C. That would be really cold if it was F! But I don't have a way to get into my blog posts and edit it. Sorry.

Hey! We just saw our first dog sled in the back of a truck in front of us. So, about 9 min in town & there one is. Yea!

And I forgot to mention... On out totally crappy Continental flight here we saw the Northern Lights out the window! So cool. (see what you're missing Alli?!)

the last fronteer

We made it! And it is cold! Well, not too bad. It's -1°f. Luggage, car, hotel, sleep...

sea/tac

We've had some (crappy) dinner & wandered around all the shops & bought a book & a card and taken quite a few photos and are now on our way again. Heading north to the very cold. :) The Seattle airport is very cool. A HUGE window wall so you can sit in the benches & watch the planes take off. It's a huge area with a few food places with lots of tables & chairs, big trees (!) lots of plants and even "street" lights. So very fun. Way better than Salt Lake City (where we stopped over last year) or Vegas (ugh-where we stopped over on the way home last year). We'll be back next week, this time for breakfast :)

seattle

Alex dealing with work even on vacation :) We're off to find some dinner.

burbank airport

Or, Bob Hopert as they call it, feels like my childhood home.

off we go

First leg is to Seattle.

waiting...

Getting a cab in LA is not like New York or London in ANY way. We called one to get to the airport today & said 20 min. after 50 minutes and no cab in sight we left in our own car. It's not far & Mel can get the car, but what a pain for her! If we knew we could have had a friend take up (Mel was over the hill) but thought a cab would be the easiest. Ha ha ha. Oh well. It's done now.

after the show

Once the Oscars was over we hung out & talked for quite a while. Maureen shared recipies with Melis and Alex shared whisky with Steve. We stayed up was too late, ate way too much sugar, and has lots of fun! Thanks guys! Let's do it again next year! :)

oscar night!

We're having a quiet night at home to watch the Oscars. Friends that Melis has worked with, Maureen & Steve, came over as did Melis. It's a good group of people cause it's not to many that there's so much talking you can't hear the show, but enough that it makes an "event".

I don't know how we got along before TiVo though. The amount of time we paused the show so we could discuss (speeches, outfits, films, etc) was huge, as was our use of the 8second rewind. How great is that to go back to hear what they said, see the tatoo, see what was missed by looking down.

We had tons of food and munchies and amazing banana bread that Maureen made. Wow, that's good. Yea! Go "Once" song!

Zzzzzzzz...

fun pic 2

Reflections in the rain soaked pavement at the Egyptian.

fun pic 1

Just a cool shot at the Egyptian.

art department

After eating a horrible lunch at H-wood & Highland, Melis met us & we all went back to the Egyptian for a panel discussion of the Production Designers & Set Decorators. That moderator was MUCH better but it was veeeerrrryyy long (and the Sweeney Todd people weren't even there). Learned a lot about personalities & such. Afterwards, Mel went on her way & we took the subway back over (under) the hill. Got some dinner & came home.

us & oscar

US in front of the Kodak theater.

(I guess all the working out isn't doing much. My face just looks swollen. Ugh)

getting ready

They were getting ready for the big day tomorrow (today) at Hollywood & Highland. They had to put up a big rain cover over the red carpet which is a bummer but it still looks festive! :) Looking forward to the show tomorrow.

oscar nominees

Today we went to the Egyptian theater in Hollywood to see the nominated picture editors speak. It was great to hear them all talk. Roderick Jaynes (aka the Cohen Brothers) wasn't there and neither was the french editor of "The Diving Bell & the Butterfly" which was a bummer as it is my favorite film in the editing category, and others as well. The moderator sucked but they mostly overcame it. I'm glad we went but I have to say that I think last year's panel was better.

la transport

We were going to Hollywood this morning so we decided to take the subway. We don't do that much here. It's not bad it just doesn't go where we do and it's a weird system. But it got us where we needed to go. :)

lucky number 9

So, 9 years ago today (sat, feb 23) Alex & I had our first date. Can you believe it? 9 years! Whoo! Time so files. Lots of love Sweets! It's been so fun and we've had so many adventures. Yea!!! Can't wait for more :)

tiff's picks choices

I just can't really bring myself to make a list of what I THINK will will the Oscars on Sunday so I'm posting my list of things I would like to win (of the ones nominated). Here it is:

80th Academy Awards - Nominations
Sunday, February 24, 2008

Performance by an actor in a leading role
George Clooney in "Michael Clayton"
Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"
Johnny Depp in "Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
Tommy Lee Jones in "In the Valley of Elah"
Viggo Mortensen in "Eastern Promises"

Performance by an actor in a supporting role
Casey Affleck in "The Assassination of Jesse James..."
Javier Bardem in "No Country for Old Men"
Philip Seymour Hoffman in "Charlie Wilson's War"
Hal Holbrook in "Into the Wild"
Tom Wilkinson in "Michael Clayton"

Performance by an actress in a leading role
Cate Blanchett in "Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
Julie Christie in "Away from Her"
Marion Cotillard in "La Vie en Rose"
Laura Linney in "The Savages"
Ellen Page in "Juno"

Performance by an actress in a supporting role
Cate Blanchett in "I'm Not There"
Ruby Dee in "American Gangster"
Saoirse Ronan in "Atonement"
Amy Ryan in "Gone Baby Gone"
Tilda Swinton in "Michael Clayton"

Best animated feature film of the year
"Persepolis"
"Ratatouille"
"Surf's Up"

Achievement in art direction
"American Gangster"
"Atonement"
"The Golden Compass"
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"
"There Will Be Blood"

Achievement in cinematography
"The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford"
"Atonement"
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Achievement in costume design
"Across the Universe"
"Atonement"
"Elizabeth: The Golden Age"
"La Vie en Rose"
"Sweeney Todd The Demon Barber of Fleet Street"

Achievement in directing
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" Julian Schnabel
"Juno" Jason Reitman
"Michael Clayton" Tony Gilroy
"No Country for Old Men" Joel Coen and Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood", Paul Thomas Anderson

Achievement in film editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" Christopher Rouse
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" Juliette Welfling
"Into the Wild" Jay Cassidy
"No Country for Old Men" Roderick Jaynes
"There Will Be Blood" Dylan Tichenor

Achievement in makeup
"La Vie en Rose"
"Norbit"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original score)
"Atonement" Dario Marianelli
"The Kite Runner" Alberto Iglesias
"Michael Clayton" James Newton Howard
"Ratatouille" Michael Giacchino
"3:10 to Yuma" Marco Beltrami

Achievement in music written for motion pictures (Original song)
"Falling Slowly" from "Once" Music and Lyric by Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova
"Happy Working Song" from "Enchanted"
"Raise It Up" from "August Rush"
"So Close" from "Enchanted"
"That's How You Know" from "Enchanted"

Best motion picture of the year
"Atonement"
"Juno"
"Michael Clayton"
"No Country for Old Men"
"There Will Be Blood"

Achievement in sound editing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" : Karen Baker Landers and Per Hallberg
"No Country for Old Men" : Skip Lievsay
"Ratatouille" : Randy Thom and Michael Silvers
"There Will Be Blood": Christopher Scarabosio and Matthew Wood
"Transformers": Ethan Van der Ryn and Mike Hopkins

Achievement in sound mixing
"The Bourne Ultimatum" Scott Millan, David Parker and Kirk Francis
"No Country for Old Men": Skip Lievsay, Craig Berkey, Greg Orloff and Peter Kurland
"Ratatouille": Randy Thom, Michael Semanick and Doc Kane
"3:10 to Yuma" : Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Jim Stuebe
"Transformers" : Kevin O'Connell, Greg P. Russell and Peter J. Devlin

Achievement in visual effects
"The Golden Compass"
"Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End"
"Transformers"

Adapted screenplay
"Atonement" Screenplay by Christopher Hampton
"Away from Her" Written by Sarah Polley
"The Diving Bell and the Butterfly" (Screenplay by Ronald Harwood
"No Country for Old Men" Written for the screen by Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
"There Will Be Blood" Written for the screen by Paul Thomas Anderson

Original screenplay
"Juno" Written by Diablo Cody
"Lars and the Real Girl" Written by Nancy Oliver
"Michael Clayton" Written by Tony Gilroy
"Ratatouille" Screenplay by Brad Bird; Story by Jan Pinkava, Jim Capobianco, Brad Bird
"The Savages" Written by Tamara Jenkins
****how does one really choose in this category?!?!?!?*****

-------------------------------------------------------------------
The categories below I didn't see ANY of the films so can't really say what I WANT to win:

Best documentary feature
"No End in Sight"
"Operation Homecoming: Writing the Wartime Experience"
"Sicko"
"Taxi to the Dark Side"
"War/Dance" (THINKFilm)

Best documentary short subject
"Freeheld"
"La Corona (The Crown)"
"Salim Baba"
"Sari's Mother"

Best foreign language film of the year
"Beaufort" Israel
"The Counterfeiters" Austria
"Katyn" Poland
"Mongol" Kazakhstan
"12" Russia

Best animated short film
"I Met the Walrus"
"Madame Tutli-Putli"
"Même les Pigeons Vont au Paradis (Even Pigeons Go to Heaven)"
"My Love (Moya Lyubov)"
"Peter & the Wolf"

Best live action short film
"At Night"
"Il Supplente (The Substitute)"
"Le Mozart des Pickpockets (The Mozart of Pickpockets)"
"Tanghi Argentini"
"The Tonto Woman"

dreamy

George Clooney is just really the coolest guy EVER! This week's Time magazine has him on the cover and a fun article about the reporters dinner with him when he invited George over for dinner & he said YES! You have to watch the video on the site of GC looking around the reporters house for a beeping alarm.

Read (& see) it HERE.

And some fun photos HERE.

red moon rising

dad stop over

definitely, maybe

laundrymat

puzzling

at a loss for words

So let me "borrow" someone else's.

This last week I read THIS NY Times article about Susan Jacoby's book, "The Age of American Unreason". I've been meaning to write about it & how disgusted I am by the whole country sometimes, but, as you know, I haven't gotten around to it. The part that got me was when someone on TV was asked:

“Budapest is the capital of what European country?” [She] threw up both hands and looked at the large blackboard perplexed. “I thought Europe was a country,” she said. Playing it safe, she chose to copy the answer offered by one of the genuine fifth graders: Hungary. “Hungry?” she said, eyes widening in disbelief. “That’s a country? I’ve heard of Turkey. But Hungry? I’ve never heard of it.”

Today one of the contributers (Chris) to one of my favorite blogs, Americablog.com, did write about the book & our crazy country. He put into words everything in my head so well. I have quoted it below but his original post is HERE.

"We're a Nation of Dunces"
by Chris in Paris · 2/17/2008 12:11:00 PM ET

Today I gravitated towards Susan Jacoby stories both in the Times and the Post. Her new book "The Age of American Unreason" is about the anti-intellectual and anti-rational epidemics in America. Only last night we had a similar discussion with a Franco-American group over dinner. How do you move a country forward when that country is debating creationism versus evolution? We are not talking about a poor and uneducated country, but a wealthy and educated country. What still surprises me is that many of the uninterested and anti-intellectual people are educated. You don't have to be a pointy-headed intellectual to show interest in the world around us, do you?

Whether we like it (or know it) American money and influence around the world is substantial. Our decisions in Washington do have an impact yet so many care so little. It's "over there" so who cares? As a country we lack curiosity in the world around us as if it doesn't matter. USA is number 1 so who cares? How could anything possibly be any better than what we have? We tell ourselves that we are the best at everything, so it must be true. There's no country that is perfect and you find insular people everywhere but those other countries fail to have the same global influence as America. How can we be so proudly ignorant and still compete? It certainly doesn't bode well for our future economy or especially our foreign policy when we are so proud to be ignorant. As this trend continues, selling the next foreign invasion is going to even easier than Iraq.

layout!

annies3

annies2

annies1

pdc

ugh

tapas dinner

puppet odessey

mary oliver

Alex was so excited that Mary Oliver was coming to UCLA to talk. I, unfortunately, had never heard of her =( so he read me his favorite poem of hers before we went. The auditorium was packed and it was definitely a certain crowd that was there to hear her.

She read from quite a few of her books and from a new unpublished book. She was great. She had a fun personality and read her stuff well. Some people when they read poetry "read" it and are so dramatic, but she was very natural & authentic. I hope to read more of her.