I would never leave home without

As a New York woman, there are numerous things to consider daily before even walking out the door. The little details such as appropriate footwear for the weather and what snacks I have in my purse can often make or break your day. So every time I step outside, I always perform a mental checklist of the following:

iPod, aka 6000+ songs to shuffle through at my convenience as I walk or take public transportation to my destination. It makes the little moments of the day such as printing at the computer lab between class or waiting for a lunch date bearable as well as generally brightening up my day.

Keyring. I have four keys associated with my apartment building plus building, school and work identification cards and other miscellaneous items that make it possible for me to get anywhere.

Hand Lotion. Chilling winter winds, no gloves and excessive handwashing habits have made this a necessity to battle uncontrollably dry hands that I can't get anything done with.

At least three black basic Papermate pens that are the only devices I am willing to write with. As they tend to die quickly and get lost, I have a backup box of 50 to continually restock.

Bandaids. Between my love of walking long distances in the city and distaste for shoes with socks puts me in constant danger of blisters. Trying to bum bandaids off random girlfriends or co-workers is never successful, so I've learned to keep them in stock.

Subway map and metro card. You always think you know the subway system very well until you get stuck on a random line that you've never taken with no idea which way to go.

And, on really bad days, bag of chocolate chip cookies. Although you'll go home at the end of the day feeling chunkier than when you left, it's the perfect pick-me-up in between stressing about life and trying to solve the problems of the world.

When I grow up

I'll live here...

Have a luxurious...

And a precious...
Vacation at...
and have a closet full of...

But until that day comes, I'll just look forward to the simple things in life: Lord of the Rings marathons, finding awesome accessories in my closet I forgot I had, cereal sales at the supermarket, pretty new graphics to put on my computer, sleeping in once a week and downloading music on Limewire. Ahhh is the life.

My Multiple Personalities

Me and the roomies' newest obsession: The United States of Tara, in which Toni Collette plays a woman who suffers from some form of multiple personality disorder. She tends to slip into these different alters - a 50s housewife, a trucker or a punk teenager - in moments of stress, and the show is about how she and her family deal with these characters. After careful consideration, I've decided that I could easily have multiple alters as well, which I have broken up into four distinct personalities. And, in light of the show, I've even come up with catchy names.

OCD Olivia
We're talking alphabetized spices, a color-coordinated closet and twisting the door knob three times before opening. Although I'm nowhere near that point (ignore my computer files sorted into type, date and subject), I can definitely relate to the people I see on TV who can't leave the house until they brush their hair 100 strokes.

Tobi the Tomboy
There was a time I could name the starting line-up of every NBA team in the league and rattle off the past 15 regular season MVPs. I play fantasy basketball (mainly to appease L) and can get aggressively into sporting events, case in point, the Super Bowl where I spent the last quarter yelling at the TV by myself. Despite my lack of any sort of athletic ability whatsoever, I can't help but love a giant plasma screen, a bucket of chicken wings and men screaming at other men trying to hit a tiny ball with a wooden stick. God bless them.

H
My hipster side loves concerts, obscure bands and movies, flannel shirts, tight tight jeans and modern art. I used to have the largest music collection out of anyone I knew, in the days before ipods, where now it is virtually impossible to have less than several thousands of songs. I love living in the East Village where I can walk down the street in men's v-neck hanes t-shirts, ripped cutoff shorts, a checkered scarf and rustic boots and not look out of place. And someday, if I ever get into cult horror movies, and ditch some of my more uptight qualities, I may have a chance at being this.

The Comedian Carmen (I find this name ridiculous)
If its the right people who get my humor and understand my sarcasm, I can definitely whip out some pretty good one liners. I love being funny and I love making people laugh, I just currently can't do it on a consistent basis. But perhaps one day, I'll be doing stand-up in Vegas making as much money as Jerry Seinfeld does and hopefully being less embarassing to my race than Margaret Cho.

Wish List

1. Tickets to Uncle Vanya with Maggie Gyllenhaal and Peter Sarsgaard. Combined, they have two sets of double aa's in their names, have made what seems like a trillion indie movies and the best hipster couple fashion EVER. I've also never seen a Chekhov on stage before and they are supposed to be amazing.

2. Self-trimming bangs. The whole upkeep thing is just too much for me.

3. Somehow see Elton John and Billy Joel on their current West Coast tour. It's just unfair to taunt me with tour dates that aren't in the East or on days that I'll be home. I really feel like the clock is ticking on Elton and how much he's going to be able to tour, so I need to experience this soon.

4. A neck massage. I think I've been holding a lot of tension in my neck and shoulders and I really felt it when I was dancing today. I think I've been scrunching up my neck because I sit all day at work and in class. The problem is, I don't like people touching me, so I don't know if I'll ever be able to get out these kinks.

5. A well-paid, exciting summer job with the digital division of the New York Times - is that so much to ask?

6. Black skinny jeans - not dark blue, nothing that is faded. The whole blue jeans thing really throws off my ensembles sometimes.

7. NO MORE SNOW. All forms of precipitation ruin my life.

My Favorite Time of Year

This is my long overdue return to the blog world and I figured it would be the appropriate time to broadcast my Oscar picks for the year. As I do every year, despite the shallowness and pointless glamour, become complete enthralled in awards show season and make it my personal goal to be well-informed before the main event. This year, I think I’ve done remarkably well, having watched the last of the major movies last night – The Wrestler – and I’m ready to commit to my Academy Award choices. So please enjoy, and I’ll be keeping score on February 22.

BEST PICTURE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Frost/Nixon
Milk
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

Slumdog Millionaire. It’s the little indie movie that became this year’s Best Picture frontrunner. Having won all of the prior awards this year, it seems to be everyone’s choice, despite the fact that it is not nominated for any acting awards and few technical awards. But, I think the movie was really something amazing, and they will definitely be the movie I am rooting for to win.

BEST DIRECTOR
Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire
David Fincher, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Ron Howard, Frost/Nixon
Stephen Daldry, The Reader
Gus Van Sant, Milk

Danny Boyle, Slumdog Millionaire. This may be the most competitive category this year, with so many highly acclaimed directors. Ordinarily, I can’t imagine Danny Boyle being the winner out of the group, but so far he has been picking up every award, and I don’t think he’ll be denied the honor at the Oscars.

BEST ACTOR
Richard Jenkins, The Visitor
Frank Langella, Frost/Nixon
Sean Penn, Milk
Brad Pitt, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Mickey Rourke, The Wrestler

Sean Penn, Milk. Also my personal favorite for the year (again) – it seems to be a pattern. Despite all the acclaim Mickey Rourke has gotten for The Wrestler, I think Sean Penn’s performance is far and away the best this year because he personified Harvey Milk so well.

BEST ACTRESS
Anne Hathaway, Rachel Getting Married
Angelina Jolie, Changeling
Melissa Leo, Frozen River
Meryl Streep, Doubt
Kate Winslet, The Reader

Kate Winslet, The Reader. In addition to being overwhelmingly biased towards Kate Winslet because she is my favorite actress and I worship the ground she walks on, I really do think she deserves it. I do think the other award show winners this year, Anne Hathaway and Meryl Streep were amazing, but frankly, the German accent and mannish shoes in the Reader really won me over.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Josh Brolin, Milk
Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight
Robert Downey Jr., Tropic Thunder
Philip Seymour Hoffman, Doubt
Michael Shannon, Revolutionary Road

Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight. I’d bet my favorite purse and New York Times subscription on it.

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Amy Adams, Doubt
Penélope Cruz, Vicky Cristina Barcelona
Viola Davis, Doubt
Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
Marisa Tomei, The Wrestler

Taraji P. Henson, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Might be the toughest category this year as there are no front-runners, considering Kate Winslet was nominated for all the previous awards. I frankly loved all the performances, my favorite being Penelope Cruz in the vastly underappreciated Vicky Christina Barcelona. However, after agonizing over this all day, I have finally made a choice. WHEW.

BEST ANIMATED FEATURE
Bolt
Kung Fu Panda
WALL-E

WALL-E. Why do they even have this category? There’s always a clear frontrunner every year. Can’t mess with the adorable everyman robot who falls in love with a sleekly elegant yet violent droid (story of my life).

BEST MAKEUP
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Hellboy II: The Golden Army

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. Another shoo-in. I can honestly say that I did not know the old woman in the hospital bed was indeed Cate Blanchett in heavy makeup and not a randomly cast person. And miniature wheelchair Brad Pitt was pretty impressive as well.

BEST ORIGINAL SONG
''Down to Earth,'' WALL-E
''Jai Ho,'' Slumdog Millionaire
''O Saya,'' Slumdog Millionaire

''Jai Ho,'' Slumdog Millionaire. I’m still wondering why Bruce Springsteen wasn’t nominated; I actually really liked the song he did for the Wrestler. However, this is going to be an interesting category especially with the live performances. I only chose this song because of the hilarious ecstatic Bollywood dancing at the end of the fairly somber and heavy movie featuring the cast, particularly Dev Patel in his real moment of glory.


And the others I didn’t care to comment on, which are pretty vague guesses, particularly when it comes to the documentary and shorts. I essentially chose the title I liked the most.

BEST ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY
Frozen River, Courtney Hunt
Happy-Go-Lucky, Mike Leigh
In Bruges, Martin McDonagh
Milk, Dustin Lance Black
WALL-E, Andrew Stanton, Jim Reardon, Pete Docter

BEST ADAPTED SCREENPLAY
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Eric Roth
Doubt, John Patrick Shanley
Frost/Nixon, Peter Morgan
The Reader, David Hare
Slumdog Millionaire, Simon Beaufoy

BEST ANIMATED SHORT
La Maison en Petits Cubes
Lavatory — Lovestory
Oktapodi
Presto
This Way Up

BEST ART DIRECTION
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Duchess
Revolutionary Road

BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY
Changeling
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST COSTUME DESIGN
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Duchess
Milk
Revolutionary Road

BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
The Betrayal (Nerakhoon)
Encounters at the End of the World
The Garden
Man on Wire
Trouble the Water

BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
The Conscience of Nhem En
The Final Inch
Smile Pinki
The Witness — From the Balcony of Room 306

BEST EDITING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Frost/Nixon
Milk
Slumdog Millionaire

BEST FOREIGN LANGUAGE FILM
The Baader Meinhof Complex (Germany)
The Class (France)
Departures (Japan)
Revanche (Austria)
Waltz with Bashir (Israel)

BEST LIVE ACTION SHORT
Auf der Strecke (On the Line)
Manon on the Asphalt
New Boy
The Pig
Spielzeugland (Toyland)

BEST ORIGINAL SCORE
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Alexandre Desplat
Defiance, James Newton Howard
Milk, Danny Elfman
Slumdog Millionaire, A.R. Rahman
WALL-E, Thomas Newman

BEST SOUND EDITING
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST SOUND MIXING
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

BEST VISUAL EFFECTS
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Iron Man

Vague things I'd like to accomplish

First a disclaimer. Yes, I know I never write. But its because I've had little time to have excess thoughts drifting through my head that I need to filter out onto "paper." Also the news coverage of the topics of the day have been so overwhelming that I also feel little need to add further commentary to the millions of opinions and analysis we are bombarded with daily. However, I do have a few things I want to write down, which in itself is a fairly pointless activity because the few people who do read are those who I've probably already talked their ears off about all the unnecessary topics I tend to go through during the course of the day. But, this is my space and I have the liberty to use it as I want. Please, do not verbalize your opinions, aka complains about my blog (you know who you are). Much appreciated.

Now, I have been thinking a little about a few things I'd like to someday accomplish, and the list is as follows:

1. Write a book, preferably a New York Times bestseller, but I think I could be happy just being able to finish one and seeing it in print. Then, I could go to bookstores and laugh at people as they tried to pronounce the author's name, providing that they would even take it off the shelves.
2. Be featured in a New York Times article. Really, it could be about anything. Over the summer I was in fact interviewed by the New York Times at Coney Island and I gave great commentary about the calories I was consuming in my Nathan's Hot Dog. Unfortunately I never saw the article.
3. Skydive/get a tattoo. Interestingly enough, the two go hand in hand. In the logic of my slightly confused mind (please ask me about my fatness/smartness theory) it's either both or neither, and I'm hoping that one day I'll finally brave it.
4. Be able to clear my mind, even if only for a few minutes. My brain never stops. I have epic dreams; epic as in full length movie plots in exotic locations with fully developed characters. So one of these days, I'm going to figure out how to really zen out and be able to not think, maybe its meditating, for even a short period of time.
5. Contribution to a movie. This was one of my dreams as a kid, to be a movie director. And back then, I didn't know about places like Tisch Film where you can literally spend four years learning exactly how to make a movie. I thought being a director was just something you stumbled upon. But now, thinking more realistically, I don't care if I come up with an idea for a script, produce or I'll even be a key grip (apparently they are the person who directs the other grips who move stuff around the set). The point is, I want to see my name in the credits, and I want to feel like I made a contribution to what I think is an amazing art form.
6. See Elton John live. The man is absolutely incredible, and also quickly aging. I would never forgive myself if I never made this happen.
7. Spend an entire day without saying something sarcastic, contradicting someone, or using negative words. Actually, nix that, why strive for the impossible?
8. Run a marathon. This is very vague. Considering I don't think I have ran 26 miles total in my entire life, it is not really a plausible goal. But, it's just food for thought. I mean hey, you never know right? And it's not like I wrote climb Everest or something - running a marathon is actually something ordinary people do all the time. So hey, maybe one day, I'll be that person.

Planet Orange

I'd like to commemorate tomorrow's season opener of the Phoenix Suns with a few of my favorite Phoenix Suns moments, players and general happenings through the past few years.

Steve Nash joins the Phoenix Suns in 2004, signaling the dawn of an era. The beginning of discussions about his ungodly number of assists per game, contemplating his post-game ice bath routine and wondering if he'll ever cut his hair. We cheer his left-handed layups, curse his terrible defense and gag when we think about him licking his fingers constantly after manhandling the basketball or running them through his greasy, greasy hair. We bow down to thee.

Can we mention the run-and-gun Phoenix Suns without discussing Robert Sarver? The less cool version of Mark Cuban who made his millions by running independent banks in Arizona and San Diego. I cringe everytime I think about his gaudy "spirited" game-day attire with foam glove in hand and lack of any basketball knowledge or experience. I miss Bryan Colangelo oh so much...

The '05-'06 Phoenix Suns team, who basically dominated my entire life that year. Lineup - Steve Nash - being MVP, Shawn Marion - playing every position possible, Raja Bell - clotheslining Kobe Bryant, Boris Diaw - as center, something I'm still trying to figure out, Leandro Barbosa - maybe briefly saw him as a blur a few times, Eddie House - who took oh, 30 shots a game, Tim Thomas - not really a great player but somehow saved our ass a bunch of times, plus some obscure players that only saw the end of the bench such as Nikoloz Tskitisvilli who I doubt anybody but me remembers and I only do because it took me weeks to learn how to properly say his name. Those were the days. Before Amare did his annoyingly selfish take over the court routine or we picked up the slowest, oldest player known to man (Shaquille O'Neal).

I can't mention the '05 - '06 Phoenix Suns without talking about the best and probably only sports book I will ever read in my life :7 seconds or less by Jack McCallum who followed the Suns around for that entire season and wrote a book about it. It is hilarious. The dry, witty humor and the perfect characterizations of everything from the coaches to the Suns pizza guy (Bianco - the best pizza in the country guy) is so good. I've read it 4 times and every time, I am still laughing and get caught up, hoping that the team will pull through and win in the end, which obviously, they don't...

And finally, it's more of a Suns inside joke, but I can't talk about the run-and-gun era Suns without talking Pat Burke. He is the only Irish-born player that has played in the NBA. His main role with the Suns was to cheer on the team, provide comic relief (please see his Pat Burke For Congress Video - he's just not that busy right now) and be the token bald guy. We yelled the loudest when he came on the last 2 minutes of the game, when the Suns were up by 25 points and he came on, scored a few three pointers and made some wimpy dunks. Long live Pat Burke, you'll always have a fond place in my heart.

Discarded topics

The lack of blogging entries has been duly noted. I'd just like to announce that it is not just a result of me being busy with other more "important" things (school, work, updating my wardrobe), it is also a lack of things to say about the world. I know what you're thinking, most important presidential election of our lives, biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, however, they are really dry topics when you think about it because everybody has covered them so throughly. In fact, I'm really tired of hearing about the latest poll results or whose stock is doing worse, so I don't wish to subject others to the endless monotony of these topics. Not to mention, it's probably all I've talked about with others for the past month. So I'd like to point out some of the blog topics that have come to mind that I promptly discarded because frankly, I didn't think it was worth your time. Here is what you should be happy you missed:

The presidential debates - I tried my very best to be a good citizen and informed voter. I watched almost all of each debate, but seeing as though a very homogeneous range of topics were discussed over and over, I didn't feel the need to further comment.

A general panic entry about the markets - yes, my portfolio is doing poorly, isn't everybodys? Is discussing the Dow's daily loss or really big loss really going to help the market? I didn't want to spread the dreariness further. Also when everybody stresses, I tend to become less stressed, so I really didn't feel like I could put a full emotional thrust into sounding convincingly panicked about the financial situation.

Katie Holmes' heinous outfit on premiere day of All My Sons - that's two+ years of fashion cred just thrown down the toilet. Too depressing to discuss.

Project Runway Season Finale - I've been dissatisfied all season, particularly by the lack of good designers on the show whose clothes I'm truly excited to see. Also have noticed that I really dislike what Heidi Klum wears, it just always looks funny to me. I'm hoping that the poor quality of this season will not spread to other Bravo shows, since Top Chef is starting very very soon.

Googles Mail Goggles - quite the funny concept, and I think they should have something like that for cell phones too, but that's really all I had to say about that and couldn't drag it in to a full entry which actually is basically what I do for everything else.

And finally,

Yes, I'm over it. Good luck trying to extract more laughter from me Tina Fey.

If I had three more hours in the day

I would spend:

1 hour of it sleeping
20 minutes going for a run
30 minutes improving my culinary skills
15 minutes blogging
15 minutes doing the little detail things like ironing my clothes and sorting through files
5 minutes flossing
10 minutes staring off into space
4 minutes awkwardly dancing to my favorite song of the moment
20 minutes catching up with friends/family/people
1 minute trying to figure out how to be as funny as Tina Fey

I was so close

Proximity to Daniel Radcliffe: 3.5 feet
Daniel Radcliffe's height: 5'5''
My height: 5'3''
People in between me and Daniel Radcliffe: 10+
People directly barring our contact: 3
Height of girl standing in front of me: Think giraffe
End result: went home with an unsigned playbill, did not get a chance to politely congratulate his excellent performance, but did feel like my sarcasm under the circumstances of large people nearly smashing me was sharp enough to garner me my own stand up show. So it was not a complete waste. Of course, this is me being ungrateful, I did see his entire performance from approximately 15 feet away, it was impressive.