So I've spent a lazy break. The day after Craig and I made it home, we all left for Pensacola. Ah sweet mystery of life...We spent 4 days at the beach, the first of which was rather cloudy, but for the most part they were perfect bright days spent floating in clear blue water, avoiding fish, and quoting pride and prejudice ("A bit of sea bathing would set me up forever!"). We went to the naval aviation museum while we were there-- two hours of bliss for my father, and two hours of mild interest for the rest of us. It was a lot larger than I expected and cool for about 30 minutes. My attention span is short for things like that. Since we've been back, I've spent most of my time sitting around the house, reading, crocheting, and...whatnot. I did go out with the sisters a couple of times (we have sisters now!). I've finished 5 books, one of the Jane Eyre which I had somehow never read before. Very good, but not my favorite book ever, as it is for most people. Also Breaking Dawn (better than the last two books, but still very very bizarre), and two F. Paul Wilson books ("Rebirth" and "Reprisal" and I'm about to start on "Night World"). He's...like a talented mix between Lovecraft and Steven King--Scary but not terrifying. The most frightening thing about his universe is not only that evil is strong and mostly wins, bu that the opposing orce is not necessarily good o working for our benefit-- it simply exists to contradict and harass the evil. There is no absolute good, nothing pure and wonderful, and that idea is, to me, terrifying. Anyways, he's a good writer.

I'm about to start my last semester. Sigh. Excited and scared, and hoping that all goes according to plan.

Also, I registered to vote today! That is good, but I don't know who I'm going to vote for. I despise politics because they are, for the most part, highly contentious, and rarely accomplish anything good (which is to be expected, I guess, because there are rarely easy solutions to the problems we face) but I want simplicity, and I want someone virtuous, someone who actually aspires to something other than personal power and glory, to be the figure-head and leader of America. Maybe I expect too much, but I know that it's not an impossible goal, because there have been men and women in our collective past who have worked to improve the world for those who follow, putting aside personal pride and concerns for something better. Where is my James Madison, my George Washington and Abraham Lincoln? Is greatness only borne out of strife?

Let's talk about this for a second...We have a strong alliance with Georgia, and just within the last few months have had cabinet members visit the country. A few days ago, Russian forces invaded a Russia-sympathetic rebel province in northern Georgia. Aggressive, yes, but I can kind of understand the logic behind it. But, they haven't stopped, they are continuing south, outside that province and on into central Georgia. This is Russia's first military action outside of it's own country in over 20 years. Scary, yes.

Today I picked up two GRE study manuals. Good job me. Now I have all the materials I need to do something for which I have no time. But I'm one step closer to living the dream.

So. The Dark Knight. If you haven't seen it yet, please go see it, even if you don't want to or don't think you'll like it, chances are that you will...or at least that you'll be a better person for having watched it, even if you hate it. It IS without a doubt, the best movie so far this year (and probably will remain so, Harry Potter nothwithstanding). It's much darker than I thought it would be, though, honestly, I don't know why I was surprised because that's the one thing all the reviews I read had in common, but anyways...Heath Ledger is the best movie villain of all time. He's willfully, incoherently, and uncaringly malignant. His only end is to establish pure chaos-- an idea that is particularly frightening in our law and norm-bound lives. Ledger so completely portrays this character, that I find it hard now to think of him in any other role. The cinematography is beautiful. Watching it in IMAX, I maybe felt a little seasick at the full-screen shots looking down at the city, but who wouldn't, it's GIGANTIC. And the picture quality is flawless. And in IMAX, our first introduction to the joker is 6 stories tall. It's thrilling and frightening. Christian Bale is tormented by his own goodness and Aaron Eckhart is just tormented. Maggie Gyllenhal is good in her role, but I think we need something between her own sad Rachel and the bubbly idealist Katie Holmes played.

It's dark, yes, and definitely violent, but still pushes the idea that somethings are still worth fighting for, no matter how high the cost, though that idea may be tested in the next installment. A ver.

Finally!

So after days and days of hopeless waiting, the NYTimes finally posted their review of The Dark Knight. If you're wondering why this matters, it doesn't, not really to anyone but me, who read Manohla Dargis' reviews almost religiously. She's great critic, ok? I'm surprised they waited to durn long, but excited. The reason I love her reviews is because they are never fully good or bad, she always acknowledges the good points without glossing over the negative. That's true here as well.

My favorite review, though, came from Time magazine. This one gave me chills. Well so did Ms. Dargis', but not as many. Just read them.

I don't know why I get so worked up for movies. I just do.