The way my brain works and random links.

Last night was finally a relaxing Friday. I ate Jesse's Thai food leftovers, poured us each a hot cider and whiskey, and settled in. He eventually went to a show in the city, and I watched Nashville and Parenthood, which are two great shows if you don't watch them. Then, since Nashville was created by Callie Khouri, and she wrote Thelma & Louise, and that was directed by Ridley Scott...I decided to watch Prometheus since I'd gotten the blu-ray for Christmas. (Yes, this is how my brain works.) However, my decision to turn off all the lights and snuggle into a blanket on the couch proved disastrous: I fell asleep half an hour into the movie. I awoke two hours later during the credits. Woops. Will have to watch again sometime soon.

Here are some other things in my brain waves this week...

J.J. Abrams officially directing the new Star Wars movie ...as the story that definitely surprised me.

Mainly because he said he never would a month ago, and the fact that because of this I defended my opinion to Jesse back then that why would he mire himself in another franchise with similar fandom? Of course, my number one choice would have been Ridley Scott. Yes, that guy again. I love Abrams, but he has an aesthetic and quality to his films and television shows that is great, but do I want to see two similar-feeling franchises about space? We'll see. I like the levity of Scott, but I do trust Abrams. We'll just have to see.

M. Ward declares new She & Him record ready to release this spring ...as an album I didn't even know was in the works in order to anticipate it!

I'm a huge fan. Liz can attest to this... I mean, we spent an entire weekend together in two cities seeing them play shows. Also, this. So, it's going to be called Volume Three, I would guess?

I'm just going to leave this here right now ...as a story that's really just about technology and our time.

Dating was different in the '90s. I wrote a whole (unpublished) short story on the theme, because something happened to me that was pretty similar to this article. I don't know who's reading, but for those that I've read, I usually begin to admire from afar, forgetting the reasons why I sought you out in the first place.

LETTERBOXD ...as my new favorite internet thing.

Thanks to Michelle for telling me about it and sending me an invite!! Basically, and I've been saying this for years, I've always wanted a site like Goodreads for movies. Goodreads is a fantastic way for me to keep up with my reading and my friends' opinions on books I've read or want to read. Letterboxd does that for films, and it's got a great design. I'm slowly and surely keeping up with my DVD collection blog of personalized reviews, but what about all the Netflix movies and in-theater movies I watch? For Christmas I got a Film Moleskine, which I love, but with Letterboxd I'm able to make lists and keep track and friends can check out what movies I loved or disliked. It's fantastic! DO YOU HAVE IT YET? BE MAH FRIEND!!! I have two invites left for now...

Miniature pencil drawings by Marie Harnett via The Film Experience