Back Online! and, Election Results!

Hello, World.

My apologies to those of you who have tried to reach this site over the past two weeks. My website has been down, while getting things worked out with my host. The goods news is that we’re up and running now. Good riddance.

Election Results
Dave and I lost the election for ASMSU President & Vice-President. It was a close race–Shane Colvin and Michael Pasque won by a margin of about 40 votes, out of some 1,600.

Dave and I are disappointed, of course, but I’m excited about the other options available to me this fall, instead.

The semester is beginning to wind down. I have a few projects to complete, a little writing, but should finish without too much stress.

My plans for next semester are in flux, at the moment, but I’ll post here as soon as I know what next semester has in store.

A small world after all!

It’s funny, sometimes, how small the world is.

Last October, I posted about the free dishwasher that I found in someone’s yard that we took home and installed in our rental house. (Below)

Dishwasher installed in kitchen.
I was chatting a while ago with Lori Lawson, the professor in charge of the Texts & Critics class I fellowed for. I mentioned how great it had been to randomly find a dishwasher with a “free” sign in someone’s yard. She laughed, recalling having seen the same dishwasher and wondering, “who in the world would take a free dishwasher from someone’s yard?” Turns out–that was me!

The other day, I was reading on BozemanHouse.com about the efforts of someone in Bozeman to restore an aging house, using sustainable materials.

I realized quickly that the house being described was the same house we had snagged our dishwasher from. To make things even better, I put two-and-two together and realized that I’ve actually met Ron (in relation to Bozeman’s recycling program)–the owner of that house, and former owner of our God-send dishwasher!

So: Thanks, Ron. Thanks for the dishwasher. It really has been a God-send. Not only has it done a fantastic job of washing our dishes, it effectively warded off the dish-washing crisis that threatened to tear our testosterone-filled house to pieces (imagine: four messy guys in a house without a dishwasher. In fact, it very nearly came to blows, once…). As a direct result, Bovard, Andrew, Ben and I are still friends–enjoying our humble home.

I’m an Uncle!

At 7:23 am this morning, my sister became a mother and I became an uncle.

Uncle Mark. That’s me!

At 7 pounds 7 ounces and a full 20 inches, Josiah McJunkin is as a beautiful, healthy young boy:

Baby Josiah

Congratulations, Jenny and Tory!

80th Annual Academy Awards Picks / Predictions

2007 was a good year for movies.

The year started out a little slowly, but the last six months have been peppered by more good movies than I’ve had time to see. Next on the list to see: Persepolis (playing in Bozeman!).

Here’s my selection of picks for tonight’s Academy Awards:

  • Actor in a leading role: Daniel Day-Lewis (There Will Be Blood)
  • Actor in a supporting role: Tom Wilkinson (Michael Clayton)
  • Animated Feature: Persepolis
  • Cinematography: No Country for Old Men
  • Costume Design: Across the Universe (?)
  • Directing: It’s a toss up between There Will Be Blood (Paul Thomas Anderson) and No Country for Old Men (The Coen Brothers). Anderson is probably slightly more deserving of the award, simply based on “Blood” vs “No Country,” but the Academy owes the Coen Brothers an Oscar for Best Directing–for Fargo, specifically, and also just with respect to their body of work.

    Film Editing: ???

  • Original Score: 3:10 to Yuma (?)
  • Best Picture: No Country for Old Men
  • Sound Mixing: No Country for Old Men
  • Visual Effects: Transformers
  • Adapted Screenplay: There Will Be Blood (or No Country)
  • Original Screenplay: Juno (or Michael Clayton)

I’m disappointed that Across the Universe didn’t get nominated for Best Picture–it certainly deserved it. It’s a pity that the Score category is best “original” score–which disqualifies the amazing Across the Universe soundtrack from winning.