Dear Fassie

Dear Michael Fassbender:

The Oscar nominations were announced this morning. Alas, your name was not among those listed for the category “Actor In a Leading Role”.

I’m sure you’re probably feeling okay — let’s face it, I think any nomination for Shame from the Academy was a long shot — but if you find you need to be consoled (read: make out a little bit), let me know.

Your friend,
Jasmine

with every tweet of my heart

I wanted to write a pithy recap of my week before the weekend, but I can’t find the words. So how about I embed some of my previous tweets in this post instead?

Okay!

LDN

Okay, it's official. See you next month, London. #ticketsmoneypassport #FB—
Jasmine D (@jasmined) January 12, 2012

So London it is. I am very excited. I haven’t been to the UK since, um, 1993.

To prepare, I’ll be watching lots of movies like this little gem starring Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen called, um, Winning London.

Also, I am reading Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy, re-watching episodes of “Absolutely Fabulous”, and listening to The Clash, The  Jam, and Pulp. Putting malt vinegar on my fries, and sticking extra U’s in words that don’t seem to need them.

trip planning

adapt! adapt! adapt!

Dammit, I’m going somewhere. But where?

1. Finalists are (in order of preference): London, Paris, Brussels, Amsterdam
2. Trying to convince Patrick to come with me.
3. Or anyone, really, who is available between February 15 and February 21.
4. I am excited even though I’ve not yet bought tickets or lodging.
5. Khloé suggested Amsterdam, Brussels, and Montreal as more budget-friendly alternatives.
   1. But how am I gonna get my Sherlock/Harry Potter/AbFab on in Montreal?
   2. Also, I don’t speak much French.
   3. I speak no Dutch.
6. If Patrick doesn’t come with me, this will be the first time I’ve ever gone on a vacation by myself.
7. My plan is to eat interesting stuff and look at lots of art.
8. Also to drink the blood orange diet coke I had the last time I went to Europe.
9. “The last time I went to Europe” – well aren’t I precious?
10. Just call me Lady Jasmine.

i like to eat: longanisa and guisada

I didn’t accomplish much this weekend except eat and watch tv.

On Saturday, I met Carly and Elisa at Uncle Mike’s Place for Filipino breakfast and some girl talk. Elisa got the tocino while Carly and I had longanisa. Filipino breakfast comes with eggs, champurrado, garlic fried rice, and kamatis (tomatoes). It looks like this:

Filipino breakfast @ Uncle Mike's Place

After Carly left for next adventure, Elisa and I hung out long enough that the owner gave us a couple of treats to snack on — bowls of white rice with pork sinigang, and then a cold ginataan with corn. Delicious.

Bixby lounges

On Sunday, Elisa invited me over to try her carne guisada. It was yummy. I did not take pictures. Boo! And then we watched Infernal Affairs, which was fantastic. And then we ate ice cream and watched Flower Boy Ramen Shop which may be my new favorite tv show based on the title alone. I’ve never really watched Korean soap operas before but Hulu appears to have tons of them and as I’m all caught up on Downton Abbey, Absolutely Fabulous, and Sherlock, I need some new shit to watch.

how i know i’m getting old

@chicagobncountr Please tell me more about the micoderm.—
Jasmine D (@jasmined) January 06, 2012

1. I am interested in microdermabrasion (see Twitter exchange above).

2. I want to tell younger people how adorable they are. Today I ate my lunch at a “quick service” Italian place. You order at a counter and your food is brought to you at your table. My pasta was served by a lovely young woman who wore strawberry earrings and her curls piled up on her head. I wanted to pinch this girl’s cheeks, she was so cute. She was probably no older than 19, which is almost HALF MY AGE.

i like to watch: “Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy”

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy opens in wide release today. I’ve already seen it twice.

I guess you could say I enjoyed it.

So what did I like? Um, everything. The plotting, the secrecy, the sadness. It was gorgeous, too, a beautiful film.

The sight of Kathy Burke as Connie Sachs just made me sigh, like I recognized myself in her too much — lumpy, misshapen, “seriously underfucked” (just kidding). There isn’t a lot of excitement in the way of explosions or action. People hardly shout. Which makes the violence pop even more, I think. And the reveal seems inevitable, maybe even predictable for some, but to me it was still devastating.

(Okay, maybe I get a little involved in movies. #foreveralone)

I’m reading the book now, and I am enjoying it as well. There are a number of differences between the book and the movie. I look forward to watching the BBC mini-series when I finish the book…

…and maybe after seeing the big screen version for a third time.

And now some eye candy!

PS: There was a lot of smoking in this movie. Pipes and cigarettes. Am I glad I don’t smoke anymore? Sure. Did I want a cigarette badly after seeing this movie? Of course.

PPS: Reminded me of Maurice — lots of British men, secrecy, REPRESSION, (c)overt homosexuality.

two very important conclusions i came to while hanging out at Jimmy’s Woodlawn Tap on a cold Wednesday night

My friend Matt lives on top of a mountain in a small college town in the middle of Tennessee. Occasionally he leaves his mountaintop to visit other places that are not quite so remote. One of those places was Chicago for a few days. Jacinda and I saw him Wednesday night at Jimmy’s, where we drank some drinks, ate some cheeseburgers, and had some fun.

the woodlawn tap

So I spent the evening at Jimmy’s with Jacinda and some old friends and acquaintances from college.

I ate two cheeseburgers. They were delicious. I REGRET NOTHING.

Jacinda and I tried not to scare Matt’s girlfriend with old stories about college exploits. She did not seem overly traumatized so that’s a win, right?

The cost of a round of drinks at Jimmy’s is still pretty damn cheap. And their cheeseburgers are greasy and tasty and perfect.

Jimmy’s is pretty much my favorite place in Hyde Park. Well, my favorite place that isn’t the Medici, the Seminary Co-op, or the spot in front of my favorite building on the U of C campus* where I used to smoke all the time.

* Update! I had Cobb Hall in mind when I wrote this last night, but there were many other buildings in which I smoked with pleasure and even aplomb! I’ll talk about it in a future post when I’m feeling even more nostalgic than usual.

spotlight

1/3/2012: tv night

Last week I was off work as the office closed for the week between Christmas and New Year’s Day. When I wasn’t eating or watching movies, I took care of a couple of errands. Like a grown-up, thank you very much.