I Fell off the Face of the Earth!!

...but I'm back now! :)

Watching the News...

I'm watching a news story about the California woman who had octuplets... All eight of them are doing well, and so is she. Here's the catch: the news is all up-in-arms about the fact that she had eight kids at the same time. Actually, many specialists are going so far as to say she was morally wrong to have that many. She concieved all of them through in vitro fertilization, and when she didn't want to terminate any of them, she decided to keep them all. Yeah, she was only meaning to have one, but if she has decided to raise them, why is it "ethically wrong," according to some, that she didn't abort the rest?!! Who are they to tell her she's wrong to have kids if she wants to?? This gets me upset!

Casting! (and other bits of news, too)

After getting a much anticipated callback after Grease auditions the other night, we were sent the cast list! Lo and behold, I am Doody (please tell me nobody really names their kid that, or that anyone really uses that as a nickname for that matter), one of the T-Birds! Apparently, my character is goofy, has speaking lines (definitely a plus! lol), and sings some bits of solo stuff! Mind you, this is what I've been told, as I have not yet laid eyes on a script...

In other Bryant Players news, rehearsals for our two short shows are going well... We perform Rumors of our Death and High School for Dummies on February 6, 7, and 8, so be sure to come out and catch the shows at some point next weekend! They are a lot of fun!

So I am enjoying myself here. Kinda feels like I've been here longer than I have, but I guess that's just the way it goes... I joined the campus newspaper (The Archway), as well as the Bryant Singers, so I'm keeping busy.

Other than that, I am getting ready for my Spring Break trip to New Orleans! I am so pumped for KRUP! Basically Katrina Relief Urban Plunge is a week-long project that is what it sounds... apparently, over three years later, there is still a lot to be done, so I'm really excited to go help. I know that God is doing some great things in everything involved with the trip!

Well, I'm tired... I guess nobody bothered to mention to me that you don't sleep much while you're in college. ;)

Until next time,
Coburn

"Defiance" Review

Haha! After my movie (not-)seeing adventure that I previously posted about, I finally went with some friends to see Defiance last week. So I'm posting a short review.

Defiance tells the true story of the Bielski brothers, who, during WWII, saved over 1200 Jews from the German armies. Amazingly, they built an entire community hidden away in the European forest, where they lived for over two years!

Let me put it simply: this movie is phenomenal! Daniel Craig (best known as the "new James Bond") does a terrific job as the oldest brother, Tulia, while Jamie Bell, Liev Schreiber, and the rest of the cast also really elevate the movie to the plane it's at. The weight of the subject matter is handled in an admittedly Hollywood-esque way, but it definitely does not affect the movie's quality, as the film still draws you in and makes you forget that it runs for nearly 2 and half hours; thankfully, the pace does not drag. Best of all though, the story is a great portrayal of triumph and hope in a very dark time in history.

I highly recommend Defiance. Director Edward Zwick (Blood Diamond, The Last Samurai) has crafted a movie that is suspenseful, emotional, powerful, at times brutal, and incredibly inspirational!

Grease Auditions!

I haven't written in a while! Yikes!

Anyway, this is just a short post ot say how pumped I am for Grease auditions tonight!! I have spent all day trying to pick a song, and I have narrowed it down to a few choices... I think I'll just write them all down and them pull a random name out of a hat when it comes time to sing!! ;)

I'll write again with more goings-on soon!
Coburn

Back to Bryant

Well, I'm back... I've been back for about two and a half days, and I already know this is going to be a great semester!
Class update: I've been introduced to all of my classes for this semester now, and aside from the through-the-roof prices of class textbooks, I like them all! While most of my professors seem cool, that can be deceiving later in the semester... lol. On a better note, I like all the people I ended up on a team with in my accounting class and it seems like the group project will be fun! Most exciting, though: I found out that my literature class is going to Trinity Rep to see "The Importance of Being Ernest" when we study it... it's one of my favorite plays/shows!
Speaking of plays, I am at rehearsal right now! We are doing "High School for Dummies" (yay!) and "Rumors of our Death" (yay?), so come to Bryant and see them on February 6th, 7th, and 8th! (Sorry, that was just my little promo for our shows... I'm done now. lol) While rehearsal sometimes get long, especially when we have them 4 nights of the week, they are nevertheless a blast, and being with the awesome Bryant Players never gets old!

I want to write more, but I will have to later, because right now I'm being yelled at for not paying attention. LOL (when wasn't I paying attention??)
Coburn

Winter Break Comes to a Close

Well, this is it... winter break is over, and I'm off to Bryant again tomorrow! I'm so excited! Don't get me wrong, I love being on vacation and chilling with family and friends at home. However, I'm so happy to get back to school and tackle all the fun and pressures of a new semester!

Tomorrow, I will move back into Hall 15 and start another three months of long papers, lectures, and walks to the classrooms in the Unistructure. But it will also be three months of hanging out, having fun, and starting some new things!

Undoubtedly, my favorite part of last semester was joining the Bryant Players, meeting some pretty amazing people, and acting in a couple of awesome plays! And becoming part of the team at Bryant Christian Fellowship and making some great friends there also made for an incredible semester... and it will only get better this semester! Because I had 7 (yep, count 'em, 7!) classes last semester, I was too busy to do much else, but I only have 5 this semester, so I'm looking forward to joining a few other clubs and having just a liiiittle bit more fun, too! We'll see what that means! ;) WhootWhoot!

I'll next be writing from Bryant!
Coburn

Plans Always Change.

So I haven’t written in a little while… I had a couple friends from New York come down here to sunny ol’ RI for a few days to hang out… haha, good times, good times. Chilling, cracking jokes, doing whatever we feel like before the pressures of school and/or work start again in a few short days simply because we can, etc. lol.

Hanging with these guys definitely produces some fun stories…
I’ve been thinking about how plans change when you least expect them to. Today, Jordan, Zack, and I got up early (10:30 or so), ate a hearty breakfast (bowls of Cap’n Crunch), and went off to the mall to go see Defiance, that new movie we’ve been dying to see. Our plans…
Plan 1: Forget the parking garage and instead find a parking spot that we don’t have to pay through the nose for. Well, after a gazillion crazy Providence streets, a few hundred “one way” signs, a stampede of Rhode Island’s infamous maniac drivers, and an annoying detour (whew!), we ended up back at the parking garage with just a little bit less gas in the car and a little bit more frustration than we had when we started. I’m just glad I wasn’t the one driving!
Plan 2: Go see the movie!... okay, this is what we came for… sounds easy, right? Wrong! We get to the theatre, buy our overpriced-but-still-matinee-priced tickets, pass the concession stands with our eyes down and our wallets still (somewhat) intact, sit down, wait for the movie to begin, cheer when the previews start, and then (drumroll…) stare at a blank movie screen while Defiance’s audio plays clearly and its video FAILS EPICALLY. What’s the deal now?! I can hear the movie, but see nothing! Zack and I have both been waiting a while to see this movie, and now it’s getting ruined! OK, now… Jordan finds someone to fix it, but the movie is now about 10-15 minutes through and the guy says it’s impossible to start the movie over (*rolls eyes*). So we decide to leave and get our money back. There goes the movie… we’re pretty upset but laughing about it, too… why can’t things go right?!!
Plan 3: What can three single guys do at a mall besides not see a movie? Find three single girls, of course! lol… actually, they found us when we passed the food court and they followed us into Newbury Comics. But, being oh-so-confident in talk and completely unconfident in action, all chances were blown when the three of us turned away and walked to the "music DVD" section and the three of them realized we were doofuses (or is it doofii). Not to worry, as we passed them around 20 minutes later and any plans to talk to them were momentarily resuscitated then subsequently killed again when we realized talking to them would be a total creeper thing to do… sigh!

So now what? No free parking, no movie, no girls. We sat in the food court and laughed about how everything we wanted to do fell through and ended with us being pathetic. We also ate Taco Bell and wondered why we made that stupid lunch choice…
So was it a day wasted? I think not. I wouldn’t have had it any other way…

Until my next adventure,
Coburn

Jack is Back!!!

Finally, at long last!! 24, my all-time favorite show, is baaaaaack!!! After having been off the air for almost two years (what?!) and ending on a pretty low note with the disappointing Season 6, it's about time we get Season 7! I am so ready for another season of thrilling, adrenaline-pumped, Jack Bauer butt-kicking action!
Come to think of it--actually, I've been thinking this for years now--I really want to be Jack Bauer. No, I don't want to have people try to kill me and frame me for crimes a few hundred times a day; no, I don't want everyone I love taken out by psychotic terrorists or hitmen; and no, I don't want to go an entire day without eating or going to the bathroom... I guess I just really want to work for an ultra-cool government agency, be the most badass agent to ever live, and save the world repeatedly!
Oh, btw, if you call my phone between 8 and 10 o'clock tonight (or on any Monday night between now and May) then I will take you out so fast you won't have time to know what hit you! Don't say you weren't warned.

The End of Christmas

I hate when the holidays are over. Yes, I know Christmas was over two weeks ago, but I try to stretch it out for as long as possible. This weekend we finally took down our two Christmas trees (awfully late, I know), and I am sad... To pack up all the lights and ornaments and decorations and everything else that entails Christmas spirit just makes me sigh and begin the holiday countdown all over again!
It doesn't help that January comes right after the season ends, either. Could they have picked a gloomier month to follow the end of the most wonderful time of the year? I think not. Oh well. At least I can still listen to Christmas carols year-round if I want! ;)

Cupcakes with Cami

So on my break, I often find that I just hang around the house with my little sister and relax... Cami is 3 and a half and sooo cute! She's learning how to spell words, so I often play Boggle Jr. with her.
This afternoon, Cami and I decided to bake some cupcakes. You know, the boxed kind with confetti sprinkles in the mix... just add water, oil, etc. She is the cutest thing, and she talks on and on while she mixes, pours, stirs. I told her she was doing very well and she would probably be a great chef when she grew up. She then informed me (very seriously, I might add) that she won't be a chef when she grows up, but instead (duh!) a superhero princess. She will be able to fly and live in a big castle... isn't she ambitious! ;)
Gotta run... that's the oven timer!
Coburn

somebody...

is following my blog! (sorry, this is exciting news for me... lol) But who could this follower be? I don't even know! how mysterious...... lol...

Yes Man

So after a morning/afternoon of getting nothing accomplished (ya, I really need to find a way to make some cash for next semester, as well as try to bang some stuff off my to-do list before break ends... :/ yikes!), a friend and I went to the mall/movies tonight to see Yes Man... it was great!

I am quite the movie buff (in case you don't know me that well), and, hence, I like to think of myself as an amateur film critic. lol... I'm no Ebert, but for what it's worth, here's a short review:

Yes Man was up there with Dumb and Dumber and Bruce Almighty among Jim Carrey's funniest! As a man who agrees to say "yes" to every opportunity that presents itself, Jim Carrey finds himself in hysterical situations that allow the best of his signature physical humor! And his comic timing is spot-on, as well! This great premise is also full of a lot of heart, as he learns to live a better life -- and he also falls in love with Zooey Deschanel (my favorite!!). She is perfect[ly adorable] in this! While some aspects of the film are predictable (like most all comedies these days), Yes Man is nevertheless a feel-good, well-acted comedy that I highly recommend!

That's all from me today... not much else going on here...
Coburn

road trip...

...well, kind of... Yesterday, we all piled into the Admiral Nimitz (our big, grey 15-passenger van) and drove my two older sisters back to school up in Haverhill, MA. A 3-hour round trip with the whole family is [insert adjective here]. Suitcases, lamps, blankets, computers, random dorm necessitites, 3 more younger sisters, 2 parents, and a partridge in a pear tree all stuffed in the car... yeah, I think it should be a Survivor challenge... I felt like we all should have won some kind of reward.

I am really close with Lori and Krisy, so it was kind of sad for them to go back... I have already been in school for a semester, though; and Krisy lived on Long Island as a nanny for a while, so I guess the initial parting is over and I know that this is not the last time I will see them ;) lol...

I know who will read this...

So I've made a mental list in my head of people who are going to read this blog. Yep, it is comprised of a number of people that I can probably count on one hand... and if you're reading this, you are one of the people on that list! ;)

Hi!

Well, it's 2009... a new year, new possibilities, etc. I've wanted to start a blog for a while, so I decided to give it a go before I go back to school! So, welcome everyone! Feel free to comment on any of my posts, whatever. I have no idea how many people will read this, but I like to write, so if you like what I have just give me a shout! lol...
later,
Coburn