I think I've neglected you long enough...

This has been one hell of a crazy summer. My husband (weird) got laid off in May, I decided to go back to school about a week before that, then we got married, went on a honeymoon, came back and I quit my job for something part-time and started school the week before last. Needless to say, I've got about a million things I would like to catch you all up on, but now there is no time! So, let's take care of the highlights:

The wedding was beautiful, easily the best day of my life, if anyone was wondering, but I'm sure no one was.

I've read a few novels since my last posts (which were regretfully not even as recent as May I realize). I recently finished Brave New World as part of my continuing effort to read all the books I should have read in high school and enjoyed it very much. I also finished American Psycho and just started The Wind Up Bird Chronicles by Haruki Murakami, which is already fantastic just 7 chapters in. I would give American Psycho a 4/5, it was a great story and seriously grossed me out. I think soon I'll re-watch the movie and write a double review. Brave New World gets a 4.5/5 from me. I liked it a lot, but I think I liked 1984 just a tiny bit better. Although I do feel that the themes of Brave New World were much more developed. Once I've read Fahrenheit 451 I will do an entry on all three I think.

I also watched a TON of movies... Mammoth is probably my favorite of the movies that I've seen recently. I really love Michelle Williams. This is Lukas Moodysson's first movie in English and you should go see it. 4.5/5. This is a great story about mothers and their daughters and the things they do for them to give them lives they couldn't have. He is an amazing story teller and if you like Mammoth, you should immediately see Show Me Love (or Fucking Amal, which is the Sweedish title) and Lilya 4-Ever.

Ok, that's all I've got for now. Hopefully I'll be back with more frequency and be able to speak with more depth about the billions of things I do in a week.

Mammoths may improve your sex life and extend your life expectancy (no this is not a double entendre)

I was reading Gizmodo today and found this crazy article. Apparently, some Russian scientists have been testing Mammoth DNA and found that it seems to extend the lives of mice, among other things.

"According to Professor Anatoli Broushkov, their 'set of tests and the results prove that simple organisms like fruit flies and mice live longer after being vaccinated with the ancient bacterium extract.' Not only that, but the bacterium DNA super-vaccine actually increases mental alertness, physical capability, and sexual activity for both male and female mice. The females actually have had babies at an older age than usual: 'Some elderly mice demonstrated a growth of physical, mental and sexual activity, while some females even had babies aged at the human equivalent of 70,' said scientist Vera Samsonova."

I guess the question that comes to mind when I read things like this is whether or not it is worth living 10 years longer when we can be talking about over 100 years on earth. Nothing in this article says that those extra 10 years (or mice equivalent) are happy or fulfilling. Most people you meet seem to be just exhausted if they're over 90. Also, who the heck would want to have a kid at 70 years old? Sure, it is amazing that it could happen, but I am worried about having the energy to take care of a baby at 30, let alone 40 years later than that.

Also, I've been watching a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer lately and I still don't really think immortality seems all that great.