I finished Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes last night, but before I get to that, I just got the grade on my final project from and the grade for the whole class. I got an A The only thing I got marked down on for my project was that I didn’t quite get APA style. I know MLA citation style inside and out and APA doesn’t entirely make sense to me but I thought I had followed the correct way. No, I capitalized the whole title and in APA it’s only the first word of the title that is capitalized apparently. So I got marked off for that, but I think it hardly a sin. And here are the final comments:

Outstanding job on your project. I was impressed with the variety of searching methods you used, ensuring that you only included articles that met our required criteria. You found excellent articles that focused exactly on what was required. Way to go! You have caught on well to this searching business!

Woo! If anyone out there would like an annotated bibliography on the information seeking behaviors of humanities scholars that includes a few interesting articles specifically on literature professors and historians, I can provide.

And now I realize I am too happy and relieved over my grade–not that I thought I’d get a bad grade but there is always a bit of doubt–that I can’t think of Flaubert so now is a good time to do Emily’s Oversharing Meme.

1. Name the singer/band/performer you are most embarrassed to admit you actually paid good money to see in concert.

   Okay, this will let you in on what a complete dork I was in high school and what a complete dork I still am. Me and five friends went to a Barry Manilow concert. We had a great time. The man does a good concert and there’s no denying he can belt out a tune. Of course we knew all the words and I still do. I even own his two-disc best of collection. This is not something I generally tell most people.

2. Which reality TV show have you watched more than once (come on. I don’t believe you if you say “none,” unless you don’t own a TV)?Dancing With the Stars! Since I have been ballroom dancing for the last nine years I can’t not watch the show. You’d think my Bookman and I had our own number paddles and a seat next to Len from the kinds of comments we make during the show.

   I had a brief flirtation with American Idol way back when it first began and I still enjoy watching the auditions, but when they actually start being able to sing I lose interest.

3. Which complete trash novelist have you not only read but enjoyed enough to read more than one book of his/hers?

I’ve read several of Judy Blume’s adult novels. Those were pretty trashy. I used to sneak into my mom’s room when I was a kid and read “the good parts” of whatever Harlequin Romance she had going. I’m not very good at the trash and when I do read a trashy book I usually don’t read others by the same author.

4. What sappy musical could you watch over and over and over again?

I’m not much of a musical fan. I did like the recent movie Across the Universe. Is it sappy to make a movie out of Beatles songs?

5. Who was your first celebrity crush?The Lone Ranger. Seriously. The reruns used to come on in the afternoons when I was a kid and I loved the show. Couldn’t get enough of it. I think it might have been the horse and Clayton Moore’s voice.
6. Who is the most embarrassing celebrity on whom you have a slight crush today?Jim Sturges. He was in Across the Universe and 21. I think he’s in his early twenties which means I am technically old enough to be his mother, but his singing voice is lovely and he has this look that he does that makes me feel giddy.
7. What movie that everyone else and his cousin and even his dog has seen have you never seen?I’ve never seen The Godfather, Pulp Fiction, Schindler’s List, Brokeback Mountain, Saving Private Ryan, Gladiator–I could keep going, the list is very, very long since I am not a movie goer. In fact I have a hard time remembering most actor’s names which on occasion drives my sister nuts because I usually don’t remember the name of the movie they were in either. So conversations will go something like this: Remember the guy who was in the movie with the singing and dancing? He did a tap dance and there was also a tango in it and something about jail? And there were rumors once about gerbils? What’s his name? Yeah, him. I saw an ad on TV the other day and he’s in a new movie that looks like it might be interesting.

   When I actually remember an actor’s name or the name of a movie I think I take a year off my sister’s life just from the shock.

8. What were you drinking the first time you ever got drunk?The first and only time I have ever been drunk was on my 21st birthday. Getting drunk didn’t take long with vodka and orange juice. I had such a hangover I didn’t get out of bed until 3:00 the next day.
9. Which old re-run will you still pause to watch if you’re flicking through the channels and see that it’s on?There aren’t many old re-runs that I would watch but if I ever run across Monty Python’s Flying Circus or Keeping Up Appearances those would definitely get me to stop. Or The Black Adder. I love The Black Adder. I also have to confess to a certain fondness for Charlie Brown specials. I love It’s the Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown and the Christmas one with the sad little tree.
10. What book/movie/t.v. show that only a fifteen-year-old would think is funny makes you laugh?Remember Mystery Science Theater when it used to be on TV and had Joel on it? Before it made it big and got it’s own movie? They’d make the dumbest jokes sometimes and I often laughed so hard my sides hurt. Gilligan’s Island also cracks me up.