2.5 weeks in and my first real post...Not to say that life has been really crazy, but I have been in bookland a LOT. I've already read 4 books? Not small books either. So, mostly it's been me reading with the occasional movie (not watching a ton of TV either). I also have, weirdly, been really rundown by the end of my work week and sleeping 13 hours...I did it yesterday (Wed) and the previous Wed (they are my Fridays). I get home, fall asleep for about 4 hours, wake up at midnight, get ready for bed, awake for an hour, and pass out again till either 9:30 or 10:30. I haven't remembered sleeping like that in a LONG time. Then again, I'm fine all week (no naps or anything) and then come my Friday, I'm just super tired. I feel pretty good after the sleep marathon too. Who knows.
Work has been okay. Not much new or different. I'm taking a 4-day weekend at the end of February and think I'll do another one the end of May. Pretty much trying to get my licks in before our manager goes on, basically, paternity leave for about 3-4 weeks. We'll be a keyholder down so I likely won't be enjoying my extra days off for the 4th of July since he'll be gone by then! :) I still have only used 10 hours of paid-time-off in the year I've been there. I STILL won't be using any PTO for my 4 -days (holiday, normal weekend, and safety day (accumulation of perk hours we get)), but whatever. Maybe after he comes back I'll take a full week as my compensation for managing while he was gone!
Been slowing down my nail polish too. I think Christmas wore me out...It wore me out LAST year too. At any rate, I'm going at a rate of about every 5-7 days. For Christmas, I was averaging every 2-3 days (3 manis a week). Mostly it's around 5 days now. Nothing fancy lately either. This weekend I think I will, though, because a co-worker requested fancy tips. My nails are long and I want to trim them down, but I think I'll do the fancy tips first. I haven't done anything with tips lately.
At any rate, not much in regards to life or work or anything else. Everything is about same ol', same ol'. I am working on my most recent Aquarium peer review comments. We're thinking it'll be the last one and they'll close the peer review portion. I did, randomly and weirdly, get bit by something ALL along my back. I have 12 bites. It must have been in my shirt or something. It was a shirt I hadn't worn in a while, but still. It's mainly in two areas (opposite sides too). Who knows. It's weird and also annoying because (I swear) 10/12 bites all itch like crazy!
With that, I have managed a fair amount of movies. In 17 days, I've managed to watch 7 movies. Three of them I watched today (To Rome with Love, Gangster Squad, and Beasts of the Southern Wild). I'll comment on the Oscar nomations a bit at the end too.
Django Unchained (Jamie Foxx, Christopher Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio) - First movie of the year! Didn't think I was going to end up watching it in theater, but I ended up doing it for various reasons. At any rate, I liked it, but it is rather bloody. I liked the music in the movie too. I'm not surprised it got an Oscar nod (it's Tarantino, of course it would have) and I'm glad Waltz got a supporting actor nod. Waltz was really good. In fact, not to say Foxx was bad, but Waltz and DiCaprio were superb and stole the movie for me. DiCaprio was SO good, I actually got distracted during the movie thinking, "Goodness DiCaprio is a good actor." I suppose that's a little ironic since if he was so good I shouldn't have been distracted by his acting, but he was so good I was distracted, but whatever. DiCaprio was really good. Waltz was absolutely excellent too. The movie, I will say, didn't play out the way I thought it would. I thought the saving-Django's-woman plot was going to be a subplot or towards the end, but it actually is the MAIN plot of the movie. Their bounty hunting is maybe the first half hour. The movie was also pretty funny (not unexpected). So, I enjoyed it. I'm rather hesitant to recommend it to people who I'm not sure of their movie tastes because it is a little on the bloody-R-rated side of films, but if you don't mind the blood, some word usages, and like Tarantino films, I'd say go for it. Grade: B (perhaps a B+ because I really liked DiCaprio and Waltz)
Ted (Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis) - I heard this was funny by multiple people and multiple people told me I should watch it. Maybe my expectations were too high or I just really don't prefer stupid-humor movies (this falls into the category), but I didn't find it as fantastic as people led me to believe. Sure, it was funny, but I didn't think it was *that* funny. The thunder/lightning song was kind of funny (though, I could have lived without its ending). It's a cute film in its own way and it was funny, but it wasn't as good as I was led to believe. It's definitely for older audiences. Grade: C
Ice Age: Continental Drift - The 4th movie in the Ice Age saga and I enjoyed it. This one is a lot about family and being there for each other. It's pretty much your typical Ice Age film and I can't say it's worse or better than the others. Then again, it's been a while since I watched the others too. Did you know it's been 10 years (in 2012, that is) when the first one came out? Since I've only watched the subsequent sequels only once each, I can only compare to the first and the first is still the best. With that said, the first is more about friends becoming family and sticking together. This one is really about family and all that comes with family. It even has Syd's crazy grandmother! Grade: B
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry) - I can see why people liked it. Wallis does an amazing acting job for being so young. She's the youngest actress to have been nominated for the leading actress award (at age 9) and she's really good (REALLY good). The story is touching too. I don't quite get the whole point other than the fact Wallis's and Henry's characters reconnect at the end, but it is an interesting story about the folks of Bathtub and how they survive the storm that, basically, wipes out their town. I can also see why people may not like it, but I like it's fantastical drama and it's good acting. Don't think I'd watch it again, but I'm glad I watched it. Grade: B
Gangster Squad (Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, etc) - The first 2013 released film! Not the best film, but it was good. Set in the late 40's, there is a lot of gun shooting, but I liked the acting. It was a good action/mob film. I am definitely enjoying Gosling as an actor. I thought I was getting a little tired of him (don't ask me why) after the Gosling-streak (Drive, Ides of March, and Crazy, Stupid, Love), but watching Gangaster Squad made me like him again. He's a good actor. I also liked the Emma Stone/Gosling duo too (I liked them in Crazy, Stupid, Love too). At any rate, I liked the film for its action and the acting was decent. Brolin DEFINITELY is your spittin' image of a decent, loyal, honest cop in the late 40's, whereas Penn definitely made a good mobster. Funny how some people just have those looks. Fluff, but good fluff. Grade: B (maybe B-)
To Rome with Love (Woody Allen, Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, etc) - I am totally baffled by this movie. What did I watch? Things started going haywire in the middle and, at the end, everything went back to the way it was before? Except, no one is the same. My MAJOR complaint about the movie is 3 people end up cheating on their significant others. One pair are a recently married couple and they both cheat and then one guy cheats on his girlfriend with her best friend. Everyone goes back to their significant others and everyone's lives go back to the way they were at the beginning of the film (just changed), but...still! Baldwin's character with Eisenberg's was also kind of confusing and one of the other characters suddenly gets famous for no good reason and Allen's character convinces the father of his daughter's fiance to sing opera, except he can only sing spectacularly in the shower so they drag him around stag in a shower stall. It was a bizarre film, but I liked some of the stories and I liked some of the actors. It's a Woody Allen film, but I far more enjoyed Midnight in Paris. Grade: C-
Bourne Legacy (Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton) - What did I watch? I get the point to intersperse the previous Bourne movies (the Matt Damon ones) throughout this one to connect it and explain why they were killing all the operatives, but, at the same time, it was rather unnecessary. To top it off, this movie was waaaaay out there in comparison to the others. This one is all about Renner's character trying to get hold of the "blue pill." The operatives were taking two pills: green and blue. The green were for the physical adaptations they had done to them. The blue was for the mental. He didn't need the green anymore since they injected him with some virus or something that kept his physical peak up, but the blue was needed for his mental state. The operation was closed down, so he hooked up with one of the scientists to get to an Asian country (I forget where now) to get him injected with the virus (or whatever) for the blue to be permanent. Yeah, that was the ENTIRE story. I like Renner and Weisz was good, but it was a dud of a movie, more-or-less. It wasn't anywhere near the standards of the previous Bourne movies. I wouldn't have minded the spin-off if it had either more of a point or was to the standard of the previous one. Chris and I did have a short debate about whether Damon's or Renner's character would win, though. Jury is still out on that one. Grade: C
Oscar nomations! Wasn't too surprised. They were pretty accurately predicted. I do think it was interesting that they did obtain 9 movies (the most) for this year. Some of the stuff I was reading was thinking it was possible with movies all over the map this year that there weren't going to be enough votes to reach 9, but apparently there was.
Best Picture: I haven't heard of Amour (I think...), but the rest I want to see. If you take out Amour, I've seen half (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérsables, and Silver Linings Playbook). I want to see Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, and Zero Dark Thirty. Critics are guessing it's probably Lincoln's to lose. My personal opinion? I'd like Silver Linings Playbook to win. I liked Les Mis an awful lot and it'd be great if it won too, but I think Silver Linings Playbook sort of had it all and has a better shot.
Plus, interestingly enough, Silver Linings Playbook has a nominee in all 4 actor/actress categories, writing for an adaptation, and director. Lincoln misses all actor/actress with a miss in best lead actress. Lincoln does have the most nominations of all, though.
I am a little sad Skyfall didn't make Best Picture. I know it's a Bond film and no Bond film has ever been nominated, but Django Unchained was nominated and, frankly, the acting was just as good and it's just as much of an action film. In some ways, I find it more appealing than Django, but that is personal preference.
Not surprised about the animated films. Not sure of The Pirates! Band of Misfits (never heard of it, but there seems to always be one every year). I will have watched 3/5 by Oscar time. I won't get Wreck-it Ralph in time. My prediction is Wreck-it Ralph will win. Funny too how, basically, Disney has 3 of the 5 nominations. Okay, so Pixar did Brave, but since they're now owned by Disney and Frankenweenie is released by Disney and so is Wreck-it Ralph, Disney really is maintaining its high on animation rights! Poor DreamWorks needs to get its act together for 2013 (How to Train Your Dragon 2 comes out in 2014...).
I like looking at the music scores, but since I've only see 1 of the films nominated, it's hard to compare. Some big names, though: Desplat, Williams, and Newman. I might have to check them out and see if I can figure out who might win. Original Song I've less of an opinion about than the scores. I liked Skyfall by Adele, but I'd be surprised if it won. I can't remember the rest off the top of my head and I've heard 3/5 of them.
Costume design made me chuckle that Mirror Mirror was nominated against Anna Karenina, Les Mis, Lincoln, and Snow White and the Huntsman. It was a total "what?" nomination, in my opinion. Goodness. Snow White and the Huntsman I can see because Theron's costumes were rather elaborate. I'm betting Anna Karenina wins.
With that, I don't really have much else to comment on. I'll do what I normally do...Don't watch it, read who wins on-line (probably some blogger updating during real time), and look at all the red carpet photos with details on-line. It's what I do every year and it works for me! Speaking of red carpet photos, I never did finish the Golden Globes...Must get back to that! :)
With that...Back to reading and editing!
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