Where has the year gone?! I can't believe it's already the end of 2013. In fact, where'd the last 1.5 months go since my last post? December FLEW by and then, to cap it, I was all confused when Christmas was and kept thinking things were a week closer than they were. No clue why. At any rate, I can't believe this year has flown by. I went to the chiropractor yesterday and he said it's been 11 months since he last saw me. My first thought was, "I was here in January!" and then went, "Oh, wait, January is next month...Yeah, that was 11 months ago. What...?" I can't believe it's 2014 in a few days! In fact, I must be really excited for 2014 because I keep wanting to write it instead of 2013. I can't say 2013 was a terrible year, but it was certainly an uneventful one for me. Not to say that's a bad thing because, goodness knows, it could have been "bad" eventful and there was none of that. So, I'm thankful for my year just to be able to say I made it another year and I've got a home, have a good standard of living, a job (albeit, I wanted to quit it several times the past year), and my family and friends are doing well. As a friend posted on FB when it was my birthday, "Congratulations on existing another year!" Made me laugh. Might be a little dire, but it's true too.
At any rate, looking forward to 2014. My middle brother and his family will be back in the States so I get to see them and a nephew I've never met! I, hopefully, will be able to attend the Breeders' Cup at Santa Anita on November 1st. Get to see the rest of the family and friends through the year and hope them all the best in health and happiness. I've got several (and I do mean SEVERAL) friends who are having kids in 2014 so that'll be fun to see. Some are also getting married. Chris, hopefully, will be bought out from the tempt agency he's with and hired full-time at his company (if not, he'll be looking for a new job). I, hopefully, will be getting a new job (where ever that may be). I might even work on getting my driver's license! Don't hold me to that because it has been 28 years in the making, but it's time. We'll see how that goes, though (i.e., the family members who read this, don't even mention to me I wrote this LoL). I've got some new books coming out next year I'm looking forward to and, of course, new movies to watch. I'd mention new nail polish, but I think that's a given. In addition, I plan to go on a super limited nail polish buy for 3-6 months (not a no buy because there are a few things I want, but super limited). I won't say the specific AMOUNT of polish I have acquired (gifts or personal purchases) the last 2 months, but I think it amounted to more polish than I bought the 10 months preceding it combined...To say the least, I need to clean out my polishes to make room for next year and limit my purchasing...Haven't figured out the clean out method yet, but I do plan to try and make it through a chunk of my "untrieds" next year. I also plan to save more next year. I don't have a contract with the Aquarium next year so I need to be more diligent about saving next year, especially at my salary and if I plan to go to the Breeders' Cup next year. I'm not buying a new hat next year (or very unlikely buying a new one, I do really like mine), but will get a new dress. And, lastly, I am also going to try to be better about exercising. I start and stop far too much...Granted, I stopped this last time because I injured my back. I actually worked out through the pain for 1.5 weeks and then finally it got too bad. Probably didn't help my back... :P At any rate, I'm looking forward to 2014! I do like how this started with what I was looking forward to and then dissolved to quasi-resolutions. I don't really do resolutions at the start of a new year because any time of the year should be the time to do a resolution or a change, but the new year definitely makes it nice and "neat."
The past 1.5 months has been pretty uneventful on the grand scheme of things. I did injure my back from exercising. I tell you, my back on the right side (hip bone area) does not like me and exercising. It's twice now that I've injured the same area by way of shifting something really far out of alignment. This time it was a slow move and continual pain for weeks (almost 3 weeks before I went in and only because I overdid it last week and the pain got really severe). The other time it was a sharp movement (I couldn't move or sit for a few days), but my body adjusted to it fairly quickly and was pain free (I did immediately stop exercising, though...). The chiropractic adjustment was really painful (my worst one ever), but I was pretty much okay right after it. This adjustment was painful, but I must have aggravated the tissue and ligamanets around the area much worse because I still have pretty uncomfortable pain. Two different type of exercises and different results/pain, but in the same area. Gosh dang it. I have to be more careful! I am glad I don't have the same pain level, though, and I'm off for 4-days so hopefully I'll give my back a rest. I've been working through the pain and just limiting my movements. Other than my back, my co-worker fell off a ladder trying to get his cat off his roof and fractured his foot. And then another co-worker had a family emergency for two days and then another one wasn't feeling well. I tell you, it's not been a good December for our store. Other than that, I guess it's been semi-okay (small flare-ups here-and-there) from the work angle. Personal life is pretty uneventful, except that Chris's Christmas present STILL hasn't arrived. I ordered it 20 days ago...*sigh* It didn't ship out till the 15th and it's coming from Canada...Still waiting! This Christmas, in fact, was a terrible on-line shopping experience. Not all of it to do with shipping (I do feel a little sorry for UPS/FedEx, but they should have increased hours (overtime?) if they saw the volume increased the week before Christmas), but it was crazy.
Chris and I have been watching Game of Thrones (season 1 and 2) since my boss owns the first two seasons on DVD. I've read a great deal of information about the books and know a lot of people who have read them so I knew, generally, what to expect. They've also been on my "to read" pile and actually own the first 3 or 4 (got them from a friend - haven't read them, but Chris has read at least the first one), but haven't gotten to them. So, to say the least, I knew what to expect, but I just didn't know the details. I only have 2 episodes of season 2 left to watch and I'm not sure about it...My two biggest complaints about the TV show:
1) Where is this all going? What's the purpose of everything? I'm not opposed to the meandering paths where you don't have a clear objective (e.g., Harry vanquishing Voldemort; Frodo destroying the ring; following someone's life as it unfolds; etc), but this one is a real big "what's my objective?!" In other words, what will my payoff be after I finish this series? Reading about someone's life or the people around them (e.g., Les Miserables) I can read, but there's usually a payoff at the end. This one I can't see where it's going at all and makes me sort of want to quit.
2) There's no clear protagonist or antagonist. Again, I can deal with ensemble books with lots of characters, but this one gives everyone such a flaw that you dislike them or kills off anyone remotely likeable that it makes me want to give up because I'm either scared to like someone because they might get killed or they're so stupid or mean that I just can't like them. I'm actually dreading to watch season 3 because I know 2 of the characters I like now die in season 3. I'm actually reading character synopsizes to try and find someone I can "grab hold" of for the series to keep me going. I'm sorry, but I am one of those people who DOES need a protagonist to keep me going or, again, what's my payoff at the end?
For me, those two issues are pretty big. I will say that the shows are pretty violent, but I can't say they're really any more violent then some other movies or TV shows I've watched. The nudity in the shows, though, are pretty unnecessary. They could give the impression or angle it or whatever. On the other hand, there are several prostitutes that are major characters and one character owns a brothel. Also, apparently, the books do have an abundance of sex in them so, one could say they're being "faithful" to the series. At this point, I've gotten used to the nudity. I also think HBO is doing a pretty amazing job with the sets, costumes, production, etc. They're magnificent to watch. They did not spare a penny on the show. I think the casting is pretty good too. It's hard to really say if someone is really bad given I haven't read the series, though. I do think, though, Peter Dinklage has the best character of them all. He's the only one that I can really say I like in the series and he's, technically, on the protagonist side (sort of). See, there's the problem with the characters! Chris and I have started a saying with the show, "Honor gets you killed." Because, truly, that's what happens to a lot of the characters. It may not be an immediate death, but eventually it does. Also, there are a lot of stupid characters...At any rate, I at first went, "Oh, I really need to read the series now to get more out of the characters," but now I don't know if I even want to...If there's no payoff and I go through all that reading for nothing, I will be angry. So, I might wait. We'll see. I am curious to read the first book, but I may stop after the 3rd or something (which I've been told is a good place to stop even though there are 5 books and more to come (yes, George R. R. Martin hasn't finished the series, yet)). Any way, it's definitely a perplexing series for me...I sort of want to give up because of my issues, but it's well-done....
Lots of movies since my last movie update 2 months ago -- 22 to be exact. These will mostly be short opinions because it's been a while for some and there's just a lot of them! I'll elaborate on a few that I have strong opinions about or saw recently (Lone Ranger I saw today so it's, clearly, got the longest review).
Thor: The Dark World (Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman) - Not a bad film, but not great. I don't think I liked this one as much as the first, but it's pretty on par. There's really only one scene that I REALLY liked and it involved Loki. It's a hilarious scene and everyone that I know who has seen it has also liked it too. The credit scenes at the end were okay. The first one was better and supposedly leads up to the Guardians of the Galaxy, but the 2nd and last one was just…mostly stupid. I just don't like Thor as much as Captain America. Grade: B-
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (Jennifer Lawrence, Josh Hutcherson, Liam Hemsworth) - This one was FAR better than the first. Much, much better. I liked the whole movie and liked it enough that I knew I wanted to own it on DVD; therefore, I went out and bought, on Black Friday, the first one. LoL You can't own the 2nd one and not the first! At any rate, it was much better. Peeta is pretty much continuously weak in the films (not the actor, the character), but whatever. The extra money for this film, I suppose, worked for the film rather than making it "over-the-top" and gratuitous. Or maybe everyone was just better situated in their roles…? Who knows. It's much better. Grade: A
The Colony (Kevin Zegers, Laurence Fishburne) - What a terribly depressing film! Definitely not what I expected. I thought it would be more about the colony trying to find others or surviving. It is about surviving, but it's much more of a survival movie from a neighboring colony. On top of it, it's a little more gruesome than I expected and it's got a rather depressing, open-ended ending! Don't recommend it… Grade: D
The Croods (Nicolas Cage, Emma Stone, Ryan Reynolds, etc) - Not a bad 20th Century Fox animation. Not that they've had a real dud. It's cute. It's a cute film about family and the craziness that can be family. It has good animation too. Not entirely memorable as an "Animation of the Year" film, but I wouldn't be surprised if it's up for the category this year. My prediction: Monster University, The Croods, Turbo, Frozen, and a foreign animation film. Solid family film, but maybe for an older younger age. Grade: B-/C+
White House Down (Channing Tatum, Jamie Foxx) - What are the odds that two similar-ish movies would come out in the same year with the White House has been taken by force? At any rate, between the two (Olympus Has Fallen) and this one, I liked this one better. It was less "serious" and pure action. Olympus Has Fallen is a little more serious and has a stricter plot line. This one is a little tongue-and-cheek so it's a little more fun to watch. Plus, it's purely about the White House and not the surrounding DC area so you don't get any "accidental" funny scenes of people running from guns…Still, not great. Grade: C
The Hangover Part III (Bradley Cooper, Zach Galifianakis, Justin Bartha, Ed Helms, etc) - You always go into these knowing they're going to be over-the-top and silly. This was definitely silly. This one revolves more around Galifianakis's character (each one kind of revolves around one of them and the rest get dragged into it). I didn't like it as much as the first two, to be honest. I felt like this one was just overly silly…? I don't prefer Galifianakis's character in any of the films and since he's highlighted in this one, it just made it worse for me. Wouldn't recommend this. Grade: D
The Heat (Sandra Bullock, Melissa McCarthy) - Take Miss Congeniality and smash it with McCarthy's character (or feel) from Bridesmaids and what you get is The Heat. I described this to someone who hadn't seen it yet and it makes you go, "Wha…?" at first, but then she watched it and totally agreed with me afterwards. It's an okay film. Wasn't bad. It had some funny moments, but I don't necessarily think it was better than the individual films I had just described. It's okay. Grade: C+
The Internship (Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson) - Surprisingly better than I thought it was going to be. It's not as silly or crude as you'd expect from a Vaughn/Wilson film. There's actually kind of a "nice" moment in the film and a kind of nice message about not giving up, misfits, and so forth. Still wasn't fantastic, but wasn't bad either. Grade: C
R.I.P.D. (Jeff Bridges, Ryan Reynolds) - Just about on the edge of being a terrible movie. No wonder I had no desire to watch it in theaters and definitely no wonder it didn't do well. It was an interesting idea, but was poorly executed. Doesn't help that I'm not a huge fan of Reynolds either, but Bridges couldn't even salvage the movie. Definitely near the bottom of my least favorite films of the year. Grade: D/D-
Red 2 (Bruce Willis, John Malkovich, Mary-Louise Parker, Helen Mirren) - I liked the first RED movie enough that I wanted to watch the 2nd one. I liked this one too. It's about the same. It's kind of funny seeing all the characters in their "older" stages going out and kicking butt and wrecking havoc. Can't say it's really better or worse than the first since I don't remember the first all that well, but I enjoyed this enough. Grade: C
The Way, Way Back (Steve Carell, Liam James) - This is another coming of age movie and it's a decent one. I thought the acting was really good and, honestly, the poor kid! His mother seriously needs a brain and I'm glad she gets it at the end. It's a cute film. I don't think it's as good as The Kings of Summer, but it's also a little different. It's kind of weird seeing Carell as the non-family man and being a jerk. Grade: B-
2 Guns (Denzel Washington, Mark Wahlberg) - Not a bad film, but also predictable and kind of "crazy." I thought Wahlberg and Washington were well paired and the script worked for the both of them well. It's a little violent, but nothing too much that you wouldn't expect from an action film like this. The mystery of where the money was interesting. I will say, I refuse to watch any film Paula Patton is in anymore because I have seen her nude twice this year and that's 2 times too many! Can't she keep her clothes on?! Also explains why the Miley Cyrus/Rob Thicke thing didn't really make her comment too… Grade: C
Planes (Dane Cook, Stacy Keach, etc) - Cute. Can't say it was great, but it was cute. I enjoyed it. Decent animation. Not to the Cars standards of Pixar, but Disney did an okay job with it. Good, solid family film for almost any age. Grade: C+
Turbo (Ryan Reynolds, Paul Giamatti, Michael Peña, Samuel L. Jackson, etc) - Another good, decent animation. I thought it was cute. I can't say it was great and whole snail thing was different, but it worked the way it was. My only complaint is I didn't like Reynolds voicing the movie…It was distracting for me for whatever reason. Kind of funny given he didn't bother me in The Croods…It's a cute family film. Not as good as Monster University (I think that or Frozen will win Best Animation), but not bad. Grade: C+/B-
The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones (Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, etc) - I was REALLY torn about seeing this as I've heard the stories about the author and plagiarism and such. I haven't read the books because of it, but the movie got the best of me. Not a great movie. I was rather bored through most of it, but you do see the main character grow through the film. It's maybe too long as a movie, though…I don't know. There was something "off" about the movie. Movies like this and Divergent and such, which are based off of Young Adult novels, aren't doing well this year even though they were popular in book sales. I guess not everything can be a Hunger Games and Harry Potter. Grade: D+/C-
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage, etc) - Honestly, I was disappointed in 'Smaug. There were many scenes in it that weren't in the book (not a big deal), but they, unfortunately, felt like fillers to me. With that said, though I did actually think through the movie, "Filler, filler, filler…" the movie was really well-paced. For a 2:40 hour long movie, you didn't feel like you'd been sitting there that long. So, it was kind of weird to both think "filler" and, yet, enjoy the movie enough that the fillers didn't make me feel like the movie was long. With that said, this one isn't as good as the first, which isn't surprising. Also, this film made me definitely think 3 films is too much for such a short book and I haven't even seen the third movie. I'll own this and I'll watch it again, but it could have been either shorter or the series made into 2 movies. Also, for whatever reason, the special effects in this movie bothered me. They didn't feel as crisp as you'd come to expect from Peter Jackson. There were a lot of obvious green screens too. I'm not sure if it's because I saw it in 2D instead of 3D or whatever, but that was also disappointing. Grade: B
The World's End (Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Martin Freeman, etc) - I watched 97% of Sean of the Dead, but I didn't watch Hot Fuzz. So, in some way, I may have missed some nuances and inside jokes, but I liked this enough. I did feel, unfortunately, that it was Stepford Wives…That was disappointing. It was funny at times and the end was kind of weird/funny, but it was okay. I'm glad I watched it and it was fun seeing the boys reminiscence about the past. Grade: B
Elysium (Matt Damon) - Kind of a depressing end, but I guess its was one of those "for the greater good" stories. Special effects weren't bad. The story was pretty predictable, but not bad. It was okay. Grade: C+/C
Paranoia (Liam Hemsworth, Gary Oldman, Harrison Ford, Amber Heard) - Uh. What? I actually spent more time trying to identify the cars in the movie than actually watching the movie, I think. What could have been really interesting, it was severely bland. Oldman and Ford did decent acting, but I didn't really like Hemsworth character. And it was a fight between wealthy men and one of them trying to be a wealthy man. I don't know…it was pretty stupid. Grade: D
American Hustle (Christian Bale, Amy Adams, Bradley Cooper, Jeremy Renner, Jennifer Lawrence) - I really enjoyed American Hustle. I liked the script, acting, story, and direction. It was all well-done and pulled a fast one on you at the end if you weren't paying attention. I liked that. At its core, it is a con movie through-and-through and not just a movie about cons being caught and used to catch corrupt politicians. I also liked watching Renner's character devolve and the depths of the rest come to light. At first, everyone seems like "bad" people and you're glad they get caught, but, as the movie goes on, you get to know the reasons why and you figure out truly who is the "bad" guy and who isn't. It's got a similar flavor to Silver Linings Playbook so you could tell this was a Russell film. I'd probably own this on DVD eventually. If anything, needs a rewatch to see if you can pick up any clues for the end. Grade: A/A-
Frozen (Kristen Bell, Idina Menzel, Josh Gad, etc) - I liked Frozen! It might have been my favorite animation of the year. Disney has definitely gotten back its animation movie mojo or whatever. It was another solid effort by them. The musical numbers, I must admit, felt a little weird to me. It felt a little less like the characters singing and more like I was watching a live theater play…? I don't know. The singing in animations just feels weird to me in the recent Disney films (the love song in Tangled took me 2 or 3 views for me to feel "solid" about it), but maybe I just need to see it again. With that said, I did like most of the musical numbers. I liked the two princesses and I liked Olaf. The end was rather sappy and predictable. I kind of felt like you went on this grand adventure and then the end wrapped up SO neatly, cleanly, and quickly that it was a little bit jarring. Still like the film, though. Grade: A
Lone Ranger (Johnny Depp, Armie Hammer) - On its own, the movie isn't too bad, but as a remake, it's absolutely terrible. I will say, the trailer portrayed a cheesier movie, in my opinion. The movie actually wasn't too bad on its own if you removed yourself from every perspective of The Lone Ranger you have in your head (kind of hard to do). There were some things I really didn't like (the slaughtering (and that's what it really was in a "family movie" appropriate manner) of the Comanche, for one), but the fight scenes were okay. The acting wasn't too bad. The comedy wasn't too bad and actually made me chuckle. Unfortunately, the script was rather bad. Hammer wasn't a terrible John Reid, but he came off more "silly" and "green" than Tonto. And the movie is quasi from Tonto's perspective, but, truly, he's just the story-teller. My BIGGEST complaint, there was NOT enough Silver in the movie! And where Silver was doing cool stuff, it was CG (not surprising). It needed more Silver...My other complaint is you could 100% tell this was an attempt to gain the Pirates of the Caribbean glory days. Gore Verbinski directed PotC and he directed this. Not to mention Jerry Bruckheimer (PotC producer) and Hans Zimmer (composer for PotC 2 and 3) were also involved. In fact, one song in Lone Ranger reminded me a little of PotC and there are two characters that rob the civilians and are caught in women dresses or with umbrellas (remind you of a certain pair from PotC? Though, not same actors). So, that was a little weird. I will say, I really like the soundtrack. It's not what you'd expect from Zimmer or for the movie, but it all works. The Finale song based on William Tell's overture is amazing. I don't think it's purely William Tell. I do think Zimmer adds his own into it to work better with the movie, but it's great and a lot of the classic. Besides the "Finale," "Silver" is my favorite song. The end of the song is so beautiful and emotional. In all, if you ignore the fact it's a remake and don't mind the terrible script, it's an okay movie (i.e., thank you action scenes for saving it!). If you factor in the remake, it's absolutely terrible. Grade: C (I liked the action scenes and soundtrack or C-/D+ for remake)
With those 22 movies, I have watched 109 movies this year! I might see one more this weekend given I've got Sat/Sun off with Chris, but we'll see. I will say it was kind of a dud movie year, but I'll go through everything on my movie recap of 2013.
With 4 days left of the year, I'm going to try and read 2 more books. I'm 2 books away from matching last year's 68 count. Granted, I count rereads, but only rereads if I read the ENTIRE book again. Still, for whatever reason, I've been sluggish the end of this year (especially December). I've got books I want to read, but I just can't get myself to actually READ them. Ugh. I have been watching a lot of stuff, but I always take time to read and...I don't know. Weird. Hoping next year is better for the reading, but I should get going to trying to finish 2 books in 4 days. :)
Hope everyone has a good start to the new year!
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tv. Show all posts
Friday, December 27, 2013
Saturday, September 21, 2013
Fall TV shows...Thanks Hulu?
For whatever reason, during my time in grad school, I started watching a LOT of TV shows. I was keeping up on something like 20 shows during the Fall season. That's nuts! I kept up with them really well until last Fall. For whatever reason, I lost interest. Shows I had watched seasons on end, I just lost interest in watching. I thought it was just the fall. I got behind and it's hard catching up on so many TV shows once you fall behind. I thought I'd catch up again during the winter. It didn't happen. Then I thought I'd catch up and keep up with the summer shows. It didn't happen. So...Here is the start to another fall season. I had no hopes in keeping up, but who knows...Well, week 1 of fall season is in the history books and I've watched all of 3 fall shows already! How have I done this? All thanks to Hulu...
I've kept my subscription with them all this time. So far, it's been the most useful $8/month for a digital service. Netflix is nice and all to get the DVDs if you want them, but since I keep up with new movies and not old ones, I have no need for Netflix's DVD mail service. Redbox works fine for that. Since I don't stream movies that often anyway, Netflix and Redbox instant are not necessary and if I do want to watch an old streaming video at random, I've got AmazonPrime. I utilize AmazonPrime for the 2-day shipping, not the Instant, which puts me into the "fringe benefit" category of Amazon instant. So, in all, Hulu has been the best $8/month for me. I'm mostly paying for the service because I can watch Hulu on my iPad or iPhone anywhere, which is worth it to me. I don't really pay for cable TV (my TV hasn't been hooked up in 1.5 years and we pay the BASIC TV channels so I would get like 15 channels -- only wanted the internet, really) so the $8/month makes up for that.
Since many shows are streaming on Hulu, I can watch them the next day on Hulu! USA Network is still behind on shows (like a week or so) and that's annoying, but at least the rest I can watch right away. I will say, Hulu needs to do more commercials, though. The fact I got the Subway $5 sub song in my head after one night of watching 3 shows means they played it way too much! At any rate, this season is all about Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dracula (starts in Oct), and Sleepy Hollow for me. I will look into Almost Human, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ironside, Masterchef Junior, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (really doubtful about this), Reign, The Blacklist, The Crazy Ones, and The Tomorrow People. Of the latter list, mostly The Crazy Ones and The Blacklist I'm looking forward to watching. This past week was the "official" start to fall TV shows, but next week is the really BIG week for shows to start.
This week I watched only Bones, Ironside (early pilot release on Hulu), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Sleepy Hollow. Ironside will be interesting, I guess. I know it's been called a procedural crime-drama, but the creators are saying it's going to be character driven by Ironside who is a wheelchair bound detective. First one was okay. We'll see. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a workplace comedy so think The Office, but a police station instead. They quasi-solve crimes during the half-hour too. First one wasn't too bad. Not sure how much I'll keep up with it. I'm not a big comedy fan, so we'll see. Sleepy Hollow was interesting. They have an interesting premise, but we'll see the direction they take with it. I'm mostly worried the main story will drag on forever. My thought is they'll finish the main story this season and pick up another next, but we don't know, yet. The premise, at this point, is with the four horsemen and Revelations from the Bible. Should be interesting. Pilot wasn't bad, but we'll see.
I've noticed there are fewer crime-dramas and more period or fantasy shows (e.g., Dracula, Reign, Almost Human, etc). Sure, some of them are also crime shows like The Blacklist or Ironside, but you definitely don't see as many as you did 3 years ago. Some were cancelled after last season (e.g., Body of Proof, The Glades, CSI: NY, etc), but I think with the popularity of Once Upon a Time, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Downton Abbey, etc, we're heading towards more "edgy" and character driven TV shows (The Blacklist and last year's The Following are prime examples of "edgy" crime-dramas). Not to mention the popularity of throwing old into the new (e.g., Sleepy Hollow). We're also looking for the next "sci-fi" show. Fringe concluded last season and no one has been able to replace Lost. Revolution seems to be going okay. I started it last year and never made it past the 2nd episode (not on purpose). I stopped trying after I made it through some other sci-fi show and they cancelled it!
I am hoping there are some shows this season where I really like them because not a lot carried over from last year and shows like Bones, Criminal Minds, CSI, etc are becoming "old" and every season that passes makes me nervous they'll be cancelled soon. I still haven't recovered from Numb3rs ending. One of my favorite shows and I still rewatch the entire show yearly. At any rate, we'll see how the fall season goes!
In other news, Monday is my presentation for the Aquarium. Should go well. After that, I'm pretty much finished. Reading is going up and down in weird spikes...I think I'm simply adrift right now on what to read...I've tried rereading old books, tried new ones, tried anthologies, etc. It's been a weird reading week...and it's not like I don't want to read anything; I just can't find anything I really want to read? Weird.
Movies! Lots of movies this week I wanted to see...
Epic (Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, etc) - Decent animation. Not the most original of stories. At least it wasn't Fern Gully or anything. It's not the most happiest of endings...Or, in general. I mean, it starts off kind of sad and then sure, everything is saved, but the two main characters have an awkward "happily ever after" story...I don't know. It wasn't the greatest animation story. There are some slightly funny parts that are alluded more towards adults, but it's a forgettable movie. I will ask one thing...Why is it when you have "little" people type movies (i.e., fairies) the soundtracks always take on a Gaelic sound to it? Must be the folklore origination. I like it, but it's kind of interesting. Grade: C
The Bling Ring (Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, etc) -Wow, this was really boring. I thought it was going to be more interesting, but after watching it after World War Z and just watching it in general, it was really boring. I'm not sure it gets across the point it was trying to make either. Most people's worries is it was going to glorify the crimes and it kind of does...? I don't know. They didn't get hit with a super harsh punishment for as much as they stole. I did think Katie Chang was a good actress. I didn't really like Watson in this. I've liked her in every film I've watched of hers, but this one didn't really do it for me. Maybe it was the role...She comes off pretentious and fake and that is her character. Hm. Maybe it was good acting...? At any rate, it was really a dud of a film and I don't think it got anything across at all. Definite waste of time to watch. I learned more from Googling the crimes than the movie. Grade: D
World War Z (Brad Pitt) - Wasn't sure about this, but it actually lived up to expectations and maybe even surprised me by how much I actually enjoyed it. It's not great, though, and fighting zombies wasn't the point of the movie (not that I wanted it to be about fighting zombies). The point of the movie is Pitt's character is trying to find how it started (patient zero) and, in the process, comes up with an idea to "camouflage" healthy humans from being attacked by zombies. In ways, it's more "scientific" than action. It's like if you watched Contagion, but instead the virus turns you into a zombie. It wasn't a bad movie on its own, but it wasn't great either. It sort of just passed the time and sent you on a world trip (starts in PA, takes you to NJ, then S Korea, Israel, Wales, and Nova Scotia). I will say, after recently watching Oblivion and watching World War Z, between Pitt and Cruise, I prefer Pitt as an actor. Grade: C (perhaps C+ purely because I liked it more than I thought I would)
Disconnect (Jason Bateman, Paula Patton, Alexander Skarsgard, etc) - What an oddly depressing and interesting movie. The premise is how the internet disconnects us from ourselves and, at the same time, shows how destructive it can be to those around us (and further disconnects us). They're interconnecting stories (some more than others) and is along the lines of Crash. I liked Crash. I know there are many who don't, but I like the interconnecting stories. This one does it too, but it has a majority of depressing stories. The acting was good and the cast of actors I enjoyed. Obviously, the Internet doesn't have to lead to any of the things it caused in the movie, but you can also see it staring at us too. It is a little dramatic and stylized. The end kind of dragged on as everyone's consequences finally come to head. I admit I was so bored with the ending I actually fast forwarded through parts of it because it was so slow. It's not like you couldn't see any of them coming to light a mile away. It's interesting and good acting, but the story does drag and is a little shallow. Grade: C
Bless Me, Ultima (Luke Ganalon, Miriam Colon, Benito Martinez) - Had to watch this since I liked the book when I read it as a sophomore in high school. I think Ganalon did a good acting job, but there also wasn't a lot for him to "act" too. He does a lot of "staring" and contemplation when things occur around him. I thought Colon was a good Ultima. I read one review where they thought the movie doesn't have the same "punch" as the book, but if you read the book, you'd probably enjoy the movie more. I think I'm definitely in that category. I think if you hadn't read the book, the movie will seem less interesting and make you lose the deeper intrigue in the book. At the heart of the book or movie is a coming of age story, but it also debates mysticism and religion. I think it really touches the surface of the book in that regard. With that said, I thought the movie was well done from my perspective. I enjoyed it and glad I watched it. I wish it was a little deeper, but you can't expect that in a movie. Grade: C+/B-
Based on my rough count, looks like I'll make 100 movies by the end of the year and that's not including watching any in theater. It'll all come down to when they show up at RedBox.
Here's my rough estimate:
Now I'm off to paint my nails... :)
I've kept my subscription with them all this time. So far, it's been the most useful $8/month for a digital service. Netflix is nice and all to get the DVDs if you want them, but since I keep up with new movies and not old ones, I have no need for Netflix's DVD mail service. Redbox works fine for that. Since I don't stream movies that often anyway, Netflix and Redbox instant are not necessary and if I do want to watch an old streaming video at random, I've got AmazonPrime. I utilize AmazonPrime for the 2-day shipping, not the Instant, which puts me into the "fringe benefit" category of Amazon instant. So, in all, Hulu has been the best $8/month for me. I'm mostly paying for the service because I can watch Hulu on my iPad or iPhone anywhere, which is worth it to me. I don't really pay for cable TV (my TV hasn't been hooked up in 1.5 years and we pay the BASIC TV channels so I would get like 15 channels -- only wanted the internet, really) so the $8/month makes up for that.
Since many shows are streaming on Hulu, I can watch them the next day on Hulu! USA Network is still behind on shows (like a week or so) and that's annoying, but at least the rest I can watch right away. I will say, Hulu needs to do more commercials, though. The fact I got the Subway $5 sub song in my head after one night of watching 3 shows means they played it way too much! At any rate, this season is all about Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., Dracula (starts in Oct), and Sleepy Hollow for me. I will look into Almost Human, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Ironside, Masterchef Junior, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland (really doubtful about this), Reign, The Blacklist, The Crazy Ones, and The Tomorrow People. Of the latter list, mostly The Crazy Ones and The Blacklist I'm looking forward to watching. This past week was the "official" start to fall TV shows, but next week is the really BIG week for shows to start.
This week I watched only Bones, Ironside (early pilot release on Hulu), Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and Sleepy Hollow. Ironside will be interesting, I guess. I know it's been called a procedural crime-drama, but the creators are saying it's going to be character driven by Ironside who is a wheelchair bound detective. First one was okay. We'll see. Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a workplace comedy so think The Office, but a police station instead. They quasi-solve crimes during the half-hour too. First one wasn't too bad. Not sure how much I'll keep up with it. I'm not a big comedy fan, so we'll see. Sleepy Hollow was interesting. They have an interesting premise, but we'll see the direction they take with it. I'm mostly worried the main story will drag on forever. My thought is they'll finish the main story this season and pick up another next, but we don't know, yet. The premise, at this point, is with the four horsemen and Revelations from the Bible. Should be interesting. Pilot wasn't bad, but we'll see.
I've noticed there are fewer crime-dramas and more period or fantasy shows (e.g., Dracula, Reign, Almost Human, etc). Sure, some of them are also crime shows like The Blacklist or Ironside, but you definitely don't see as many as you did 3 years ago. Some were cancelled after last season (e.g., Body of Proof, The Glades, CSI: NY, etc), but I think with the popularity of Once Upon a Time, Game of Thrones, Sherlock, Downton Abbey, etc, we're heading towards more "edgy" and character driven TV shows (The Blacklist and last year's The Following are prime examples of "edgy" crime-dramas). Not to mention the popularity of throwing old into the new (e.g., Sleepy Hollow). We're also looking for the next "sci-fi" show. Fringe concluded last season and no one has been able to replace Lost. Revolution seems to be going okay. I started it last year and never made it past the 2nd episode (not on purpose). I stopped trying after I made it through some other sci-fi show and they cancelled it!
I am hoping there are some shows this season where I really like them because not a lot carried over from last year and shows like Bones, Criminal Minds, CSI, etc are becoming "old" and every season that passes makes me nervous they'll be cancelled soon. I still haven't recovered from Numb3rs ending. One of my favorite shows and I still rewatch the entire show yearly. At any rate, we'll see how the fall season goes!
In other news, Monday is my presentation for the Aquarium. Should go well. After that, I'm pretty much finished. Reading is going up and down in weird spikes...I think I'm simply adrift right now on what to read...I've tried rereading old books, tried new ones, tried anthologies, etc. It's been a weird reading week...and it's not like I don't want to read anything; I just can't find anything I really want to read? Weird.
Movies! Lots of movies this week I wanted to see...
Epic (Colin Farrell, Josh Hutcherson, Amanda Seyfried, etc) - Decent animation. Not the most original of stories. At least it wasn't Fern Gully or anything. It's not the most happiest of endings...Or, in general. I mean, it starts off kind of sad and then sure, everything is saved, but the two main characters have an awkward "happily ever after" story...I don't know. It wasn't the greatest animation story. There are some slightly funny parts that are alluded more towards adults, but it's a forgettable movie. I will ask one thing...Why is it when you have "little" people type movies (i.e., fairies) the soundtracks always take on a Gaelic sound to it? Must be the folklore origination. I like it, but it's kind of interesting. Grade: C
The Bling Ring (Katie Chang, Israel Broussard, Emma Watson, etc) -Wow, this was really boring. I thought it was going to be more interesting, but after watching it after World War Z and just watching it in general, it was really boring. I'm not sure it gets across the point it was trying to make either. Most people's worries is it was going to glorify the crimes and it kind of does...? I don't know. They didn't get hit with a super harsh punishment for as much as they stole. I did think Katie Chang was a good actress. I didn't really like Watson in this. I've liked her in every film I've watched of hers, but this one didn't really do it for me. Maybe it was the role...She comes off pretentious and fake and that is her character. Hm. Maybe it was good acting...? At any rate, it was really a dud of a film and I don't think it got anything across at all. Definite waste of time to watch. I learned more from Googling the crimes than the movie. Grade: D
World War Z (Brad Pitt) - Wasn't sure about this, but it actually lived up to expectations and maybe even surprised me by how much I actually enjoyed it. It's not great, though, and fighting zombies wasn't the point of the movie (not that I wanted it to be about fighting zombies). The point of the movie is Pitt's character is trying to find how it started (patient zero) and, in the process, comes up with an idea to "camouflage" healthy humans from being attacked by zombies. In ways, it's more "scientific" than action. It's like if you watched Contagion, but instead the virus turns you into a zombie. It wasn't a bad movie on its own, but it wasn't great either. It sort of just passed the time and sent you on a world trip (starts in PA, takes you to NJ, then S Korea, Israel, Wales, and Nova Scotia). I will say, after recently watching Oblivion and watching World War Z, between Pitt and Cruise, I prefer Pitt as an actor. Grade: C (perhaps C+ purely because I liked it more than I thought I would)
Disconnect (Jason Bateman, Paula Patton, Alexander Skarsgard, etc) - What an oddly depressing and interesting movie. The premise is how the internet disconnects us from ourselves and, at the same time, shows how destructive it can be to those around us (and further disconnects us). They're interconnecting stories (some more than others) and is along the lines of Crash. I liked Crash. I know there are many who don't, but I like the interconnecting stories. This one does it too, but it has a majority of depressing stories. The acting was good and the cast of actors I enjoyed. Obviously, the Internet doesn't have to lead to any of the things it caused in the movie, but you can also see it staring at us too. It is a little dramatic and stylized. The end kind of dragged on as everyone's consequences finally come to head. I admit I was so bored with the ending I actually fast forwarded through parts of it because it was so slow. It's not like you couldn't see any of them coming to light a mile away. It's interesting and good acting, but the story does drag and is a little shallow. Grade: C
Bless Me, Ultima (Luke Ganalon, Miriam Colon, Benito Martinez) - Had to watch this since I liked the book when I read it as a sophomore in high school. I think Ganalon did a good acting job, but there also wasn't a lot for him to "act" too. He does a lot of "staring" and contemplation when things occur around him. I thought Colon was a good Ultima. I read one review where they thought the movie doesn't have the same "punch" as the book, but if you read the book, you'd probably enjoy the movie more. I think I'm definitely in that category. I think if you hadn't read the book, the movie will seem less interesting and make you lose the deeper intrigue in the book. At the heart of the book or movie is a coming of age story, but it also debates mysticism and religion. I think it really touches the surface of the book in that regard. With that said, I thought the movie was well done from my perspective. I enjoyed it and glad I watched it. I wish it was a little deeper, but you can't expect that in a movie. Grade: C+/B-
Based on my rough count, looks like I'll make 100 movies by the end of the year and that's not including watching any in theater. It'll all come down to when they show up at RedBox.
Here's my rough estimate:
- Fill the Void
- Great Gatsby
- Imposter
- The Kings of Summer
- Redemption
- This is the End
- After Earth
- The Colony
- 2 Guns
- Before Midnight
- The Croods
- Elysium
- Hangover Part III
- Heat
- The Internship
- Lone Ranger
- Immortal Instruments: City of Bones
- Paranoia
- Planes
- RIPD
- Red 2
- Turbo
- White House Down
Now I'm off to paint my nails... :)
Saturday, March 16, 2013
TV watching when you're sick...
I'm dubbing the last month the month of illness. It first started with an infected, huge cyst. Then I had a week long stint with hives from the antibiotics for the cyst. Then I'm well for like a week or something and then I come down with a cold that is the sickliest I've been in over a year. I actually left work early 3/5 days and took a longer lunch one of the other days (the day I closed). I'm still sick, but it's better. I'm like maybe 60% well. It's amazing how tiring and horrible being sick is. It's definitely not something I've missed and it's shocked my co-workers because I've never gone home sick!
Anyway, while being sick, I haven't really wanted to do much, so I started watching TV shows again to pass the time. So this past week I found out in January (wow) that Redbox sent me my beta access code to try out the Redbox Instant. I also had a free month trial for HuluPlus from Chegg and I found CBS has a streaming app, which then started me thinking and comparing everything...
Redbox Instant vs Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant - So, I've discussed Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant before, which basically concluded that they're similar, but I like the next episode auto function on Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant doesn't have it. I have another thing I'd like to add about the apps. Netflix app you can use either on your wireless network or over wifi. Amazon Prime Instant only allows you to use it over your wifi, which I find a little weird. So, Netflix reigns over those two. The Amazon Prime Instant app is a little less user friendly too, but it's not a big deal.
I've been interested in Redbox Instant for a while, but was curious what was available to stream. Well, turns out, it's pretty much the same stuff that the other two have, but it doesn't seem to have TV shows. The app is okay too. I haven't tried it off of wifi, but considering the less amount of content (i.e., TV shows), it pretty much makes it the lesser of the 3. The only thing it has going for it is the 4 kiosk credits, but the major draw OF streaming is the fact I don't have to GO to the kiosk. Hence, I'm not going to subscribe (after my free trial is over). The 4 credits and maybe 1 or 2 movies I'll stream a month means I'm spending par on what I would pay if I just went to the kiosk every time (assuming I use all 4 credits AND stream 2 movies a month). I'd rather just not subscribe and go to the kiosk since I've got the same movies available on Amazon Prime Instant and I pay a year subscription for that. So, Redbox Instant...? Disappointment. I'll keep using Amazon Prime Instant and keep using the kiosk for Redbox, but no Instant subscription.
HuluPlus and CBS streaming - I used to use Hulu way back in the day when you didn't have to pay. Since then, I've just stopped and never wanted to pay or wait (week delay for new episodes?) so I never used it. A month free subscription came up (not the trial one on the webpage so, technically, I could get 2 months free) and I thought, "Why not?". I signed up while sick and it's come in handy. I've caught up on Bones and Castle thanks to it. Not to mention the app is handy. It's a decent app, but the webpage version has the Netflix similar next episode option when you finish an episode. Fox, ABC, and NBC both use HuluPlus, but CBS has its own streaming and doesn't use HuluPlus.
I don't particularly like the CBS version. First off, it only has the last 2-3 episodes of a season and maybe 1 other random one in the season (on CSI it's the first one and another show it's like the 5th one). I'm further behind than 3 episodes (more like 6) so it's a little awkward, BUT it's completely free (unlike HuluPlus). Then again, you can watch the last 2-3 episodes for free on Hulu, but you can't stream them on their app. So, it's a trade off. Subscribe and get a full season and app capabilities or go for free and only have the last 2-3 episodes available on the webpage only. It's more than the last 2-3 episode thing with the CBS version, though. I haven't webpage streamed, but their app is a little off. It has closed captioning (as HuluPlus has too), but it's not synced correctly and I think it's because the commercials don't break where they should. You have that pause right before a commercial, but their ads come maybe 2 or 3 seconds before the pause. So then the ads happen and then you go back to the show and THEN you get that last 2-3 seconds with the pause following it. It's kind of weird. I've also read that sometimes if you leave the app in the middle of an episode, the sound and closed captions will get off from the video. I haven't had that experience, but I also closed the app in the middle of an ad and it wasn't closed that long. I do wish CBS did something to make the entire season available, though. I also wish, sad to say, that CBS would mix-up their ads a little. I saw the same ads for all 3 CSI episodes I watched. I found you repeated ads on HuluPlus, but not as much. I watched the same ad maybe maybe 3-4 times each episode (there are 2-3 ads per break and about 4 or 5 breaks) or, at the very least, some variation of the same company. CBS was the EXACT same 5 ads for all 3 episodes, which meant I'm really tired of the Jack in the Box "Hot Mess" commercial and the Buick commercial. If you're going to torture me by making me watch ads, at least mix them up!
So, during my illness, I've definitely been doing a lot of app streaming on my iPad mini, which has been nice, but there are definite quirks on everything! It has allowed me to sort of catch up on my TV shows too. I'm a little awkwardly catching up with CSI and the other CBS shows since I'm up on the last 3 episodes, but missing episodes 11-13 (or somewhere around there).
Anyway, that's about all for now. I have watched one new movie, but I'll wait till I get another one or something.
Anyway, while being sick, I haven't really wanted to do much, so I started watching TV shows again to pass the time. So this past week I found out in January (wow) that Redbox sent me my beta access code to try out the Redbox Instant. I also had a free month trial for HuluPlus from Chegg and I found CBS has a streaming app, which then started me thinking and comparing everything...
Redbox Instant vs Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant - So, I've discussed Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant before, which basically concluded that they're similar, but I like the next episode auto function on Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant doesn't have it. I have another thing I'd like to add about the apps. Netflix app you can use either on your wireless network or over wifi. Amazon Prime Instant only allows you to use it over your wifi, which I find a little weird. So, Netflix reigns over those two. The Amazon Prime Instant app is a little less user friendly too, but it's not a big deal.
I've been interested in Redbox Instant for a while, but was curious what was available to stream. Well, turns out, it's pretty much the same stuff that the other two have, but it doesn't seem to have TV shows. The app is okay too. I haven't tried it off of wifi, but considering the less amount of content (i.e., TV shows), it pretty much makes it the lesser of the 3. The only thing it has going for it is the 4 kiosk credits, but the major draw OF streaming is the fact I don't have to GO to the kiosk. Hence, I'm not going to subscribe (after my free trial is over). The 4 credits and maybe 1 or 2 movies I'll stream a month means I'm spending par on what I would pay if I just went to the kiosk every time (assuming I use all 4 credits AND stream 2 movies a month). I'd rather just not subscribe and go to the kiosk since I've got the same movies available on Amazon Prime Instant and I pay a year subscription for that. So, Redbox Instant...? Disappointment. I'll keep using Amazon Prime Instant and keep using the kiosk for Redbox, but no Instant subscription.
HuluPlus and CBS streaming - I used to use Hulu way back in the day when you didn't have to pay. Since then, I've just stopped and never wanted to pay or wait (week delay for new episodes?) so I never used it. A month free subscription came up (not the trial one on the webpage so, technically, I could get 2 months free) and I thought, "Why not?". I signed up while sick and it's come in handy. I've caught up on Bones and Castle thanks to it. Not to mention the app is handy. It's a decent app, but the webpage version has the Netflix similar next episode option when you finish an episode. Fox, ABC, and NBC both use HuluPlus, but CBS has its own streaming and doesn't use HuluPlus.
I don't particularly like the CBS version. First off, it only has the last 2-3 episodes of a season and maybe 1 other random one in the season (on CSI it's the first one and another show it's like the 5th one). I'm further behind than 3 episodes (more like 6) so it's a little awkward, BUT it's completely free (unlike HuluPlus). Then again, you can watch the last 2-3 episodes for free on Hulu, but you can't stream them on their app. So, it's a trade off. Subscribe and get a full season and app capabilities or go for free and only have the last 2-3 episodes available on the webpage only. It's more than the last 2-3 episode thing with the CBS version, though. I haven't webpage streamed, but their app is a little off. It has closed captioning (as HuluPlus has too), but it's not synced correctly and I think it's because the commercials don't break where they should. You have that pause right before a commercial, but their ads come maybe 2 or 3 seconds before the pause. So then the ads happen and then you go back to the show and THEN you get that last 2-3 seconds with the pause following it. It's kind of weird. I've also read that sometimes if you leave the app in the middle of an episode, the sound and closed captions will get off from the video. I haven't had that experience, but I also closed the app in the middle of an ad and it wasn't closed that long. I do wish CBS did something to make the entire season available, though. I also wish, sad to say, that CBS would mix-up their ads a little. I saw the same ads for all 3 CSI episodes I watched. I found you repeated ads on HuluPlus, but not as much. I watched the same ad maybe maybe 3-4 times each episode (there are 2-3 ads per break and about 4 or 5 breaks) or, at the very least, some variation of the same company. CBS was the EXACT same 5 ads for all 3 episodes, which meant I'm really tired of the Jack in the Box "Hot Mess" commercial and the Buick commercial. If you're going to torture me by making me watch ads, at least mix them up!
So, during my illness, I've definitely been doing a lot of app streaming on my iPad mini, which has been nice, but there are definite quirks on everything! It has allowed me to sort of catch up on my TV shows too. I'm a little awkwardly catching up with CSI and the other CBS shows since I'm up on the last 3 episodes, but missing episodes 11-13 (or somewhere around there).
Anyway, that's about all for now. I have watched one new movie, but I'll wait till I get another one or something.
Thursday, October 4, 2012
Movie: 5-Year Engagement
Before my movie update, which is a little premature since I'm seeing Taken 2 tomorrow afternoon, life update.
Got my first peer review response back for my paper for the Aquarium. I've been torn the last week or 2 over whether I wanted a lot of information/help back or want them to side with my findings (mostly, lack of data). On the one hand, you want more information because you want more information, but that can also look like I didn't do my due diligence and was a sloppy researcher. Granted, it's nearly impossible to exhaust all sources of information, especially when I've got a language barrier, but you don't want to feel like you missed some obvious stuff! So, on the other hand, I want them to side with me because then it looks like my struggles and paper looks like I DID do my due diligence and I'm, basically, validated in my findings, but that's also kind of a bummer because you want more information! What a conundrum...My first response has been in agreement with me so that felt good. I feel like even if the others are like, "She missed this and this paper and why is this this way?" at least I had that one that was in agreement with me. I guess a balance of reviews would be nice in that regard. So, I feel somewhat good today. Still waiting for other responses, but at least one is out of the way and I can relax tonight (my Friday!).
Today, at work was absolutely exhausting. I actually took (if I was lucky) a 10 minute lunch (normally ours are half-hours) and skipped my last break. Skipping one break a day isn't that unusual (I've done it before, I'm the worst of everyone about that), but I usually, at least, take my full half-hour lunch! It was just crazy...I was running all over the place. I rarely had a minute where I was just standing around doing nothing. If it wasn't a store credit, it was paint being spilled on our floor (once again, I am thankful we don't have carpet...though, I admitted that I probably cleaned the store's floor more often than my own, which...what does that say about me and my housekeeping? LoL), or someone needing help with furniture, or furniture coming in, or whatever. It was just nuts. We also hired a new person this week and our new Lead is still learning how to do store credits and things like that so I was training and juggling things. I didn't even think to do inventory today, which is done on Thursdays. It totally escaped my mind it was so nuts for me. I can't even say that the store itself was busy and business was crazy. It was just all the people and things that came up that were nuts. It doesn't help when you have 2 regular high-maintenance customers that come in and monopolize quite a bit of my time. I at least knew their situations, which makes a world of difference, but it was still time consuming. I'm just glad work is over and it's my Friday! I NEED the weekend to recover from today!
In other stuff, not a whole lot is going on. I haven't done my nails since the last time. I can't wait till my right index nail grows out, though. Ugh. Thankfully my nails grow really fast, but still!
It's been a crazy TV watching week with Sunday and Monday such heavy days for me. Six shows on Sunday is a little crazy...Normally Sundays were kind of slow for me, but now it's my biggest day and Monday has 4! Thankfully, Tuesday has no shows...Course, Sundays I track 7 (Dexter is the 7th), but since I'm 2 seasons behind in Dexter, I need to catch up at some point. Monday's 4th show is Revolution, but I think I'm going to drop it. I don't seem to really want to watch the 2nd episode. I did like 666 Park Avenue, but it is a horror/drama and it was a little scary (says the person who does NOT like ANYTHING remotely scary). So we'll see how long I can keep with it, but it does grab you fairly early. It'll be a good show, if nothing else, to talk with my co-workers about. Elementary wasn't too bad, but it might be a little early to tell. So, if you take out Revolution and Dexter, I'm watching 18 shows a week...Project Runway ends soon and I'm not sure about Arrow. So, I could be at 16 or 17 shows soon. There's also Nashville to try out, which isn't included in the count! You realize 18 shows at about 45 minutes each is 13.5 hours of TV a week? Huh. Wonder what that says about me...
Anyway, on to the Five-Year Engagement with Jason Segal and Emily Blunt. Honestly, this movie felt like I spent 5 years watching it. I was expecting a comedy or rom-com and it was more of a dramedy (drama-comedy) and, I'm sorry, but it was a failed attempt. It was funny where it was meant to be funny, but, other than that, there weren't many laughs and the drama was REAL drama. Oh man...There were moments I just wanted to slap them to tell them to wake up or something! It was also 2 hours long and it was a LONG 2 hours to watch...There was abundant cussing and it made me laugh because even Chris goes, "Wow, there's a lot of cussing. I don't think you should be listening to this!" (I don't cuss, so lots of cussing around me becomes really apparent to people who know me.) It wasn't like every line or even most of the movie, but there were a few scenes (especially the times when they argue) that it's heavy cussing. Perhaps the funniest thing was when Blunt's character got shot in the knee with an arrow by their about 5-year-old niece. It was only funny because of Skyrim and the "took an arrow to the knee" jokes ("I used to be "blank," until I took an arrow in the knee"). I guess the whole principle with the movie is that couples will always have their disagreements and compromises, but as long as you are willing to work through them, you can make it as a couple? I don't know. I don't recommend it. Grade: D
Tomorrow I'm seeing Taken 2 and I'm excited to see it, but also don't have my hopes set high for the movie either. I'm sure it'll be a good action film, but don't expect much else. I am excited for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel coming out on RedBox in 1.5 weeks. I really want to see that. Not a whole left in the year to watch in theaters...There's maybe Breaking Dawn, Part II and for sure Hobbit and Les Mis. I guess that's better for the wallet! DVD rentals, there's a few. Since RedBox is on a delay, it's a little confusing when I will be able to access some movies. So we'll see!
With that...I'm trying to catch up with Burn Notice. I've got 6 more episodes to catch up! Not to mention I might paint my nails tonight (if I don't fall asleep...).
Got my first peer review response back for my paper for the Aquarium. I've been torn the last week or 2 over whether I wanted a lot of information/help back or want them to side with my findings (mostly, lack of data). On the one hand, you want more information because you want more information, but that can also look like I didn't do my due diligence and was a sloppy researcher. Granted, it's nearly impossible to exhaust all sources of information, especially when I've got a language barrier, but you don't want to feel like you missed some obvious stuff! So, on the other hand, I want them to side with me because then it looks like my struggles and paper looks like I DID do my due diligence and I'm, basically, validated in my findings, but that's also kind of a bummer because you want more information! What a conundrum...My first response has been in agreement with me so that felt good. I feel like even if the others are like, "She missed this and this paper and why is this this way?" at least I had that one that was in agreement with me. I guess a balance of reviews would be nice in that regard. So, I feel somewhat good today. Still waiting for other responses, but at least one is out of the way and I can relax tonight (my Friday!).
Today, at work was absolutely exhausting. I actually took (if I was lucky) a 10 minute lunch (normally ours are half-hours) and skipped my last break. Skipping one break a day isn't that unusual (I've done it before, I'm the worst of everyone about that), but I usually, at least, take my full half-hour lunch! It was just crazy...I was running all over the place. I rarely had a minute where I was just standing around doing nothing. If it wasn't a store credit, it was paint being spilled on our floor (once again, I am thankful we don't have carpet...though, I admitted that I probably cleaned the store's floor more often than my own, which...what does that say about me and my housekeeping? LoL), or someone needing help with furniture, or furniture coming in, or whatever. It was just nuts. We also hired a new person this week and our new Lead is still learning how to do store credits and things like that so I was training and juggling things. I didn't even think to do inventory today, which is done on Thursdays. It totally escaped my mind it was so nuts for me. I can't even say that the store itself was busy and business was crazy. It was just all the people and things that came up that were nuts. It doesn't help when you have 2 regular high-maintenance customers that come in and monopolize quite a bit of my time. I at least knew their situations, which makes a world of difference, but it was still time consuming. I'm just glad work is over and it's my Friday! I NEED the weekend to recover from today!
In other stuff, not a whole lot is going on. I haven't done my nails since the last time. I can't wait till my right index nail grows out, though. Ugh. Thankfully my nails grow really fast, but still!
It's been a crazy TV watching week with Sunday and Monday such heavy days for me. Six shows on Sunday is a little crazy...Normally Sundays were kind of slow for me, but now it's my biggest day and Monday has 4! Thankfully, Tuesday has no shows...Course, Sundays I track 7 (Dexter is the 7th), but since I'm 2 seasons behind in Dexter, I need to catch up at some point. Monday's 4th show is Revolution, but I think I'm going to drop it. I don't seem to really want to watch the 2nd episode. I did like 666 Park Avenue, but it is a horror/drama and it was a little scary (says the person who does NOT like ANYTHING remotely scary). So we'll see how long I can keep with it, but it does grab you fairly early. It'll be a good show, if nothing else, to talk with my co-workers about. Elementary wasn't too bad, but it might be a little early to tell. So, if you take out Revolution and Dexter, I'm watching 18 shows a week...Project Runway ends soon and I'm not sure about Arrow. So, I could be at 16 or 17 shows soon. There's also Nashville to try out, which isn't included in the count! You realize 18 shows at about 45 minutes each is 13.5 hours of TV a week? Huh. Wonder what that says about me...
Anyway, on to the Five-Year Engagement with Jason Segal and Emily Blunt. Honestly, this movie felt like I spent 5 years watching it. I was expecting a comedy or rom-com and it was more of a dramedy (drama-comedy) and, I'm sorry, but it was a failed attempt. It was funny where it was meant to be funny, but, other than that, there weren't many laughs and the drama was REAL drama. Oh man...There were moments I just wanted to slap them to tell them to wake up or something! It was also 2 hours long and it was a LONG 2 hours to watch...There was abundant cussing and it made me laugh because even Chris goes, "Wow, there's a lot of cussing. I don't think you should be listening to this!" (I don't cuss, so lots of cussing around me becomes really apparent to people who know me.) It wasn't like every line or even most of the movie, but there were a few scenes (especially the times when they argue) that it's heavy cussing. Perhaps the funniest thing was when Blunt's character got shot in the knee with an arrow by their about 5-year-old niece. It was only funny because of Skyrim and the "took an arrow to the knee" jokes ("I used to be "blank," until I took an arrow in the knee"). I guess the whole principle with the movie is that couples will always have their disagreements and compromises, but as long as you are willing to work through them, you can make it as a couple? I don't know. I don't recommend it. Grade: D
Tomorrow I'm seeing Taken 2 and I'm excited to see it, but also don't have my hopes set high for the movie either. I'm sure it'll be a good action film, but don't expect much else. I am excited for The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel coming out on RedBox in 1.5 weeks. I really want to see that. Not a whole left in the year to watch in theaters...There's maybe Breaking Dawn, Part II and for sure Hobbit and Les Mis. I guess that's better for the wallet! DVD rentals, there's a few. Since RedBox is on a delay, it's a little confusing when I will be able to access some movies. So we'll see!
With that...I'm trying to catch up with Burn Notice. I've got 6 more episodes to catch up! Not to mention I might paint my nails tonight (if I don't fall asleep...).
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