I knew years ago that Xanga was a gamble to keep blogging on when blogging took its nosedive and Blogger and Wordpress emerged. Either of them were a solid choice, but I was being stubborn since I've been on Xanga since my high school days (Sept 20, 2003 was my first post) and far before either ever became popular. Consistency, right? Well, Xanga has converted to Xanga 2.0 and though I could keep blogging there, I'd have to sign-up for Premium (only $48 for a year), but I figure I'll start migrating myself somewhere else.
At first, I thought my posts were lost to time because I couldn't figure out how to get my XML files that Xanga (thank goodness!) very graciously had made available to me. (I was completely oblivious to the future Xanga change...Way to be observant, me!) Blogger wouldn't accept them and I couldn't get WordPress to accept them either. Turns out, I was doing it correctly on WordPress, but I just had to hit the account I wanted to use and I figured it was "optional" as I only had one account. Apparently not! After some research, I tried again and I got them to upload! Yay! After I uploaded all the files to WordPress, I could export the blog and use a converting program to get them to upload to Blogger. Yay! So, though I haven't posted on Blogger in absolutely years (my first Blogger post is now mixed in with all my old Xanga ones, but I think it was posted in 2007), I have ALL my old blog posts (and pictures) here! Technology...How I love thee. I wasn't so sad to lose the past 9 years of blogs, but I was sad to lose 2013's posts. I can't say it enough. I'm very thankful Xanga exported all my files for me and WordPress is so accommodating. I do still miss my Xanga site and feel bad I wasn't able to give a "I'm moving!" post, but I was totally oblivious to the whole situation! Perhaps one day I'll do the Premium account just to support it. It is my childhood!
With that said, I'm still undecided which platform I want to use. I've got the blog here and also the blog at wordpress (mjk1221.wordpress.com). At this point, I'll be using Blogger because I like the customization it allows, but I like the ease-of-use wordpress provides and its transferability to more platforms and future endeavors (if those occur). We'll see. I have a feeling I'll just stick to Blogger since it's all Google uniform (Google's slowly taking over the digital world!).
I do have a major movie update I need to do and need to complete at least one "My Life..." post! I've started two of them and then I got busy and then the whole Xanga thing happened and I think I spent a good two weeks going, "What is going on?" before I decided to look into it. Movie update will happen first. I just need to get back into the idea of blogging. I'm a little sad, I suppose. Oh well. What are you going to do?
Thursday, September 12, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
My Life...
Next few posts or so I'm probably going to do some "looks into me" posts (probably spread between my random posts about movies and whatever else). This is entirely unintentional, but I was planning to blog about these things anyway and thought I'd split them up and make them more "formal." One will be about nail polish (I get a lot of questions about my hobby and the stuff I use, so why not?). One will be about my life as an adoptee (lots of babies popping up around me, read an interesting piece about fertility issues, and have had a string of recent "what nationality are you?" questions). And, lastly, there will be one about horse racing (perhaps less about me and more about the industry and the issues it faces). Might be another that's somewhat work-customers related, but we'll see.
With that said, you have those to look forward to, but here's my requisite movie post with random life observations. :)
I realized the other week that my new life motto (not really) is, "Can live messy, can't work messy." Sounds weird, but it's totally true! I remember vividly in school (I mean high school and lower grades) that I had to have things on my desk in a neat and ordered way. My backpack had things in certain places and so forth; however, my room was never exactly "neat." I will admit I've gone from severely messy to less...messy... :P I can't say I'm "neat" at home, but I guess I'm more "orderly" on the grand scale of things. Back to the topic at hand, the other day I was doing the dishes before I started cooking and I had to clean the kitchen before I could even THINK about cooking. Counters had to be cleaned of miscellaneous items; dishes had to be all cleaned and put away; counter had to be wiped down; etc. At least I don't go as far as needing the floor mopped! It got me thinking, "Why do I do that...?" and it dawned on me! I can live messy, which means I can walk into the kitchen, put a dirty dish on the counter or in the sink and walk away and be fine with it. I can even let them pile up for days and I'm fine with it. In that regard, no harm, no foul. I can have a messy desk and be fine if I'm not using it (Chris tends to "stash" a lot of things on my desk). Unfortunately, for me, whenever I need a space to WORK, whether it's simply washing the dishes, cooking, doing Aquarium work at my computer, etc, I need my space clutter-free. It's like the chaos of the place being messy distracts my brain and I can't function till it's gone. It's like OCD takes over a part of my brain because things have to be in certain places or not in my work area. Chris always knows to watch out when I get into these, "I can't deal with this mess! I need it cleaned NOW" moments. They can hit me suddenly in the apartment and I just get into a cleaning frenzy because I can't take it anymore. Coincidentally, these moments tend to happen when I'm trying to move about the place the most. When I cook, I need empty counter spaces and an empty drying rack with no dishes in the sink. Even when it's just cleaning dishes and nothing else, I can't have dishes in the sink. I take them out of the side I'm washing in or put them onto the counter. I also clean dishes as I cook. I can't leave a huge pile in the sink or on the counter. It also makes sense while I'm at work why I have to have things neat and orderly. My manager isn't as neat and I'm constantly putting things back into place or whatever and it goes back to my "Can live messy, can't work messy." It's my place of work, which means it needs to be orderly or it drives me up a wall. In a lot of ways, I guess the saying says a lot about me. Haven't deduced it all, but it's been an interesting "eye opener" for me and how I function.
As I said earlier, I'm cooking -- a lot. Why? I have no other idea than it's a mechanism to ween myself off of nail polish. LoL If I'm cooking and spending money on cooking stuff, I don't have money to spend on nail polish and I don't have time to browse websites! I still don't fully enjoy cooking, but it's something different and it's fun trying different recipes and seeing how well I can execute them. In addition, at least eating out means more now. LoL My problem right now is that I need to figure out "quicker" recipes to make after work since I'll end up spending the entire evening cooking and/or baking instead of relaxing. Eh. I'll figure it out at some point. I can't be up till 11:30pm every night finishing baking 2 lemon pound cakes with a lemon glaze after making homemade beef stroganoff all on the same day I did the grocery shopping for said foods right after work! Won't do that again...I was exhausted! Though, the lemon pound cakes were absolutely amazing...I'm going to make them again in a day or two.
On to movies...
The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) - You know, it wasn't too bad...until you get to the end. It was better than Wolverine Origins and it's better than the 3rd X-Men (and probably the 2nd one...? It's been too long since I watched them to say definitively), but you get to the end and, if you know canon at all, it gets shot to pieces. What did they do to the end?! It was a decent film up to the moment Logan face plants into the snow after being made a human pin cushion (watch the trailer for the scene I'm referring to). From that point on, it made me go, "Wha...?" If you took out the canon issues, it was an okay ending. It was a little too much "immortality sacrifices," blah, blah, blah, but you probably could have lived with it. Unfortunately, even people who don't know canon are going to ask questions during some scenes because it doesn't make sense. If you know even a LITTLE bit of canon (I know enough to be dangerous, but by no means am an expert and I'd barely even call me a novice), it will make you go, "What?" I also didn't like Jean in this film...This movie takes place, roughly, right after X-Men 3 so Jean "appears" to Logan and it was definitely a "been there, done that" feeling with her. I was totally over her. It's been too long since X-Men 3, apparently. :P With that said, it's the step in the right direction for Wolverine movies and for X-Men movies in general. With X-Men: First Class being a good film and The Wolverine being an okay-to-decent film, maybe X-Men is partially redeeming itself? One can hope... Grade: C+
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, etc) - GI Joe 2 was delayed from being released in theaters by about 8-10 months (I forget when, exactly, in the latter half of 2012 it was supposed to come out) to do reshoots and to make sure 3-D was done properly. I waited for DVD to watch it and I'm not sad. First off, it's GI Joe. I know it's going to be fantastical and a little over the top, but you watch it for the action and not the story, right? Okay, maybe not, but that's why I was watching it. It's a little too fantastical for me. By far, the best scene was the ninja scene on the mountain. It was pretty darn cool to watch and who doesn't like watching ninjas fight? With that said, the rest of it was over-the-top and I laughed at the end about all the "chases" there were. It wasn't horrible, though. Was it better than the first one? It's been too long since I saw the first to say and I didn't think the first was as bad as people thought it was in the first place. I would say it's in the lower levels of action films, though. It just doesn't work as well as it could. Grade: C-
Admission (Tina Fey, Paul Rudd) - In ways, the title of the movie is a double entendre. Sure, it's about someone who does admissions for Princeton, but she also had an "admission" (as in a confession, of sorts) in it too. While the movie had some funny parts and I think Paul Rudd and Tina Fey were pretty good in the film, the story is okay till you get about 3/4 (2/3) of the way through the film and then it loses you. What starts as trying to be different, gets a little too different and then it takes you down a road that I can't agree with. I wish it stayed in the rom-com department and stayed away from the drama. The drama and the twists really do ruin the movie, but, at the same time, I was able to watch the movie without it making me feel like I wasted my evening. So, it's a toss up, but the ending does really degrade the entire thing. Grade: D/D+
I'm currently enjoying the Pacific Rim soundtrack. Djawadi does the soundtrack for the first Iron Man, which I really enjoy and knew from the opening song of Pacific Rim he did the soundtrack because it sounds VERY similar to Iron Man. It's a good theme, though, so I'm enjoying the Pacific Rim soundtrack. I like songs with a good bass in them and Djwadi does that a lot in both films. I do enjoy the Game of Thrones opening credit theme song too, which he does the music for Game of Thrones.
Speaking of movie soundtracks, I never mentioned Varese Sarabande released their 30th anniversary compilation of CDs this year. Every 5 years they release a 4-CD set of "main theme" songs from TV shows and movies they publish. I'd been waiting for the release of it months before it came out (technically, been waiting since their 25th anni was released!). I own every anniversary set they've released (20, 25, and 30) and I love them. They're fairly cheap for such a wide array of soundtracks and for being a 4-setter. They're not all instrumentals too. Some of them have singing, but it's not a lot. I do appreciate how they release a NEW set of songs for each set (basically the previous 5 years) rather than mix-and-match the sets for the past 30 years.
My CD of choice, though, has been Lord Huron again. I'm almost nonstop playing it. I do so enjoy it. Randomly, I found out Florence + the Machine (who I also really like) and Lord Huron are signed by the same record label. Random tidbit. :)
With that, time to find something new to read. I demolished the two new books in series I'm reading that came out the last week (that was a really awkward sentence...). I really should slow down to read them (finished one in 24 hours -- that's including the fact I had work during that day), but I enjoy the series so much and the books are good so I can't stop! In addition, even if I reread the series (and I've reread these series several times), I can't read them for the first time again. I'm seriously addicted to the feeling and excitement I get from reading and devouring a new series for the first time. It's an addiction for me. I crave that feeling so I've been hunting for a series trying to find other stuff to read. There's just something special about reading a good book you really liked and had no idea you'd like it so much. Next best thing is reading a new book in the series, but...just not the same. Course, that's assuming the next book in the series is actually good. :P
With that said, you have those to look forward to, but here's my requisite movie post with random life observations. :)
I realized the other week that my new life motto (not really) is, "Can live messy, can't work messy." Sounds weird, but it's totally true! I remember vividly in school (I mean high school and lower grades) that I had to have things on my desk in a neat and ordered way. My backpack had things in certain places and so forth; however, my room was never exactly "neat." I will admit I've gone from severely messy to less...messy... :P I can't say I'm "neat" at home, but I guess I'm more "orderly" on the grand scale of things. Back to the topic at hand, the other day I was doing the dishes before I started cooking and I had to clean the kitchen before I could even THINK about cooking. Counters had to be cleaned of miscellaneous items; dishes had to be all cleaned and put away; counter had to be wiped down; etc. At least I don't go as far as needing the floor mopped! It got me thinking, "Why do I do that...?" and it dawned on me! I can live messy, which means I can walk into the kitchen, put a dirty dish on the counter or in the sink and walk away and be fine with it. I can even let them pile up for days and I'm fine with it. In that regard, no harm, no foul. I can have a messy desk and be fine if I'm not using it (Chris tends to "stash" a lot of things on my desk). Unfortunately, for me, whenever I need a space to WORK, whether it's simply washing the dishes, cooking, doing Aquarium work at my computer, etc, I need my space clutter-free. It's like the chaos of the place being messy distracts my brain and I can't function till it's gone. It's like OCD takes over a part of my brain because things have to be in certain places or not in my work area. Chris always knows to watch out when I get into these, "I can't deal with this mess! I need it cleaned NOW" moments. They can hit me suddenly in the apartment and I just get into a cleaning frenzy because I can't take it anymore. Coincidentally, these moments tend to happen when I'm trying to move about the place the most. When I cook, I need empty counter spaces and an empty drying rack with no dishes in the sink. Even when it's just cleaning dishes and nothing else, I can't have dishes in the sink. I take them out of the side I'm washing in or put them onto the counter. I also clean dishes as I cook. I can't leave a huge pile in the sink or on the counter. It also makes sense while I'm at work why I have to have things neat and orderly. My manager isn't as neat and I'm constantly putting things back into place or whatever and it goes back to my "Can live messy, can't work messy." It's my place of work, which means it needs to be orderly or it drives me up a wall. In a lot of ways, I guess the saying says a lot about me. Haven't deduced it all, but it's been an interesting "eye opener" for me and how I function.
As I said earlier, I'm cooking -- a lot. Why? I have no other idea than it's a mechanism to ween myself off of nail polish. LoL If I'm cooking and spending money on cooking stuff, I don't have money to spend on nail polish and I don't have time to browse websites! I still don't fully enjoy cooking, but it's something different and it's fun trying different recipes and seeing how well I can execute them. In addition, at least eating out means more now. LoL My problem right now is that I need to figure out "quicker" recipes to make after work since I'll end up spending the entire evening cooking and/or baking instead of relaxing. Eh. I'll figure it out at some point. I can't be up till 11:30pm every night finishing baking 2 lemon pound cakes with a lemon glaze after making homemade beef stroganoff all on the same day I did the grocery shopping for said foods right after work! Won't do that again...I was exhausted! Though, the lemon pound cakes were absolutely amazing...I'm going to make them again in a day or two.
On to movies...
The Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) - You know, it wasn't too bad...until you get to the end. It was better than Wolverine Origins and it's better than the 3rd X-Men (and probably the 2nd one...? It's been too long since I watched them to say definitively), but you get to the end and, if you know canon at all, it gets shot to pieces. What did they do to the end?! It was a decent film up to the moment Logan face plants into the snow after being made a human pin cushion (watch the trailer for the scene I'm referring to). From that point on, it made me go, "Wha...?" If you took out the canon issues, it was an okay ending. It was a little too much "immortality sacrifices," blah, blah, blah, but you probably could have lived with it. Unfortunately, even people who don't know canon are going to ask questions during some scenes because it doesn't make sense. If you know even a LITTLE bit of canon (I know enough to be dangerous, but by no means am an expert and I'd barely even call me a novice), it will make you go, "What?" I also didn't like Jean in this film...This movie takes place, roughly, right after X-Men 3 so Jean "appears" to Logan and it was definitely a "been there, done that" feeling with her. I was totally over her. It's been too long since X-Men 3, apparently. :P With that said, it's the step in the right direction for Wolverine movies and for X-Men movies in general. With X-Men: First Class being a good film and The Wolverine being an okay-to-decent film, maybe X-Men is partially redeeming itself? One can hope... Grade: C+
G.I. Joe: Retaliation (Dwayne Johnson, Bruce Willis, etc) - GI Joe 2 was delayed from being released in theaters by about 8-10 months (I forget when, exactly, in the latter half of 2012 it was supposed to come out) to do reshoots and to make sure 3-D was done properly. I waited for DVD to watch it and I'm not sad. First off, it's GI Joe. I know it's going to be fantastical and a little over the top, but you watch it for the action and not the story, right? Okay, maybe not, but that's why I was watching it. It's a little too fantastical for me. By far, the best scene was the ninja scene on the mountain. It was pretty darn cool to watch and who doesn't like watching ninjas fight? With that said, the rest of it was over-the-top and I laughed at the end about all the "chases" there were. It wasn't horrible, though. Was it better than the first one? It's been too long since I saw the first to say and I didn't think the first was as bad as people thought it was in the first place. I would say it's in the lower levels of action films, though. It just doesn't work as well as it could. Grade: C-
Admission (Tina Fey, Paul Rudd) - In ways, the title of the movie is a double entendre. Sure, it's about someone who does admissions for Princeton, but she also had an "admission" (as in a confession, of sorts) in it too. While the movie had some funny parts and I think Paul Rudd and Tina Fey were pretty good in the film, the story is okay till you get about 3/4 (2/3) of the way through the film and then it loses you. What starts as trying to be different, gets a little too different and then it takes you down a road that I can't agree with. I wish it stayed in the rom-com department and stayed away from the drama. The drama and the twists really do ruin the movie, but, at the same time, I was able to watch the movie without it making me feel like I wasted my evening. So, it's a toss up, but the ending does really degrade the entire thing. Grade: D/D+
I'm currently enjoying the Pacific Rim soundtrack. Djawadi does the soundtrack for the first Iron Man, which I really enjoy and knew from the opening song of Pacific Rim he did the soundtrack because it sounds VERY similar to Iron Man. It's a good theme, though, so I'm enjoying the Pacific Rim soundtrack. I like songs with a good bass in them and Djwadi does that a lot in both films. I do enjoy the Game of Thrones opening credit theme song too, which he does the music for Game of Thrones.
Speaking of movie soundtracks, I never mentioned Varese Sarabande released their 30th anniversary compilation of CDs this year. Every 5 years they release a 4-CD set of "main theme" songs from TV shows and movies they publish. I'd been waiting for the release of it months before it came out (technically, been waiting since their 25th anni was released!). I own every anniversary set they've released (20, 25, and 30) and I love them. They're fairly cheap for such a wide array of soundtracks and for being a 4-setter. They're not all instrumentals too. Some of them have singing, but it's not a lot. I do appreciate how they release a NEW set of songs for each set (basically the previous 5 years) rather than mix-and-match the sets for the past 30 years.
My CD of choice, though, has been Lord Huron again. I'm almost nonstop playing it. I do so enjoy it. Randomly, I found out Florence + the Machine (who I also really like) and Lord Huron are signed by the same record label. Random tidbit. :)
With that, time to find something new to read. I demolished the two new books in series I'm reading that came out the last week (that was a really awkward sentence...). I really should slow down to read them (finished one in 24 hours -- that's including the fact I had work during that day), but I enjoy the series so much and the books are good so I can't stop! In addition, even if I reread the series (and I've reread these series several times), I can't read them for the first time again. I'm seriously addicted to the feeling and excitement I get from reading and devouring a new series for the first time. It's an addiction for me. I crave that feeling so I've been hunting for a series trying to find other stuff to read. There's just something special about reading a good book you really liked and had no idea you'd like it so much. Next best thing is reading a new book in the series, but...just not the same. Course, that's assuming the next book in the series is actually good. :P
Friday, July 26, 2013
A very long week...
And thus concludes my 8-day work week! Or, it concluded 2 days ago, which means...I SURVIVED! To be fair, working the 8 days wasn't as horrible as I thought it might be. It's been a while (half a year or so) since I've worked more than 5 days in a row, but I started my 8-day work week with a 12-hour shift. Not the greatest way to start off. In addition, I *almost* worked 9 days in a row, so I guess I should be happy it was only 8. :) However, as my co-worker said, it's all in your expectations. Since I knew I was working the 8 days, I mentally prepared and I did. I was trying to get more sleep, take my breaks, and pace myself. It's unfortunate, though, that most of my work week was spent being a little short staffed. I think I started my 5 week stint as "manager" under stress and ended it under stress. Somewhere in the middle I definitely hit my stride. Not to say I totally lost it towards the end, but with everything going on at the store and with our manager coming back, I definitely was reverting more back to my being the assistant manager and just trying to keep the boat afloat.
With that said, my last week as acting manager was a total success as we dug ourselves out of the hole we made in making our plan and I think it ended well. I felt like the 5 weeks as acting manager were both good for me in the ways of character building and leadership skills, but also just solidifying my place at Goodwill. Not to say I really want my place "solidified" (I do not want to be a manager at Goodwill, tyvm), but I felt like I finally got some notoriety with the higher-ups. When our manager returned, he said that the higher-ups had noted how well I handled the store and it went better than they could have hoped. I always feel like Goodwill leans a little too heavily upon the managers when I can do things just as well as he can (granted, not all assistant managers can do that, but I can!). It was also nice "getting to know" other people at Goodwill I normally never had any contact with because my manager handled it all.
I'm really proud of my co-workers too. They stepped up and were understanding (mostly) with everything going on and were flexible with changes and with me sometimes just running around having to let them run the store while I went and did whatever administrative thing I had to do. I think, in a lot of ways, we proved something as a team. Not that I thought the store was going to fall apart without our manager, but I also wasn't sure how smooth it was going to be or how everyone was going to take me being at the helm for 5 weeks. People stepped up where I needed them and it worked out. Course, saying all that, THANK GOODNESS my manager is back! :P I think being the leader on your own is one thing, but filling a place for 5 weeks is a totally "other" thing because you're both having to manage and try to keep the spirit of your manager there. It's not like he even left the job, so it was kind of weird sometimes since I wouldn't always get forwarded emails and had to keep up on some of those also.
At any rate, now that he's back, I can go back to my own duties and projects I liked to do. I noticed while he was gone the things I used to up keep and do fell by the wayside and I focused more on his areas and things he did. I just couldn't find the time to do two people's projects! I'm kind of excited to get back to my own routine. I liked my routine and I got back to it the minute he walked through the door. I actually got to clean two sections I like and get things out!
With my manager back, I saw him for one day and then took 4 days off. LoL I really needed the 4-days turns out. I was going to take 3 days off split up, but decided the last minute to do 4 and I'm glad. It's been nice having this time off. My last 4-days off were spent finishing my Aquarium report so this is kind of like the first time in a while I've had NOTHING to do. I tried a new manicure technique I haven't done before (gradient) and I'm rereading a ton of books and generally just enjoying my time off!
I have watched several movies in the last few weeks and might go see another this weekend. So, movies!
Dead Man Down (Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace) - Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I feel like Farrell does the same type of movie or he's a similar type of person in a lot of them. Then again, I could just be thinking of just a few movies of his I have seen. At any rate, it's okay. Your typical mob-vengeance type of movie. I think the acting is good, but the story doesn't really work for me. It also doesn't bode well when I can tune out the movie for 20 minutes and know where I am too... Grade: C-
The Host (Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, etc) - This surprised me. I've read the book and between Twilight and The Host, The Host is generally favored between Meyer's written works. I, too, fall into that category. The Host came out the year Breaking Dawn came out and I liked The Host, but it's a novel that takes place, mostly, between one entity or body. In other words, an alien takes possession of a human body and the human fights back and communicates with the alien. To say the least, I was really dubious how the movie was going to play out given there's so much talking to each other in their head. Turns out, they handled it pretty well. I never realized how slow the book is, though, until I watched the movie. It is a rather slow paced movie, but it was okay for me. The only time I really thought the talking-to-each-other thing was awkward was at the end where you're in a close-up of the body and they just talk to each other. It was a little weird and really showed the "slowness" of the book, but at least it moves past it. To say the least, it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't fantastic either. Grade: C
Spring Breakers (Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, James Franco) - What in the world did I watch? LoL I can get its allure from the critics and sort of its point (wait, am I sure there was a point?), but it's definitely NOT for everyone. It's definitely a polarizing film where some people will love it and others will really dislike it. With that said, I thought Franco's acting was really different than you normally see him and good and I didn't mind the girls either, but the whole premise of the story is...different. I suppose the main point is to look at our culture and what is the point of spring break. In ways, that's what the director wanted to do and I suppose he accomplished that. I think watching the movie took up precious memory space, but it was an interesting watch to see what the "buzz" was about. Wouldn't recommend it, though. Grade: D
Pacific Rim (Charlie Hunnam, Mako Mori, etc) - Now THIS is what I think of a summer blockbuster...Not to say Star Trek or Man of Steel weren't blockbusters, but I somewhat miss the mindless action that films bring and Star Trek and Man of Steel required too much analyzing at the end (or disappointment?). I'd buy this on DVD. It's a great action packed film with fantastic special effects. Sure, it feels a little Japanese-western sci-fi cliche-y movie, but it works. It could have been really bad (and the trailer does make it look pretty bad -- even *I* thought it was a DVD renter!), but it works. I liked it. I did keep thinking, "They're destroying precious ocean habitat!" throughout the movie, that's probably a problem few people had watching it. :) It's a good theater watch for the special effects and the sound quality. I'm glad I saw it in theater. It's not an original story and the story is REALLY predictable (there's various levels of predictability and this near the top -- I could predict which actors were dying and whether it was a heroic death or just a casualty), but it somehow works. It is a little more mainstream for a del Toro film, but it was interesting to see him direct a big movie like this. Grade: B+
Despicable Me 2 (Steve Carell) - Cute sequel. I can't say whether it was better than the first one or not because I don't remember the first that much, but this one is cute. I liked the minions, I liked the relationship between Gru and the kids, and I liked the story (generally). It's just about what you would expect so not a whole lot to report on it. Grade: B
Jack the Giant Slayer (Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Elanor Tomlinson) - Well, this was better than I thought it would be, but still nowhere near as good as it could have been...? It does give a slight feel that's ala Princess Bride, but it is its own movie. I'm not sure what really turned me off from it, but something doesn't work. I'm not sure if it's Hoult, the feel, or the story. Could be all three. It's a mindless watch, for the most part, and there are interesting moments, but, mostly, it's nothing fantastic. Grade: C
Welcome to the Punch (James McAvoy, Mark Strong) - I was distracted by Strong the entire time! I couldn't figure out what was bothering me till I looked at photos of him in Sherlock Holmes and then it dawned on me -- Hair! Who'd of thunk that'd bother me so much? At any rate, I like McAvoy so that's why I decided to rent this. You saw the pairing of the two former enemies to take down the "greater" enemy coming from a mile away, but it was something you still needed to watch. The movie was paced kind of weird. Normally, films like these you can tune out for 5-10 minutes, tune back in, and know where they are (more-or-less). I had to rewind the movie several times and then finally resigned myself to needing to watch it with my whole attention. There were things they left "sitting" for a while (to get back to at a different time) and they didn't need to. I thought the acting was good, but I wish the story flowed in a different way. I guess the attempt was to make it "different," but it just didn't work. And then, the semi-non-ending was kind of weird too. I don't know. Not my favorite. Grade: C-
Identity Thief (Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy) - Pretty much what you'd expect even towards the end because you could see it coming midway through. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but wasn't anything really interesting too. I did find it hard for Bateman's character to steel the identity of his boss, but maybe that's me. He couldn't be the saint the whole movie or that'd be "boring," but still...With that, it's a little haphazard of a film and the laughs weren't there. You expect more from a pairing like that (or maybe you don't) and they didn't really deliver. Grade: C/C-
It occurs to me that I haven't given a movie that came out in 2013 an "A," ye t...In fact, Pacific Rim at a B+ is the highest this year! I can't tell if I'm becoming more jaded given how many movies I watch or if there truly hasn't been a "great" film this year. I guess I'll have to wait till the latter half of the year where the Oscar dramas start pouring out of the woodwork. Plus...Who can't wait for Thor or The Hobbit?! I don't know if I'll make 100 movies this year, though. I have 44 more movies to go and 5 more months. That's about 9 movies a month and I tend to slow down towards the end because the summer movies haven't come out or I've watched them all. We'll see!
With that said, my last week as acting manager was a total success as we dug ourselves out of the hole we made in making our plan and I think it ended well. I felt like the 5 weeks as acting manager were both good for me in the ways of character building and leadership skills, but also just solidifying my place at Goodwill. Not to say I really want my place "solidified" (I do not want to be a manager at Goodwill, tyvm), but I felt like I finally got some notoriety with the higher-ups. When our manager returned, he said that the higher-ups had noted how well I handled the store and it went better than they could have hoped. I always feel like Goodwill leans a little too heavily upon the managers when I can do things just as well as he can (granted, not all assistant managers can do that, but I can!). It was also nice "getting to know" other people at Goodwill I normally never had any contact with because my manager handled it all.
I'm really proud of my co-workers too. They stepped up and were understanding (mostly) with everything going on and were flexible with changes and with me sometimes just running around having to let them run the store while I went and did whatever administrative thing I had to do. I think, in a lot of ways, we proved something as a team. Not that I thought the store was going to fall apart without our manager, but I also wasn't sure how smooth it was going to be or how everyone was going to take me being at the helm for 5 weeks. People stepped up where I needed them and it worked out. Course, saying all that, THANK GOODNESS my manager is back! :P I think being the leader on your own is one thing, but filling a place for 5 weeks is a totally "other" thing because you're both having to manage and try to keep the spirit of your manager there. It's not like he even left the job, so it was kind of weird sometimes since I wouldn't always get forwarded emails and had to keep up on some of those also.
At any rate, now that he's back, I can go back to my own duties and projects I liked to do. I noticed while he was gone the things I used to up keep and do fell by the wayside and I focused more on his areas and things he did. I just couldn't find the time to do two people's projects! I'm kind of excited to get back to my own routine. I liked my routine and I got back to it the minute he walked through the door. I actually got to clean two sections I like and get things out!
With my manager back, I saw him for one day and then took 4 days off. LoL I really needed the 4-days turns out. I was going to take 3 days off split up, but decided the last minute to do 4 and I'm glad. It's been nice having this time off. My last 4-days off were spent finishing my Aquarium report so this is kind of like the first time in a while I've had NOTHING to do. I tried a new manicure technique I haven't done before (gradient) and I'm rereading a ton of books and generally just enjoying my time off!
I have watched several movies in the last few weeks and might go see another this weekend. So, movies!
Dead Man Down (Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace) - Maybe it's just a coincidence, but I feel like Farrell does the same type of movie or he's a similar type of person in a lot of them. Then again, I could just be thinking of just a few movies of his I have seen. At any rate, it's okay. Your typical mob-vengeance type of movie. I think the acting is good, but the story doesn't really work for me. It also doesn't bode well when I can tune out the movie for 20 minutes and know where I am too... Grade: C-
The Host (Saoirse Ronan, Diane Kruger, etc) - This surprised me. I've read the book and between Twilight and The Host, The Host is generally favored between Meyer's written works. I, too, fall into that category. The Host came out the year Breaking Dawn came out and I liked The Host, but it's a novel that takes place, mostly, between one entity or body. In other words, an alien takes possession of a human body and the human fights back and communicates with the alien. To say the least, I was really dubious how the movie was going to play out given there's so much talking to each other in their head. Turns out, they handled it pretty well. I never realized how slow the book is, though, until I watched the movie. It is a rather slow paced movie, but it was okay for me. The only time I really thought the talking-to-each-other thing was awkward was at the end where you're in a close-up of the body and they just talk to each other. It was a little weird and really showed the "slowness" of the book, but at least it moves past it. To say the least, it wasn't too bad, but it wasn't fantastic either. Grade: C
Spring Breakers (Vanessa Hudgens, Selena Gomez, Ashley Benson, Rachel Korine, James Franco) - What in the world did I watch? LoL I can get its allure from the critics and sort of its point (wait, am I sure there was a point?), but it's definitely NOT for everyone. It's definitely a polarizing film where some people will love it and others will really dislike it. With that said, I thought Franco's acting was really different than you normally see him and good and I didn't mind the girls either, but the whole premise of the story is...different. I suppose the main point is to look at our culture and what is the point of spring break. In ways, that's what the director wanted to do and I suppose he accomplished that. I think watching the movie took up precious memory space, but it was an interesting watch to see what the "buzz" was about. Wouldn't recommend it, though. Grade: D
Pacific Rim (Charlie Hunnam, Mako Mori, etc) - Now THIS is what I think of a summer blockbuster...Not to say Star Trek or Man of Steel weren't blockbusters, but I somewhat miss the mindless action that films bring and Star Trek and Man of Steel required too much analyzing at the end (or disappointment?). I'd buy this on DVD. It's a great action packed film with fantastic special effects. Sure, it feels a little Japanese-western sci-fi cliche-y movie, but it works. It could have been really bad (and the trailer does make it look pretty bad -- even *I* thought it was a DVD renter!), but it works. I liked it. I did keep thinking, "They're destroying precious ocean habitat!" throughout the movie, that's probably a problem few people had watching it. :) It's a good theater watch for the special effects and the sound quality. I'm glad I saw it in theater. It's not an original story and the story is REALLY predictable (there's various levels of predictability and this near the top -- I could predict which actors were dying and whether it was a heroic death or just a casualty), but it somehow works. It is a little more mainstream for a del Toro film, but it was interesting to see him direct a big movie like this. Grade: B+
Despicable Me 2 (Steve Carell) - Cute sequel. I can't say whether it was better than the first one or not because I don't remember the first that much, but this one is cute. I liked the minions, I liked the relationship between Gru and the kids, and I liked the story (generally). It's just about what you would expect so not a whole lot to report on it. Grade: B
Jack the Giant Slayer (Nicholas Hoult, Ewan McGregor, Elanor Tomlinson) - Well, this was better than I thought it would be, but still nowhere near as good as it could have been...? It does give a slight feel that's ala Princess Bride, but it is its own movie. I'm not sure what really turned me off from it, but something doesn't work. I'm not sure if it's Hoult, the feel, or the story. Could be all three. It's a mindless watch, for the most part, and there are interesting moments, but, mostly, it's nothing fantastic. Grade: C
Welcome to the Punch (James McAvoy, Mark Strong) - I was distracted by Strong the entire time! I couldn't figure out what was bothering me till I looked at photos of him in Sherlock Holmes and then it dawned on me -- Hair! Who'd of thunk that'd bother me so much? At any rate, I like McAvoy so that's why I decided to rent this. You saw the pairing of the two former enemies to take down the "greater" enemy coming from a mile away, but it was something you still needed to watch. The movie was paced kind of weird. Normally, films like these you can tune out for 5-10 minutes, tune back in, and know where they are (more-or-less). I had to rewind the movie several times and then finally resigned myself to needing to watch it with my whole attention. There were things they left "sitting" for a while (to get back to at a different time) and they didn't need to. I thought the acting was good, but I wish the story flowed in a different way. I guess the attempt was to make it "different," but it just didn't work. And then, the semi-non-ending was kind of weird too. I don't know. Not my favorite. Grade: C-
Identity Thief (Jason Bateman, Melissa McCarthy) - Pretty much what you'd expect even towards the end because you could see it coming midway through. It wasn't as bad as it could have been, but wasn't anything really interesting too. I did find it hard for Bateman's character to steel the identity of his boss, but maybe that's me. He couldn't be the saint the whole movie or that'd be "boring," but still...With that, it's a little haphazard of a film and the laughs weren't there. You expect more from a pairing like that (or maybe you don't) and they didn't really deliver. Grade: C/C-
It occurs to me that I haven't given a movie that came out in 2013 an "A," ye t...In fact, Pacific Rim at a B+ is the highest this year! I can't tell if I'm becoming more jaded given how many movies I watch or if there truly hasn't been a "great" film this year. I guess I'll have to wait till the latter half of the year where the Oscar dramas start pouring out of the woodwork. Plus...Who can't wait for Thor or The Hobbit?! I don't know if I'll make 100 movies this year, though. I have 44 more movies to go and 5 more months. That's about 9 movies a month and I tend to slow down towards the end because the summer movies haven't come out or I've watched them all. We'll see!
Saturday, July 6, 2013
3rd time is the charm?
I have attempted to write this blog post three times now. I write half of it and get tired of writing so I save it and go away thinking I'll get to it the next day. Little do I realize, the next time I get to it, it's been a week and I don't feel like posting anything I wrote! So I start all over again. Hopefully, this post will actually make it to fruition!
Weather for a while here was really warm. Our store has almost no airflow unless the front doors are open and if it's windy, you can't have the doors open because the wind just BARRELS through it. So we tried to keep the doors open as much as possible, but the humidity was gross. The temperature this week has gone down a little, but our store still gets pretty warm and the weather of late has been that it's just a little too cold to leave the front doors open or the cashiers start to freeze to death. It's unfortunate that anywhere away from the doors ends up being warm and stuffy. I've been in the office a lot with our manager being gone and that room has no vent for anything so it's either stuffy as all get out or an ice box. Yuck.
Anyway, beyond that, our manager had the baby! Or, I should say, his wife had the baby. :) Baby will be three weeks old on Sunday (depending when I end up posting this, this could be either tomorrow or today). I've been managing the store and will be managing it for a total of 5 weeks. I'm glad he can take that time to be with the baby. Only get them at that age once, right? Mostly, the store is running. It's had its rocky moments for various reasons and we did, mostly, finish the month out strong, but we did miss plan altogether. Oh well, at least I got some good 4 days in there at the end. The start of July has been good (knock on wood!). We'll see if we can maintain that momentum the rest of the month, though. It's kind of early to be saying things like that. It took me about a week, but I think I've finally got my manager groove on. The first week was a big scramble because it was the end of the month and a lot of things happen at the end of the month. I got it all done, but I felt like I spent a week just scrambling. In fact, because my days off changed (just till our manager gets back), I almost had 4 days off in a row. I had two days off, worked one, and had another two days off. The one day I worked I spent almost all day in the office because I had a lot of things to do that had to be done before I left for another 2 days off. It was crazy! Mostly, though, it's been going well. I haven't seen any higher-ups and I'm not sure if that's because I'm managing the store well so they're not worried or if it's because they're all busy with our new CEO/President coming on (our old one's last day was June 28th -- he retired) and the new store opening in Soledad (opens the 25th). At any rate, I definitely feel like I've firmly planted in the "manager" role, though. Before, it was a lot of questions about where to send things and being a little more timid about doing some things. Now, I feel like I've got this. I think... :P
Other than that, not a whole lot is going on. My Aquarium report is in for peer review so I've got a little down time right now (it was ready for peer review on the 20th of June). So that's kind of nice. I'm doing some reading and have gotten into reality TV a lot. I'm watching Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, Whodunnit?, and Top Shot. Mostly watching Hell's Kitchen because it's an easy extension of MasterChef, but I really like MasterChef more than Hell's Kitchen. I find MasterChef more interesting to watch, whereas Hell's Kitchen is a lot of yelling and people messing up how to cook food. MasterChef is more about how they cook the food and then criticizing how they cooked/prepped/handled the food. I've always enjoyed Top Shot, but I forgot the new season started and that it was an All Stars season. I have to admit, I was maybe a little *too* excited for the fact Top Shot was back. I'm enjoying the season and it's fun seeing people from the past 4 season. I really liked some of the people from the past so it's good to see them back and how a lot of the episodes and challenges are the same things from past seasons, but amped up. Whodunnit? was a fluke that I got into. It was just there and I had read about it so I just started watching it and now I'm curious to see how it finishes. I think it's clever, but I think part of its current cleverness is because it's a new show so you're not entirely sure how it'll play out. I will say, thus far, I think they're handling it in an interesting way. It is a little cheesy at times (there are no real dead bodies) or overly dramatized, but it works to a point.
Been feeling nostalgic over the closing of Hollywood Park lately. Its last summer meet is about to come to a close (1 more week) and it'll be sad! They'll get a winter meet in Nov-Dec, but, after that, it'll be closed and construction should start the first of the new year. 75 years of history demolished to build new housing and retail in Inglewood, CA. Sad...So many great and well-known horses originated and ran at that track. Three triple crown winners (Citation, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed) ran there. Zenyatta and I'll Have Another (last year's Kentucky/Preakness winner) were based there. Seabiscuit ran there too. So sad. Bay Meadows closing down was sad, but nothing like this. It's historic! The Warner Brothers (yes, THE Warner Bros) managed the track when it first opened. Great Hollywood industry leaders helped get that track off the ground. No clue who where all the horses will be stabled when Santa Anita is closed. Looks like California is getting closer, but we'll see. If I can, I think I'll try going to one of its last days in December (closing day and its LAST day is Dec 22nd). It was the first track I went to and I got to see Zenyatta there. I should try going.
Anyway, movies I'm watching about one a week in theater and rentals have been sort of low. A lot of "eh" movies to watch on DVD. I want to see Beautiful Creatures, but I really had problems reading through the book (not even sure how I made it through the 2nd one!) that I can't seem to bring myself to watch the movie. I am curious to see how they did it, but...eh. We'll see.
Monsters University (Pixar) - Good Pixar film. Not their best, but it was cute. I liked learning the little tidbits here and there about the characters when they're in Monsters, Inc. It is pretty predictable, but what are you going to expect when this is a prequel? I did like how they made you see the parallels between Monsters University and our Universities. That was fun to see. I just don't think it was *that* good, though. It was a little too "kiddy" perhaps? I'm not sure. Some of the enjoyment of Pixar films is how an adult can see the film and get just as much enjoyment out of it as a kid can (or so I think it does), but this was maybe just a little too predictable...? Not sure. It just didn't quite live up to my own hype, but it was still cute and a good film. Grade: B
Man of Steel (Henry Cavill, Amy Adams) - This actually was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. True, Cavill doesn't say a whole lot, but I generally liked it and I liked the origin building and how they explained things. I liked his costume, flying stance, and the way they did the story. I liked how they didn't go immediately into a Lex Luthor story and I liked how it was more flashbacks to the past instead of starting firmly in the past and building forward. I liked Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon. Costner wasn't the greatest, but that was also how his role was written. Adams was a little flat for me, but she wasn't terrible. There were some bad/stupid moments, but it was generally pretty good and fulfilled the reason you're seeing it in theaters rather than at home. Grade: B
Side Effects (Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law) - This was not what I expected the movie to be when I saw the previews. I saw the previews enough that I wanted to see it and thought it'd be more like a thriller version of Contagion. Yeah, that wasn't it. I had the thriller part right, but it was NOTHING like Contagion. I think if I hadn't had Contagion in my head, I would have been okay. This was much more of a thriller than I thought it was going to be too. I rather enjoyed it, though. I thought the acting was good and the plot was good. There's a twist that you catch on to about midway through the movie, but you're still somewhat unsure how it's completely going to pan out. You get the general idea of how it's going to end, but you just don't have all the facts. The trailer also leads you slightly off the correct path too so I was surprised how instrumental Law's character is to the movie. To say the least, it's a good drama-thriller and leads you on a little chase. Grade: B
Oz the Great and Powerful (James Franco, etc) - I knew this was going to be bad (reason I didn't see it in theater), but I was curious to know how bad and what they'd do to the "origin" story of the Wizard of Oz. Uhm, yeah. My conclusion from the movie: Oz became the Wizard of Oz because he was a player. Yes, he was a player. Being a player gets him into all sorts of trouble that result in him needing to "become" the Wizard of Oz behind all the theatrics. And, him being a player, is what turned the Wicked Witch of the West into the, well, Wicked Witch. Wow, it was bad... Grade: D (it entertained a little, hence the reason it's not an F)
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton) - I was curious to see what they'd do to Hansel and Gretel and knew it'd be bad, but, again, I didn't realize how bad it was going to be. It's laughable sometimes, but it did entertain if you can go with the fact the plot is supremely weak and it's just a lot of chasing and nonsense. With that said, I do think they appropriately cast because Renner is good for the females and Arterton is good for the males. So, I guess they got something semi-right... Grade: D
The Call (Halle Berry) - If they took out all the screaming and whining from the abductee in the first half of the movie (maybe 2/3), I think I'd have liked it better. I mean, okay, if I was abducted and thrown into a car trunk, I might be a little hysterical at times, but this girl (and, again, she was young) was really grating on my nerves. I just couldn't take all the hysterics...And, again, I understand that a girl who is 16 or something, abducted, and tossed into a trunk is going to be devastated and scared, but it wasn't pleasant to listen to or really watch. I did enjoy Berry's character, though, and thought it was actually kind of interesting to watch even though Berry's character is on the phone for 3/4 of the film, but...gah. The girl! When she got over the hysterics, I was more inclined to watch. I could NOT stand the ending, though. I 100% disagree with that ending. The ending completely killed the movie for me. Sure, they're both traumatized and everything, but I honestly can't fathom that ending. The ending was more about vengeance and I can't support that type of ending. So, despite the fact I probably would have given the movie a C on its own, I'm giving it a D for the ending alone. Grade: D
I'll be seeing Despicable Me 2 in theater on Monday. Don't think I'll see Lone Ranger in theater...I don't think it'll be bad in the sense I'll dislike it, but...I don't know. Something turns me off from the trailer. I need to find someone who's seen it...
Anyway, off to keep reading. :)
Weather for a while here was really warm. Our store has almost no airflow unless the front doors are open and if it's windy, you can't have the doors open because the wind just BARRELS through it. So we tried to keep the doors open as much as possible, but the humidity was gross. The temperature this week has gone down a little, but our store still gets pretty warm and the weather of late has been that it's just a little too cold to leave the front doors open or the cashiers start to freeze to death. It's unfortunate that anywhere away from the doors ends up being warm and stuffy. I've been in the office a lot with our manager being gone and that room has no vent for anything so it's either stuffy as all get out or an ice box. Yuck.
Anyway, beyond that, our manager had the baby! Or, I should say, his wife had the baby. :) Baby will be three weeks old on Sunday (depending when I end up posting this, this could be either tomorrow or today). I've been managing the store and will be managing it for a total of 5 weeks. I'm glad he can take that time to be with the baby. Only get them at that age once, right? Mostly, the store is running. It's had its rocky moments for various reasons and we did, mostly, finish the month out strong, but we did miss plan altogether. Oh well, at least I got some good 4 days in there at the end. The start of July has been good (knock on wood!). We'll see if we can maintain that momentum the rest of the month, though. It's kind of early to be saying things like that. It took me about a week, but I think I've finally got my manager groove on. The first week was a big scramble because it was the end of the month and a lot of things happen at the end of the month. I got it all done, but I felt like I spent a week just scrambling. In fact, because my days off changed (just till our manager gets back), I almost had 4 days off in a row. I had two days off, worked one, and had another two days off. The one day I worked I spent almost all day in the office because I had a lot of things to do that had to be done before I left for another 2 days off. It was crazy! Mostly, though, it's been going well. I haven't seen any higher-ups and I'm not sure if that's because I'm managing the store well so they're not worried or if it's because they're all busy with our new CEO/President coming on (our old one's last day was June 28th -- he retired) and the new store opening in Soledad (opens the 25th). At any rate, I definitely feel like I've firmly planted in the "manager" role, though. Before, it was a lot of questions about where to send things and being a little more timid about doing some things. Now, I feel like I've got this. I think... :P
Other than that, not a whole lot is going on. My Aquarium report is in for peer review so I've got a little down time right now (it was ready for peer review on the 20th of June). So that's kind of nice. I'm doing some reading and have gotten into reality TV a lot. I'm watching Hell's Kitchen, MasterChef, Whodunnit?, and Top Shot. Mostly watching Hell's Kitchen because it's an easy extension of MasterChef, but I really like MasterChef more than Hell's Kitchen. I find MasterChef more interesting to watch, whereas Hell's Kitchen is a lot of yelling and people messing up how to cook food. MasterChef is more about how they cook the food and then criticizing how they cooked/prepped/handled the food. I've always enjoyed Top Shot, but I forgot the new season started and that it was an All Stars season. I have to admit, I was maybe a little *too* excited for the fact Top Shot was back. I'm enjoying the season and it's fun seeing people from the past 4 season. I really liked some of the people from the past so it's good to see them back and how a lot of the episodes and challenges are the same things from past seasons, but amped up. Whodunnit? was a fluke that I got into. It was just there and I had read about it so I just started watching it and now I'm curious to see how it finishes. I think it's clever, but I think part of its current cleverness is because it's a new show so you're not entirely sure how it'll play out. I will say, thus far, I think they're handling it in an interesting way. It is a little cheesy at times (there are no real dead bodies) or overly dramatized, but it works to a point.
Been feeling nostalgic over the closing of Hollywood Park lately. Its last summer meet is about to come to a close (1 more week) and it'll be sad! They'll get a winter meet in Nov-Dec, but, after that, it'll be closed and construction should start the first of the new year. 75 years of history demolished to build new housing and retail in Inglewood, CA. Sad...So many great and well-known horses originated and ran at that track. Three triple crown winners (Citation, Seattle Slew, and Affirmed) ran there. Zenyatta and I'll Have Another (last year's Kentucky/Preakness winner) were based there. Seabiscuit ran there too. So sad. Bay Meadows closing down was sad, but nothing like this. It's historic! The Warner Brothers (yes, THE Warner Bros) managed the track when it first opened. Great Hollywood industry leaders helped get that track off the ground. No clue who where all the horses will be stabled when Santa Anita is closed. Looks like California is getting closer, but we'll see. If I can, I think I'll try going to one of its last days in December (closing day and its LAST day is Dec 22nd). It was the first track I went to and I got to see Zenyatta there. I should try going.
Anyway, movies I'm watching about one a week in theater and rentals have been sort of low. A lot of "eh" movies to watch on DVD. I want to see Beautiful Creatures, but I really had problems reading through the book (not even sure how I made it through the 2nd one!) that I can't seem to bring myself to watch the movie. I am curious to see how they did it, but...eh. We'll see.
Monsters University (Pixar) - Good Pixar film. Not their best, but it was cute. I liked learning the little tidbits here and there about the characters when they're in Monsters, Inc. It is pretty predictable, but what are you going to expect when this is a prequel? I did like how they made you see the parallels between Monsters University and our Universities. That was fun to see. I just don't think it was *that* good, though. It was a little too "kiddy" perhaps? I'm not sure. Some of the enjoyment of Pixar films is how an adult can see the film and get just as much enjoyment out of it as a kid can (or so I think it does), but this was maybe just a little too predictable...? Not sure. It just didn't quite live up to my own hype, but it was still cute and a good film. Grade: B
Man of Steel (Henry Cavill, Amy Adams) - This actually was a lot better than I thought it was going to be. True, Cavill doesn't say a whole lot, but I generally liked it and I liked the origin building and how they explained things. I liked his costume, flying stance, and the way they did the story. I liked how they didn't go immediately into a Lex Luthor story and I liked how it was more flashbacks to the past instead of starting firmly in the past and building forward. I liked Russell Crowe and Michael Shannon. Costner wasn't the greatest, but that was also how his role was written. Adams was a little flat for me, but she wasn't terrible. There were some bad/stupid moments, but it was generally pretty good and fulfilled the reason you're seeing it in theaters rather than at home. Grade: B
Side Effects (Rooney Mara, Channing Tatum, Jude Law) - This was not what I expected the movie to be when I saw the previews. I saw the previews enough that I wanted to see it and thought it'd be more like a thriller version of Contagion. Yeah, that wasn't it. I had the thriller part right, but it was NOTHING like Contagion. I think if I hadn't had Contagion in my head, I would have been okay. This was much more of a thriller than I thought it was going to be too. I rather enjoyed it, though. I thought the acting was good and the plot was good. There's a twist that you catch on to about midway through the movie, but you're still somewhat unsure how it's completely going to pan out. You get the general idea of how it's going to end, but you just don't have all the facts. The trailer also leads you slightly off the correct path too so I was surprised how instrumental Law's character is to the movie. To say the least, it's a good drama-thriller and leads you on a little chase. Grade: B
Oz the Great and Powerful (James Franco, etc) - I knew this was going to be bad (reason I didn't see it in theater), but I was curious to know how bad and what they'd do to the "origin" story of the Wizard of Oz. Uhm, yeah. My conclusion from the movie: Oz became the Wizard of Oz because he was a player. Yes, he was a player. Being a player gets him into all sorts of trouble that result in him needing to "become" the Wizard of Oz behind all the theatrics. And, him being a player, is what turned the Wicked Witch of the West into the, well, Wicked Witch. Wow, it was bad... Grade: D (it entertained a little, hence the reason it's not an F)
Hansel and Gretel: Witch Hunters (Jeremy Renner, Gemma Arterton) - I was curious to see what they'd do to Hansel and Gretel and knew it'd be bad, but, again, I didn't realize how bad it was going to be. It's laughable sometimes, but it did entertain if you can go with the fact the plot is supremely weak and it's just a lot of chasing and nonsense. With that said, I do think they appropriately cast because Renner is good for the females and Arterton is good for the males. So, I guess they got something semi-right... Grade: D
The Call (Halle Berry) - If they took out all the screaming and whining from the abductee in the first half of the movie (maybe 2/3), I think I'd have liked it better. I mean, okay, if I was abducted and thrown into a car trunk, I might be a little hysterical at times, but this girl (and, again, she was young) was really grating on my nerves. I just couldn't take all the hysterics...And, again, I understand that a girl who is 16 or something, abducted, and tossed into a trunk is going to be devastated and scared, but it wasn't pleasant to listen to or really watch. I did enjoy Berry's character, though, and thought it was actually kind of interesting to watch even though Berry's character is on the phone for 3/4 of the film, but...gah. The girl! When she got over the hysterics, I was more inclined to watch. I could NOT stand the ending, though. I 100% disagree with that ending. The ending completely killed the movie for me. Sure, they're both traumatized and everything, but I honestly can't fathom that ending. The ending was more about vengeance and I can't support that type of ending. So, despite the fact I probably would have given the movie a C on its own, I'm giving it a D for the ending alone. Grade: D
I'll be seeing Despicable Me 2 in theater on Monday. Don't think I'll see Lone Ranger in theater...I don't think it'll be bad in the sense I'll dislike it, but...I don't know. Something turns me off from the trailer. I need to find someone who's seen it...
Anyway, off to keep reading. :)
Friday, June 7, 2013
Hacking up a lung is never fun...
It's been 3 weeks since I was sick and I'm still coughing up a lung on a daily basis. It's definitely in my lungs. I can feel when I breathe the cilia in my lungs fluttering (makes me cough) and I'm still phlegm-y. To be fair to myself, my co-workers who also got this are also coughing, but I sound the worst of them all by a long shot. I feel fine other than the coughing, but it is annoying and woke me up last night (first time in a while) because my throat dried out and I couldn't stop coughing. So annoying!
With that, not a whole lot new has happened. My report for the Aquarium is in for internal review right now. So that's moving along. Work is work. There's been some serious drama, but things are still ticking along. We have been struggling to make plan, though. I'm not sure what's going on with the area right now, but it's been a struggle. My manager goes on paternity leave any day now so that'll be interesting when he leaves. Chris and I are still job hunting. Nothing new there. Other than that, not a whole lot.
I have watched several movies in the last few weeks, though. Funny how it went from 1 new movie to 9 new movies! Nothing particularly great and a lot of disappointments.
Guilt Trip (Seth Rogan, Barbara Streisand) - Come one...You know you're curious about how this duo did! At least, I was, which is why I rented it. It's definitely not fantastic. It's a son-mother type of movie where the mom seems annoying and is overly into the business of the son who tends to deflect the mother. They, oviously, bond over their road trip. It was interesting to see Streisand in this type of movie and also to see Rogan take his normal comedies down a whole lot to an almost family level (not a family movie, but for Rogan's normal stuff, it's close!). It just could have been better in almost every way. Grade: C-
The Numbers Station (John Cusack, Malin Akerman) - This movie takes place entirely at the number station, which is kind of interesting for an "action" film. I liked the acting, mostly. Cusack does a good closed-mouth-non-social type and the action is pretty good given there are no car chases or explosions. With that said, it's not super fantastic either. It is rather short (1.5 hours, opposed to the normal 2 these days), but fills the movie pretty well. It's paced well, but there's just not a whole lot to it. It's like some sort of Bourne movie without the "oomph." It's just missing something to make it better. It passed the time, but it's easily forgettable. Grade: C
Broken City (Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones) - Police crime-thriller. It's okay too. Revolves around a former-cop-turned-private-investigator and a city mayor. Zeta-Jones is the mayor's wife. So it's part mystery and part political thriller where Crowe has Wahlberg look into his wife and Wahlberg thinks it's for cheating on him, but, in fact, it's for some other reason. It's not original and I think that's the problem with this film. It's supposed to be a sort of Law Abiding Citizen type of movie, but doesn't quite get there. It doesn't have the same message and not the same execution. It's decent acting and that's what saves it from being worse. Grade: C
Parker (Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez) - I knew this would be silly, but I had to see it to see how it was. Actually, the romance that usually ends up in these types of films doesn't go the way you think it would, which was sort of refreshing. It was okay. Lopez was really just a side-bar in the whole film and, in ways, wasn't even really needed. Statham's role was basically to go out and stop a crime/revenge. Nothing new either. Grade: C-
Promised Land (Matt Damon, Frances McDormand) - I can see why this didn't do better. It's a good cast and it's a decent film, but you get about 2/3 of the way through and it just falls flat. It was kind of disappointing in that case. Even if you ignore the environmental tone to the film and replaced it with something else, the movie just doesn't really go anywhere except to turn a ladder climber back to his hometown roots...? I didn't really feel like the environmental issue of fracking was the main message or them trying to shove something down your throat. It was purely the foundation in which the movie was based on. It could have been any other issue and the movie would have felt the same. I liked it to a point, though, so it wasn't totally lost, but it definitely didn't quite make it to a good film. Grade: C+
Warm Bodies (Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer) - This kind of surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. It's not great, but it's cute and I liked how love, affection, and caring for each other helped turn the zombies back to humans. Call me a sap, but, let's face it, we can all use some more human kindness in our lives to keep us from turning into, well, zombies and eating each other on our way to our own survival. At any rate, cute idea, pretty good execution, and decent acting. Nothing too graphic or scary, but it is a zombie movie so you see a little gore, but it's pretty tame in comparison to most films. Mostly a predictable film and the zombie speech pattern (understandable) was sometimes hard to listen to, but they're zombies, right? Grade: B-/C+
Safe Haven (Josh Duhamel, Julianne Hough) - Oh Nicholas Sparks...I'm weird, perhaps, but the age-gap between Duhamel and Hough sometimes bothered me! They don't really look it in the film (they're 16 years apart in real life), but still! When I got past that, I liked the film up till its climax. When it hit its climax, I had problems with Hough's acting and the screenplay. I was mostly okay with it up till then. I also had problems with the character of Jo, but, as it turned out, she was meant to act that way because (the way I felt about her) was actually who she was. Who'd of thunk? LoL I guess I would have clued in earlier if I wasn't watching it at 1am. :) It's not an entirely original story since I watch enough crime-dramas to have guessed in the first 10 minutes what was going on, but even *I* was lulled into a false sense of safety because I forgot I had guessed it in the beginning. I did laugh at the end, though, when things resolved because of the obvious "don't want to mar the lovely reunion and happy moment" of the movie at the end. I watch far too many crime shows because I always hone in on the moments where blood should be present and it's not and Safe Haven had that moment and it made me laugh for the aforementioned reason. At any rate, it's okay. Your typical Sparks, but it's not one of the better Sparks either. Grade: B-/C+
Now You See Me (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco) - I knew this wouldn't be great, but I still had hopes for this to be a good film. I adore Ocean's Eleven and any type of movie/show where it takes you on this grand illusion and then shows you at the end or somewhere what truly happened. So, come on, big heists, magicians, and a decent cast? Yes! I knew the critics weren't liking it, but the fans were giving it a decent review so with the movie tickets I won from work, we went and saw it. Yeah, I had higher hopes for it. It did lead you around a little, but it was more of a mix between Ocean's Eleven, Robin Hood, and National Treasure (i.e., secret society). Again, nothing wrong with those 3 things, but there wasn't enough "magic" in it. It was more about the police chase than it was about the actual heists. In addition, things were explained almost right away so you lost the "whoa" moments quicker than Ocean's Eleven (revealed at the very end in one big move). It also felt long and felt like it was tying up a lot of ends at the end that went on for 30+ minutes. It led you on a merry chase, but it definitely felt like either too much was going on or it wasn't laid out well. I think it's something I might have to watch again to really get a grasp. I liked the acting and really wanted to like it more, but there definitely needed to be more "magic" in it. Grade: B-
Star Trek: Into Darkness (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch) - This was just like Now You See Me. I had higher hopes for it and it didn't meet those hopes. It was really good up till the climax or one of them...? And it just lost me after that. The first half of the film I really enjoyed and even was thinking I liked it better than the first one and then Marcus did his thing and that was when I went, "...What?" I get the point of the Marcus-Kahn plot-line, but it either needed to have been executed better or one of them (Marcus or Kahn) needed to be removed altogether. In addition, the end with Kirk was totally not needed and just made you roll your eyes and say, "Another JJ Abrams film." With that said, it was a mostly fun watch and it was good to see in theaters, but I'll be interested to see what the 3rd film is about given the way this one ended. I just wish something was tightened up in the film or something. It was disappointing for me. I do still love the casting for the entire crew, though. Grade: B
Summer is in full swing for movies. Not sure of what I really want to see in theaters, but the movies I'm going to watch (whether in theater or on DVD) from the summer (through August) are definitely these:
Anyway, time to go and eat some dinner and paint the nails. Or, contemplate painting the nails...My schedule is all thrown off. I just painted my nails on Tues night and I don't really want to repaint, but this mani won't last the week and doing tape nail art takes a long time. So, I really only have either tonight or Sunday to paint and I semi want to repaint tonight. I guess I'll go do some swatches and see what inspires me first. :)
With that, not a whole lot new has happened. My report for the Aquarium is in for internal review right now. So that's moving along. Work is work. There's been some serious drama, but things are still ticking along. We have been struggling to make plan, though. I'm not sure what's going on with the area right now, but it's been a struggle. My manager goes on paternity leave any day now so that'll be interesting when he leaves. Chris and I are still job hunting. Nothing new there. Other than that, not a whole lot.
I have watched several movies in the last few weeks, though. Funny how it went from 1 new movie to 9 new movies! Nothing particularly great and a lot of disappointments.
Guilt Trip (Seth Rogan, Barbara Streisand) - Come one...You know you're curious about how this duo did! At least, I was, which is why I rented it. It's definitely not fantastic. It's a son-mother type of movie where the mom seems annoying and is overly into the business of the son who tends to deflect the mother. They, oviously, bond over their road trip. It was interesting to see Streisand in this type of movie and also to see Rogan take his normal comedies down a whole lot to an almost family level (not a family movie, but for Rogan's normal stuff, it's close!). It just could have been better in almost every way. Grade: C-
The Numbers Station (John Cusack, Malin Akerman) - This movie takes place entirely at the number station, which is kind of interesting for an "action" film. I liked the acting, mostly. Cusack does a good closed-mouth-non-social type and the action is pretty good given there are no car chases or explosions. With that said, it's not super fantastic either. It is rather short (1.5 hours, opposed to the normal 2 these days), but fills the movie pretty well. It's paced well, but there's just not a whole lot to it. It's like some sort of Bourne movie without the "oomph." It's just missing something to make it better. It passed the time, but it's easily forgettable. Grade: C
Broken City (Mark Wahlberg, Russell Crowe, Catherine Zeta-Jones) - Police crime-thriller. It's okay too. Revolves around a former-cop-turned-private-investigator and a city mayor. Zeta-Jones is the mayor's wife. So it's part mystery and part political thriller where Crowe has Wahlberg look into his wife and Wahlberg thinks it's for cheating on him, but, in fact, it's for some other reason. It's not original and I think that's the problem with this film. It's supposed to be a sort of Law Abiding Citizen type of movie, but doesn't quite get there. It doesn't have the same message and not the same execution. It's decent acting and that's what saves it from being worse. Grade: C
Parker (Jason Statham, Jennifer Lopez) - I knew this would be silly, but I had to see it to see how it was. Actually, the romance that usually ends up in these types of films doesn't go the way you think it would, which was sort of refreshing. It was okay. Lopez was really just a side-bar in the whole film and, in ways, wasn't even really needed. Statham's role was basically to go out and stop a crime/revenge. Nothing new either. Grade: C-
Promised Land (Matt Damon, Frances McDormand) - I can see why this didn't do better. It's a good cast and it's a decent film, but you get about 2/3 of the way through and it just falls flat. It was kind of disappointing in that case. Even if you ignore the environmental tone to the film and replaced it with something else, the movie just doesn't really go anywhere except to turn a ladder climber back to his hometown roots...? I didn't really feel like the environmental issue of fracking was the main message or them trying to shove something down your throat. It was purely the foundation in which the movie was based on. It could have been any other issue and the movie would have felt the same. I liked it to a point, though, so it wasn't totally lost, but it definitely didn't quite make it to a good film. Grade: C+
Warm Bodies (Nicholas Hoult, Teresa Palmer) - This kind of surprised me by how much I enjoyed it. It's not great, but it's cute and I liked how love, affection, and caring for each other helped turn the zombies back to humans. Call me a sap, but, let's face it, we can all use some more human kindness in our lives to keep us from turning into, well, zombies and eating each other on our way to our own survival. At any rate, cute idea, pretty good execution, and decent acting. Nothing too graphic or scary, but it is a zombie movie so you see a little gore, but it's pretty tame in comparison to most films. Mostly a predictable film and the zombie speech pattern (understandable) was sometimes hard to listen to, but they're zombies, right? Grade: B-/C+
Safe Haven (Josh Duhamel, Julianne Hough) - Oh Nicholas Sparks...I'm weird, perhaps, but the age-gap between Duhamel and Hough sometimes bothered me! They don't really look it in the film (they're 16 years apart in real life), but still! When I got past that, I liked the film up till its climax. When it hit its climax, I had problems with Hough's acting and the screenplay. I was mostly okay with it up till then. I also had problems with the character of Jo, but, as it turned out, she was meant to act that way because (the way I felt about her) was actually who she was. Who'd of thunk? LoL I guess I would have clued in earlier if I wasn't watching it at 1am. :) It's not an entirely original story since I watch enough crime-dramas to have guessed in the first 10 minutes what was going on, but even *I* was lulled into a false sense of safety because I forgot I had guessed it in the beginning. I did laugh at the end, though, when things resolved because of the obvious "don't want to mar the lovely reunion and happy moment" of the movie at the end. I watch far too many crime shows because I always hone in on the moments where blood should be present and it's not and Safe Haven had that moment and it made me laugh for the aforementioned reason. At any rate, it's okay. Your typical Sparks, but it's not one of the better Sparks either. Grade: B-/C+
Now You See Me (Jesse Eisenberg, Woody Harrelson, Isla Fisher, Dave Franco) - I knew this wouldn't be great, but I still had hopes for this to be a good film. I adore Ocean's Eleven and any type of movie/show where it takes you on this grand illusion and then shows you at the end or somewhere what truly happened. So, come on, big heists, magicians, and a decent cast? Yes! I knew the critics weren't liking it, but the fans were giving it a decent review so with the movie tickets I won from work, we went and saw it. Yeah, I had higher hopes for it. It did lead you around a little, but it was more of a mix between Ocean's Eleven, Robin Hood, and National Treasure (i.e., secret society). Again, nothing wrong with those 3 things, but there wasn't enough "magic" in it. It was more about the police chase than it was about the actual heists. In addition, things were explained almost right away so you lost the "whoa" moments quicker than Ocean's Eleven (revealed at the very end in one big move). It also felt long and felt like it was tying up a lot of ends at the end that went on for 30+ minutes. It led you on a merry chase, but it definitely felt like either too much was going on or it wasn't laid out well. I think it's something I might have to watch again to really get a grasp. I liked the acting and really wanted to like it more, but there definitely needed to be more "magic" in it. Grade: B-
Star Trek: Into Darkness (Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Benedict Cumberbatch) - This was just like Now You See Me. I had higher hopes for it and it didn't meet those hopes. It was really good up till the climax or one of them...? And it just lost me after that. The first half of the film I really enjoyed and even was thinking I liked it better than the first one and then Marcus did his thing and that was when I went, "...What?" I get the point of the Marcus-Kahn plot-line, but it either needed to have been executed better or one of them (Marcus or Kahn) needed to be removed altogether. In addition, the end with Kirk was totally not needed and just made you roll your eyes and say, "Another JJ Abrams film." With that said, it was a mostly fun watch and it was good to see in theaters, but I'll be interested to see what the 3rd film is about given the way this one ended. I just wish something was tightened up in the film or something. It was disappointing for me. I do still love the casting for the entire crew, though. Grade: B
Summer is in full swing for movies. Not sure of what I really want to see in theaters, but the movies I'm going to watch (whether in theater or on DVD) from the summer (through August) are definitely these:
- The Internship (definite DVD)
- Much Ado About Nothing (most likely DVD)
- Man of Steel
- Monsters University
- World War Z
- The Heat (definite DVD)
- Despicable Me 2 (most likely DVD)
- The Lone Ranger (possible DVD)
- Grown Ups 2 (definite DVD)
- Pacific Rim (definite DVD)
- Red 2
- The Wolverine
- Elysium (definite DVD)
- Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (most likely DVD)
- Planes (possible DVD)
- Kick-Ass 2
- The Butler (definite DVD)
Anyway, time to go and eat some dinner and paint the nails. Or, contemplate painting the nails...My schedule is all thrown off. I just painted my nails on Tues night and I don't really want to repaint, but this mani won't last the week and doing tape nail art takes a long time. So, I really only have either tonight or Sunday to paint and I semi want to repaint tonight. I guess I'll go do some swatches and see what inspires me first. :)
Friday, April 26, 2013
Randomess: A Little of This and That
Not a whole lot to update, but I want to mention a few things I've found and love in the past few weeks and other random updates.
I have thick hair. It's currently just below my shoulder blades, but I have a lot of hair and THICK hair. Not to mention I'll grow it down to my lower back in a few months. So anything plastic I want to put into my hair I break. It's always been a problem and over the years I've accumulated some metal hair accessories, but they're hard to find without breaking the bank. I like shiny hair things, but don't want to spend more than $10 for them. Well, I recently broke my spending limit for these Flexi 8's. They're shaped in an 8-shape with a pin and they're STURDY. For years I've been looking for something to get my hair up in a up-down twist (like a French Twist, but without the roll) that isn't plastic. I have a super large plastic hair claw (never seen one since I bought that), but I've been slowly breaking the teeth off. I think it's got about half its teeth left now. In addition, it doesn't quite fit all my hair. I found Flexi 8 a while ago, but have been stalling because of the price. The other month, they were having a free shipping deal and I caved. Well, I've now got 5 of them! I've got 2 small sizes for doing my hair half-up (in the information, I should be able to use an extra small, but my hair is too thick or I have too much); one medium for a pony tail (it's a smidgen too big if my hair is dry and super smooth, but it's the only size that'll work for it); and 2 extra large for my up-dos (i.e., up-down twist). It's amazing! They're super strong and the pin has these 3 notches in it to secure the pin so it can't slip out. Not only that, but the extra large gets my hair totally up and it's secure (again, I should have been able to use a large, but it was too small and when my hair is wet, an extra large almost doesn't work depending on where I secure it on the twist). I adore them. They are expensive at around $21 for the extra large, $14 for the smalls, $15 for the mediums, but I'm paying for something I haven't been able to find anywhere else and it'll last for, seemingly, ever. I also like all the styles they have. It's simply amazing finding something that can have my hair up all the way and I don't have to worry about it breaking on me. I'm not the most gentle with my hair so I need metal so I don't break it and I don't worry about these at all. Highly recommend for those with hair issues like me. :P A seller (bought from first): https://www.flexi8.com/ Main page (they do a flexi-of-the-month): http://www.lillarose.biz/ (they don't have exactly the same designs available)
Music is something I like, but I'm not particularly picky about it. I have always liked just about any music, though (techno, dance, ethnic, soundtracks, rock, pop, country, folk, rap, etc). However, I primarily use it as background noise when I'm concentrating on stuff (e.g., writing papers, research, etc). It's background noise so I tend to lean towards soundtracks. I adore soundtracks (will find during a movie I'll concentrate more on the soundtrack than the movie sometimes) and love how instrumental music can invoke certain emotions without having to say any words. I like singing too, don't get me wrong, but I can live without it since I tend to tune out the actual lyrics and tune more towards the singing sound and the music itself. Anyway, at work we're tired of our main radio station we listen to. There's always songs you abhor and then you hear the same songs over and over again. So in the past month we've taken to using a co-workers Spotify account and created a playlist of music we generally all like (you'll never please EVERYONE on staff) and is work appropriate. The co-worker with Spotify started it, but then never got back to it. So I took up the reigns (we use Spotify on my phone at work since I can part with my phone all day and am one of the few phones who can use Spotify on my phone) and added music to it. During this ordeal (I've spent NUMEROUS hours looking for music), I've found I'm mostly an alternative music girl. Specifically, in the alternative/indie rock and indie folk area. So, during this music finding, I stumbled upon a group called Lord Huron. I love them. I've found a lot of music/songs I like that are work appropriate, but Lord Huron is one I have found that I like for myself. It's not quite work appropriate since it's folk-y and it'd drive my co-workers nut and it is a little low-key, but I like it. It's indie folk, but it sort of has a hint of like John Denver-cowboy-country in it. It's hard to describe, but I really like it and it makes you feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere. It's soothing, but has a nice upbeat feel to it. It's now the album I listen to when I'm working and need background noise. I even BOUGHT the CD ("CD" meaning the digital album, of course) because I liked it so much (Spotify is great, but I'm not paying for the subscription). Stranger (YouTube video link - I find the videos a little odd) and Time to Run (YouTube video link) are probably their two more popular ones, but I like the entire Lonesome Dreams album.
Off the topic of new things I love, Zenyatta had her foal a month ago! I realized I never mentioned anything about it! Her new colt was born on April 1st, which is her birthday! He's an absolute cutie, which you can see almost 4 week old photos here (last 3 photos are of her first foal who is over a year old now!). Zenyatta's first colt was recently named Cozmic One too. It was picked for a variety of different reasons (his birthday, being Zenyatta's first foal, his star on his forehead, etc). I'm a little surprised by the name given the Mosses have typically named horses to do with the music industry, but Coz works (the "z" is for Zenyatta, of course). With that, the Kentucky Derby (reason I remembered I never mentioned 13Z earlier!) is in 2 weeks from tomorrow (Sat). It's CRAZY! The field is taking shape too with the new "point" system, but we'll find out the week of the full order and stuff. I don't have a particular favorite right now too. I think I've just learned to wait!
I'm still doing my nails, but I've definitely restarted myself. I'm just painting mostly. I went from heavy glitters to heavy shimmers to light shimmers/cremes with stamps and now I'm just painting, mostly. I think I just got tired of doing all the extravagance! I did do nail art this time around, but it was the first time in 4-5 manis or so. Plus, I had a nail breakage that I've been trying to grow out and reshape for weeks now. It's finally okay, but I had to trim everything down to reshape it. I've done 28 manis since January 1st and it's been 17 weeks from the New Year. About 1.5 manis a week, which is down from what I was doing at the end of last year (2-3 a week, most times 3). Crazy...!
Started watching Law & Order: SVU. It was just "there" to watch on Hulu+. It's okay. You usually think of Law & Order as the "original" procedural crime-drama show since it's been around so long. I think it's okay, but I do prefer my normal ones (CSI, Criminal Minds, Castle, Bones, etc) more because they have an "oomph" to them in one way or another. L&O works for just watching whatever, though.
Watched two movies, this week. One a repeat and one new one.
The Impossible (Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor) - Wow. Okay, I get the nomination for Watts. She is amazing in the film. Actually, everyone is good in the film and it's a good film. It's absolutely intense, though. I can't imagine going through ANY of that. The movie definitely left me feeling tense at the end. It's definitely not a film for everyone, but I'm glad I watched it. It just gives you a small glimpse into what everyone went through during the tsunami. With that said, the real Maria who Watts is based off of had a real hand in everything (was on set, script, etc) so the movie is pretty accurate to what happened and how she felt, which makes it all the more crazy to watch. It was also filmed on location in certain scenes. I do feel like the movie was well paced, which is kind of amazing given the story. Grade: B/B+ (B+ for the sheer fact this was made close to the truth)
Rewatched Les Miserables and it's just as good the 2nd time. Jackman and Hathaway astound me with their singing. Everyone does a good job, but Jackman and Hathaway definitely take the top prizes for it. I do still love Baron Cohen and Bonham Carter as the Thénardiers and Barks as Eponine. The casting in this film is simply spot on. It still moved me through the 2nd watch. No tears (I think I cried through the last half of the film the first time), but it still gave me chills and the singing/music still moves me. I rented the movie for this 2nd watch, but I think I'll buy the movie down the road. It's something I'll want to watch again and, if anything, want to support the sales for.
With that, Iron Man 3 comes out next Friday (May 3rd). I am so excited!! It should be good and officially starts the summer kick off for movies. So far, I've seen 31 new movies this year, which means I'm on track to watch 100 movies this year. We'll see, though.
Anyway, with that, I'm off!
I have thick hair. It's currently just below my shoulder blades, but I have a lot of hair and THICK hair. Not to mention I'll grow it down to my lower back in a few months. So anything plastic I want to put into my hair I break. It's always been a problem and over the years I've accumulated some metal hair accessories, but they're hard to find without breaking the bank. I like shiny hair things, but don't want to spend more than $10 for them. Well, I recently broke my spending limit for these Flexi 8's. They're shaped in an 8-shape with a pin and they're STURDY. For years I've been looking for something to get my hair up in a up-down twist (like a French Twist, but without the roll) that isn't plastic. I have a super large plastic hair claw (never seen one since I bought that), but I've been slowly breaking the teeth off. I think it's got about half its teeth left now. In addition, it doesn't quite fit all my hair. I found Flexi 8 a while ago, but have been stalling because of the price. The other month, they were having a free shipping deal and I caved. Well, I've now got 5 of them! I've got 2 small sizes for doing my hair half-up (in the information, I should be able to use an extra small, but my hair is too thick or I have too much); one medium for a pony tail (it's a smidgen too big if my hair is dry and super smooth, but it's the only size that'll work for it); and 2 extra large for my up-dos (i.e., up-down twist). It's amazing! They're super strong and the pin has these 3 notches in it to secure the pin so it can't slip out. Not only that, but the extra large gets my hair totally up and it's secure (again, I should have been able to use a large, but it was too small and when my hair is wet, an extra large almost doesn't work depending on where I secure it on the twist). I adore them. They are expensive at around $21 for the extra large, $14 for the smalls, $15 for the mediums, but I'm paying for something I haven't been able to find anywhere else and it'll last for, seemingly, ever. I also like all the styles they have. It's simply amazing finding something that can have my hair up all the way and I don't have to worry about it breaking on me. I'm not the most gentle with my hair so I need metal so I don't break it and I don't worry about these at all. Highly recommend for those with hair issues like me. :P A seller (bought from first): https://www.flexi8.com/ Main page (they do a flexi-of-the-month): http://www.lillarose.biz/ (they don't have exactly the same designs available)
Music is something I like, but I'm not particularly picky about it. I have always liked just about any music, though (techno, dance, ethnic, soundtracks, rock, pop, country, folk, rap, etc). However, I primarily use it as background noise when I'm concentrating on stuff (e.g., writing papers, research, etc). It's background noise so I tend to lean towards soundtracks. I adore soundtracks (will find during a movie I'll concentrate more on the soundtrack than the movie sometimes) and love how instrumental music can invoke certain emotions without having to say any words. I like singing too, don't get me wrong, but I can live without it since I tend to tune out the actual lyrics and tune more towards the singing sound and the music itself. Anyway, at work we're tired of our main radio station we listen to. There's always songs you abhor and then you hear the same songs over and over again. So in the past month we've taken to using a co-workers Spotify account and created a playlist of music we generally all like (you'll never please EVERYONE on staff) and is work appropriate. The co-worker with Spotify started it, but then never got back to it. So I took up the reigns (we use Spotify on my phone at work since I can part with my phone all day and am one of the few phones who can use Spotify on my phone) and added music to it. During this ordeal (I've spent NUMEROUS hours looking for music), I've found I'm mostly an alternative music girl. Specifically, in the alternative/indie rock and indie folk area. So, during this music finding, I stumbled upon a group called Lord Huron. I love them. I've found a lot of music/songs I like that are work appropriate, but Lord Huron is one I have found that I like for myself. It's not quite work appropriate since it's folk-y and it'd drive my co-workers nut and it is a little low-key, but I like it. It's indie folk, but it sort of has a hint of like John Denver-cowboy-country in it. It's hard to describe, but I really like it and it makes you feel like you're out in the middle of nowhere. It's soothing, but has a nice upbeat feel to it. It's now the album I listen to when I'm working and need background noise. I even BOUGHT the CD ("CD" meaning the digital album, of course) because I liked it so much (Spotify is great, but I'm not paying for the subscription). Stranger (YouTube video link - I find the videos a little odd) and Time to Run (YouTube video link) are probably their two more popular ones, but I like the entire Lonesome Dreams album.
Off the topic of new things I love, Zenyatta had her foal a month ago! I realized I never mentioned anything about it! Her new colt was born on April 1st, which is her birthday! He's an absolute cutie, which you can see almost 4 week old photos here (last 3 photos are of her first foal who is over a year old now!). Zenyatta's first colt was recently named Cozmic One too. It was picked for a variety of different reasons (his birthday, being Zenyatta's first foal, his star on his forehead, etc). I'm a little surprised by the name given the Mosses have typically named horses to do with the music industry, but Coz works (the "z" is for Zenyatta, of course). With that, the Kentucky Derby (reason I remembered I never mentioned 13Z earlier!) is in 2 weeks from tomorrow (Sat). It's CRAZY! The field is taking shape too with the new "point" system, but we'll find out the week of the full order and stuff. I don't have a particular favorite right now too. I think I've just learned to wait!
I'm still doing my nails, but I've definitely restarted myself. I'm just painting mostly. I went from heavy glitters to heavy shimmers to light shimmers/cremes with stamps and now I'm just painting, mostly. I think I just got tired of doing all the extravagance! I did do nail art this time around, but it was the first time in 4-5 manis or so. Plus, I had a nail breakage that I've been trying to grow out and reshape for weeks now. It's finally okay, but I had to trim everything down to reshape it. I've done 28 manis since January 1st and it's been 17 weeks from the New Year. About 1.5 manis a week, which is down from what I was doing at the end of last year (2-3 a week, most times 3). Crazy...!
Started watching Law & Order: SVU. It was just "there" to watch on Hulu+. It's okay. You usually think of Law & Order as the "original" procedural crime-drama show since it's been around so long. I think it's okay, but I do prefer my normal ones (CSI, Criminal Minds, Castle, Bones, etc) more because they have an "oomph" to them in one way or another. L&O works for just watching whatever, though.
Watched two movies, this week. One a repeat and one new one.
The Impossible (Naomi Watts, Ewan McGregor) - Wow. Okay, I get the nomination for Watts. She is amazing in the film. Actually, everyone is good in the film and it's a good film. It's absolutely intense, though. I can't imagine going through ANY of that. The movie definitely left me feeling tense at the end. It's definitely not a film for everyone, but I'm glad I watched it. It just gives you a small glimpse into what everyone went through during the tsunami. With that said, the real Maria who Watts is based off of had a real hand in everything (was on set, script, etc) so the movie is pretty accurate to what happened and how she felt, which makes it all the more crazy to watch. It was also filmed on location in certain scenes. I do feel like the movie was well paced, which is kind of amazing given the story. Grade: B/B+ (B+ for the sheer fact this was made close to the truth)
Rewatched Les Miserables and it's just as good the 2nd time. Jackman and Hathaway astound me with their singing. Everyone does a good job, but Jackman and Hathaway definitely take the top prizes for it. I do still love Baron Cohen and Bonham Carter as the Thénardiers and Barks as Eponine. The casting in this film is simply spot on. It still moved me through the 2nd watch. No tears (I think I cried through the last half of the film the first time), but it still gave me chills and the singing/music still moves me. I rented the movie for this 2nd watch, but I think I'll buy the movie down the road. It's something I'll want to watch again and, if anything, want to support the sales for.
With that, Iron Man 3 comes out next Friday (May 3rd). I am so excited!! It should be good and officially starts the summer kick off for movies. So far, I've seen 31 new movies this year, which means I'm on track to watch 100 movies this year. We'll see, though.
Anyway, with that, I'm off!
Saturday, April 13, 2013
Sore muscles, a shrinking stomach, and movies
So, we've decided at work to do a "Biggest Losers" work challenge for 4 weeks. It came out of a bought of silliness and I randomly suggested it to some of us and they jumped on board. So I asked around to a few more and there are 5 of us (including me) in the battle to lose the most weight in 4 weeks. $50 pot just to make it easy and add a little incentive, but it's been interesting and we haven't even completed one week! The funny thing about doing this amongst the 5 of us is we're both encouraging and trying to sabotage each other at the same time and the rest of our co-workers are trying to encourage us. So eating is sometimes hilarious or even talking about food. I'm not sure how serious the 5 of us, as a collective, are truly taking this, but I'm at least really using this to get myself motivated to eat better and lose some weight. I started losing some at the end of last year, but Christmas rolled around and traveling through me out of my routine and I was never able to get back on to it (didn't help when I started playing LotRo either, which has finally died, thanks to Defiance).
I actually started exercising and thinking of what I eat the week before we did our first (and initial) weigh in to get myself going. I'm not, per se, "dieting," but I am trying to be conscious of what I eat and eat less and healthier. I don't always hit it and I sometimes splurge (I had ice cream today...Bad me!), but I'm generally doing better and I've lost 3 lbs! Okay, so it's probably water weight, but at least it's down rather than up! (Our biggest joke is that we'll gain weight instead of lose it.)
I have decided no sugar. For me, that entails soda, candy, and cookies. Okay, ice cream kind of through that out the window for me tonight (and I had a little soda a few days ago), but it's a HUGE decrease of the amount I *was* eating/drinking. I generally don't drink a lot of soda, but I do go in waves and I was in a big uptick in soda so I cut that out. As for candy, I've always had a huge sweet tooth and I was gnawing on sugar (fruit snacks -- yummy! -- or some candy) almost nightly and not just a few, but maybe 1 or 2 packs of fruit snacks a night and maybe even 1 during lunch. It was rather bad. It was to the point where eating sugar just made my teeth feel like they hurt. So, cutting the sugar out has been another big step for me.
I am also being more aware of how much I eat and when I eat. I know you're supposed to graze throughout the day and some days I'm better than that than others, but I'm now trying to eat my biggest meal at lunch and taper off earlier at night. Before, I was probably bellcurving closer to night (after I got home) and eating less (or snacking) at work. And by bellcurving, I mean my biggest meal was at home after work and then I snacked somewhere before or after that too. I'm never a big morning eater since it's hard to shove food down my throat when I first wake up, but I have noticed with eating less at night, I'm waking up hungrier in the morning, which allows me to eat a *little* something to try and wake my metabolism up. I've felt better doing it this way too. I'm sure it has something to do with fueling myself for the day. :P
Anyway, so, the past 1.5 weeks I've been exercising almost daily (I missed two days because I passed out asleep both days; I exercise at night; and 1am is a little late to exercise...) and been eating better. The stomach is shrinking and the muscles are a little sore. I can't make it a whole day at work on my feet without my legs hurting again, but I know I'll get past that over time. Chris bought me a subscription to Fitness Mag to help encourage me and he's been better about offering me food and sugar (every time we'd go to the store he'd ask me if I wanted soda (that was a 50-50 chance) or candy (that was almost every time a yes)). So, we'll see how this goes! If anything, the 4 weeks should be interesting with my co-workers. We all keep laughing about our "healthy" lunches and what we have and haven't done. We all kid each other so much. So much, in fact, that Andrew today was trying to offer me candy he found in the breakroom. Thanks dude... :)
As for LotRo, as I mentioned earlier, we're no longer playing. Defiance came out so the boys jumped ship and started playing that. Defiance is coupled with a TV show that is on SyFy. The game came out about 2 (or 3? What week am I in? LoL) before the TV show airs. The show airs on Monday. It's the first game to come out with a simultaneous show. So there was the first part of the game you played and then you could "finish that." When the TV show airs on Monday, a new patch goes through and more game content is opened. It won't exactly parallel the show or a new patch won't be released every episode, but about a quarter of the show or so will be in the game. Amazon (someone's in trouble!) accidentally made the pilot episode available (unless "pilot previews" are now 1.5 hours long and suspiciously look an awful lot like a pilot episode) so we watched it. It was an okay show. I like the main dude, but the rest will come with time, hopefully. I haven't played the game, but Chris thought it was okay too. I did feel a *little* left out because he knew what some things and I had to go, "What?" whenever he mentioned something, but it's not like I couldn't follow the episode or get into the world. It's simply he has a little more "canon" under is belt than I do. So, it's an interesting concept and will be interesting to see how it does.
As for movies, well, I've watched a "few" in the last few weeks.
Rise of the Guardians - Funny thing about this is I watched it 2 or 3 days before Easter, which part of the movie takes place about 2 or 3 days before Easter! (I forget exactly how many days.) I thought it was cute. I liked what each "Guardian" is supposed to be guarding (Santa Claus - Wonder; Easter Bunny - Hope; Tooth Fairy - Memories; Sandman - Dreams; Jack Frost - Fun). The Boogeyman is scary and it was scary how he "invaded" the world, but it was interesting too. It was basically about making kids lose hope or making their dreams scary, etc. I can't say it's to the caliber of Wreck-It Ralph, but I liked it and it's another solid DreamWorks film. Grade: B/B-
Killing Them Softly (Brad Pitt) - Definitely neo-noir and it's okay. It's not horrible, but it's not really my cup of tea either. I also felt like the cast was not used well. The beginning story and why the whole film happened was just stupid (really, those guys weren't bright, but that was kind of the point too!). Pitt's character wasn't bad, but the film is a neo-noir and that's not usually my thing. Grade: C/C-
Life of Pi (Suraj Sharma) - Okay, so it is a little stylized and not a whole lot happens for a great deal of the film and there are some stupid moments from Pi, but I liked it. It is a theological film and I can't really compare it to the book (I read 1/3 of the book), but I liked the film. I found it interesting and the ending really made you think too. It made you first think if the entire story was made up or not, but if you delved into it, it also made you wonder about God. I mean, in the beginning, he does say that he's going to tell you a story to make you believe in God. It's, in the end, a story about rationality vs faith. Can you believe in the unbelievable or do you need to rationalize it to something that makes sense? With that said, I thought the journey of being on the boat was interesting on its own. I liked the style of the film and, yeah, it got a little "dreamy" and "other worldly" at points, but it sort of fit in with the whole story. I really liked it, at any rate. It won't be for everyone and not every animal on the boat survive in the beginning (nothing graphic, but it still upset me none-the-less), but I really liked it. One of those films I'm really glad I watched (great directing, good acting, etc), but it's unlikely I'll ever watch it again (e.g., War Horse). Grade: A
Straight A's (Anna Paquin, Ryan Phillippe, Luke Wilson) - What...? This was my first response when the movie ended. What...? Definitely not what I thought. I thought it was going to end differently. I didn't think it was a rom-com, but I didn't think it'd be such a drama film either. And there's "drama" and then there is DRAMA and this trio definitely have the drama in their relationship. I still don't even quite get the end or the meaning of the title? I don't know. The acting wasn't bad, but it was just baffling to me... Grade: C-/D+
Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) - I knew this film would happen to his assassination, but I didn't realize how political the film was going to be. Not that it was a bad thing, I just didn't expect it. Daniel Day-Lewis did an amazing acting job, though. Liam Neeson was originally cast for the role and I don't think he could have done as good of a job as Day-Lewis (and I like Neeson a lot). It's a good, solid cast and it was interesting to see the political maneuvering to get the 13th Amendment passed. I've read that people say it's not historically accurate on how "critical" or "important" certain events were played to be, but it's a movie...You need some suspense and questioning on whether it was going to come about or not or how close it'd be. It is a rather long film, though. I wouldn't say it's *too* long, but it is just long. Grade: B
Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren) - Sometimes trailers lead you astray on how a film would be, but this trailer was exactly what it was and I just didn't believe it. Not the best of films and I didn't exactly like the feel of the film. Not that the feel was bad, but it just felt kind of weird that it's a docudrama and filmed in a way to make you feel all movie. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was just a docudrama instead of the stylization to make you feel like it was one of his films. With that said, I did enjoy the story of Hitchcock and his wife. It seemed like that they really did love each other and did really collaborate quite a lot, but they both had their "issues" to work through in their partnership. I liked Hopkins make-up too, but sometimes it didn't feel real. Grade: C/C+ (C+ if it didn't have that weird feel to it)
With that, I've watched all but 1 (Amour) of the Best Picture nominated films. I have to say, I wish Life of Pi won. Don't get me wrong, Argo was a good film and Lincoln was too, but Life of Pi was more to me. I felt like Life of Pi hit me more emotionally/spiritually, where Argo was more drama-suspense, Lincoln drama-politics, and Silver Linings Playbook drama-comedy. Django Unchained, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Miserables, and Zero Dark Thirty just never really seemed like they had a chance to win to me. All good films too. I don't doubt their excellency to be nominated (they are all quality films), but I just felt like Life of Pi is a little more what the Academy likes (in feel), but it is a little more "spiritual" and Argo is more movies-help-save-lives. I'm not so surprised Lincoln didn't win either after seeing it. It's an excellent film, but it's not a film like King's Speech. It misses something just by a hair to make it Best Picture winner. Course, I like Life of Pi more than Argo, so who's to say I know the majority of the Academy at all! ;)
Anyway, with that, time to go to bed!
I actually started exercising and thinking of what I eat the week before we did our first (and initial) weigh in to get myself going. I'm not, per se, "dieting," but I am trying to be conscious of what I eat and eat less and healthier. I don't always hit it and I sometimes splurge (I had ice cream today...Bad me!), but I'm generally doing better and I've lost 3 lbs! Okay, so it's probably water weight, but at least it's down rather than up! (Our biggest joke is that we'll gain weight instead of lose it.)
I have decided no sugar. For me, that entails soda, candy, and cookies. Okay, ice cream kind of through that out the window for me tonight (and I had a little soda a few days ago), but it's a HUGE decrease of the amount I *was* eating/drinking. I generally don't drink a lot of soda, but I do go in waves and I was in a big uptick in soda so I cut that out. As for candy, I've always had a huge sweet tooth and I was gnawing on sugar (fruit snacks -- yummy! -- or some candy) almost nightly and not just a few, but maybe 1 or 2 packs of fruit snacks a night and maybe even 1 during lunch. It was rather bad. It was to the point where eating sugar just made my teeth feel like they hurt. So, cutting the sugar out has been another big step for me.
I am also being more aware of how much I eat and when I eat. I know you're supposed to graze throughout the day and some days I'm better than that than others, but I'm now trying to eat my biggest meal at lunch and taper off earlier at night. Before, I was probably bellcurving closer to night (after I got home) and eating less (or snacking) at work. And by bellcurving, I mean my biggest meal was at home after work and then I snacked somewhere before or after that too. I'm never a big morning eater since it's hard to shove food down my throat when I first wake up, but I have noticed with eating less at night, I'm waking up hungrier in the morning, which allows me to eat a *little* something to try and wake my metabolism up. I've felt better doing it this way too. I'm sure it has something to do with fueling myself for the day. :P
Anyway, so, the past 1.5 weeks I've been exercising almost daily (I missed two days because I passed out asleep both days; I exercise at night; and 1am is a little late to exercise...) and been eating better. The stomach is shrinking and the muscles are a little sore. I can't make it a whole day at work on my feet without my legs hurting again, but I know I'll get past that over time. Chris bought me a subscription to Fitness Mag to help encourage me and he's been better about offering me food and sugar (every time we'd go to the store he'd ask me if I wanted soda (that was a 50-50 chance) or candy (that was almost every time a yes)). So, we'll see how this goes! If anything, the 4 weeks should be interesting with my co-workers. We all keep laughing about our "healthy" lunches and what we have and haven't done. We all kid each other so much. So much, in fact, that Andrew today was trying to offer me candy he found in the breakroom. Thanks dude... :)
As for LotRo, as I mentioned earlier, we're no longer playing. Defiance came out so the boys jumped ship and started playing that. Defiance is coupled with a TV show that is on SyFy. The game came out about 2 (or 3? What week am I in? LoL) before the TV show airs. The show airs on Monday. It's the first game to come out with a simultaneous show. So there was the first part of the game you played and then you could "finish that." When the TV show airs on Monday, a new patch goes through and more game content is opened. It won't exactly parallel the show or a new patch won't be released every episode, but about a quarter of the show or so will be in the game. Amazon (someone's in trouble!) accidentally made the pilot episode available (unless "pilot previews" are now 1.5 hours long and suspiciously look an awful lot like a pilot episode) so we watched it. It was an okay show. I like the main dude, but the rest will come with time, hopefully. I haven't played the game, but Chris thought it was okay too. I did feel a *little* left out because he knew what some things and I had to go, "What?" whenever he mentioned something, but it's not like I couldn't follow the episode or get into the world. It's simply he has a little more "canon" under is belt than I do. So, it's an interesting concept and will be interesting to see how it does.
As for movies, well, I've watched a "few" in the last few weeks.
Rise of the Guardians - Funny thing about this is I watched it 2 or 3 days before Easter, which part of the movie takes place about 2 or 3 days before Easter! (I forget exactly how many days.) I thought it was cute. I liked what each "Guardian" is supposed to be guarding (Santa Claus - Wonder; Easter Bunny - Hope; Tooth Fairy - Memories; Sandman - Dreams; Jack Frost - Fun). The Boogeyman is scary and it was scary how he "invaded" the world, but it was interesting too. It was basically about making kids lose hope or making their dreams scary, etc. I can't say it's to the caliber of Wreck-It Ralph, but I liked it and it's another solid DreamWorks film. Grade: B/B-
Killing Them Softly (Brad Pitt) - Definitely neo-noir and it's okay. It's not horrible, but it's not really my cup of tea either. I also felt like the cast was not used well. The beginning story and why the whole film happened was just stupid (really, those guys weren't bright, but that was kind of the point too!). Pitt's character wasn't bad, but the film is a neo-noir and that's not usually my thing. Grade: C/C-
Life of Pi (Suraj Sharma) - Okay, so it is a little stylized and not a whole lot happens for a great deal of the film and there are some stupid moments from Pi, but I liked it. It is a theological film and I can't really compare it to the book (I read 1/3 of the book), but I liked the film. I found it interesting and the ending really made you think too. It made you first think if the entire story was made up or not, but if you delved into it, it also made you wonder about God. I mean, in the beginning, he does say that he's going to tell you a story to make you believe in God. It's, in the end, a story about rationality vs faith. Can you believe in the unbelievable or do you need to rationalize it to something that makes sense? With that said, I thought the journey of being on the boat was interesting on its own. I liked the style of the film and, yeah, it got a little "dreamy" and "other worldly" at points, but it sort of fit in with the whole story. I really liked it, at any rate. It won't be for everyone and not every animal on the boat survive in the beginning (nothing graphic, but it still upset me none-the-less), but I really liked it. One of those films I'm really glad I watched (great directing, good acting, etc), but it's unlikely I'll ever watch it again (e.g., War Horse). Grade: A
Straight A's (Anna Paquin, Ryan Phillippe, Luke Wilson) - What...? This was my first response when the movie ended. What...? Definitely not what I thought. I thought it was going to end differently. I didn't think it was a rom-com, but I didn't think it'd be such a drama film either. And there's "drama" and then there is DRAMA and this trio definitely have the drama in their relationship. I still don't even quite get the end or the meaning of the title? I don't know. The acting wasn't bad, but it was just baffling to me... Grade: C-/D+
Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) - I knew this film would happen to his assassination, but I didn't realize how political the film was going to be. Not that it was a bad thing, I just didn't expect it. Daniel Day-Lewis did an amazing acting job, though. Liam Neeson was originally cast for the role and I don't think he could have done as good of a job as Day-Lewis (and I like Neeson a lot). It's a good, solid cast and it was interesting to see the political maneuvering to get the 13th Amendment passed. I've read that people say it's not historically accurate on how "critical" or "important" certain events were played to be, but it's a movie...You need some suspense and questioning on whether it was going to come about or not or how close it'd be. It is a rather long film, though. I wouldn't say it's *too* long, but it is just long. Grade: B
Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins, Helen Mirren) - Sometimes trailers lead you astray on how a film would be, but this trailer was exactly what it was and I just didn't believe it. Not the best of films and I didn't exactly like the feel of the film. Not that the feel was bad, but it just felt kind of weird that it's a docudrama and filmed in a way to make you feel all movie. I think I would have enjoyed this more if it was just a docudrama instead of the stylization to make you feel like it was one of his films. With that said, I did enjoy the story of Hitchcock and his wife. It seemed like that they really did love each other and did really collaborate quite a lot, but they both had their "issues" to work through in their partnership. I liked Hopkins make-up too, but sometimes it didn't feel real. Grade: C/C+ (C+ if it didn't have that weird feel to it)
With that, I've watched all but 1 (Amour) of the Best Picture nominated films. I have to say, I wish Life of Pi won. Don't get me wrong, Argo was a good film and Lincoln was too, but Life of Pi was more to me. I felt like Life of Pi hit me more emotionally/spiritually, where Argo was more drama-suspense, Lincoln drama-politics, and Silver Linings Playbook drama-comedy. Django Unchained, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Les Miserables, and Zero Dark Thirty just never really seemed like they had a chance to win to me. All good films too. I don't doubt their excellency to be nominated (they are all quality films), but I just felt like Life of Pi is a little more what the Academy likes (in feel), but it is a little more "spiritual" and Argo is more movies-help-save-lives. I'm not so surprised Lincoln didn't win either after seeing it. It's an excellent film, but it's not a film like King's Speech. It misses something just by a hair to make it Best Picture winner. Course, I like Life of Pi more than Argo, so who's to say I know the majority of the Academy at all! ;)
Anyway, with that, time to go to bed!
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