So, I turned in my final report for the Aquarium this week. It's all finished and it's off to be copy-edited! Huzzah! The same day I turned it in, I get an email asking me to do the Philippines version of the report! They're paying me a 4th of what I did for the other one, but that was significantly harder and also was 5 countries. The Philippines is highly researched and has the most information available. So, it should be a lot easier, especially since the intro is mostly completed (e.g., US importance). So...that'll be interesting to do. I still have to look over and sign the contract.
I survived this week of work! I'm feeling loads better and am almost completely well. I've got an annoying slight congestion and a cough that crops up randomly, but it's not too bad. I feel almost back to normal and feel 10xs better than last week. I didn't realize HOW bad I felt till this week when I started getting back into the rhythm of work and getting back to my normal duties. I can tell how badly I felt because there are certain things I do on a daily or at least every few days and they weren't taken care of for a week. I certainly went through the motion of work for a week, but not much else.
Anyway, on to movies!
Lots of the fall movies are now coming out on DVD and it's definitely kind of refreshing watching good movies rather than the random stuff I sometimes watch like this first one I'm going to write about...
Man with the Iron Fists (RZA, Russell Crowe, Lucy Liu) - Wow...What a bad film. It's silly, over the top, and just bad...It's like a combination of Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon and Kill Bill. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone. The effects weren't bad and it does have that sort of old school martial arts film to it, but there's just too much in it that made it silly and bad. Grade: D
Argo (Ben Affleck) - Well...I understand why it was well received. It is a good film. Affleck does a great job in building the suspense and making you wonder if they'll make it out okay. I know it's not all factual as it really wasn't that intense getting them out of the country (i.e., the airport scene), but it was still good to watch. Affleck's character felt a little flat, but that is the way he is supposed to be too so I can't tell if that is a good thing or a bad thing. It's just something you obviously notice compared to all the other actors/actresses in the movie. I still haven't seen Life of Pi or Lincoln so I can't really comment on Best Picture, yet, but if what I hear about Life of Pi or Lincoln is correct, Argo shouldn't have won, but I'll really discuss that later when I've seen them. It's a good watch if you're looking for something to watch, but if you have no interest in it, it's not that important to watch it. I find it above average, but not spectacular. Grade: B
Zero Dark Thirty (Jessica Chastain) - Again, I can see why people like it. Bigelow did do a good directing job and the movie is interesting, but boy is it long. You feel the length of the movie, but it does go along at a nice clip (even if it is a little over 2.5 hours long). I can see complaints too (e.g., the torture scenes), but there's nothing overly graphic. Chastain did a good job. She was tenacious in her lead and stoic in her job, even when one of her friends was killed. I don't think it particularly deserved Best Picture, but then I didn't think Hurt Locker did either. Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty have similar feels to them if you watched Hurt Locker. I liked it, but it, again, is above average, but not spectacular. I think it's good, but it didn't captivate me. Grade: B
Anna Karenina (Kiera Knightley, Jude Law) - You know, Anna definitely has some sort of mental issue. In some ways, you think poorly of Vronsky and Anna because they cheated on her husband, but then you go along and feel sort of sorry for Vronsky for putting up with Anna's unstable mental state. I did find the production style really interesting. They did it like it was a play. So you'd watch a scene and then it'd zoom out and different backgrounds would drop down like you're at a play and they're changing scenes. It did various things like that a lot. It was a little confusing at first, but when you got the hang of it, it was a really neat way to transition between scenes. You do have to say that, in this story, Karenina is definitely "saintly," as she even says when she think she's dying. He put up with an awful lot for the love of his wife. I enjoyed the costumes and the sets, but Anna is not very likeable and then she falls apart at the end, which makes it even harder to really like her. It did feel a little "over produced," though...It was okay. Grade: C for the production was impressive (her costumes were amazing!), but C- because Anna isn't likeable.
Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) - I adored this film and think it should have won Best Animation. Brave wasn't bad and neither was ParaNorman or Frankenweenie, but Wreck-It Ralph is definitely my favorite of the 4/5 animations I saw. Brave was kind of a sub-par Pixar film, which is saying something since a sub-par Pixar is still a better film than most others (animation or non-animation). Frankenweenie has the Tim Burton stamp on it and ParaNorman wasn't bad. Wreck-It Ralph has humor, heart, adventure, and good ol' nostalgia. I loved how an adult could see the little things in it and laugh over it (pong!), while a child would just like it for the story and the fun of it. It was clever how they did the video games, but also showed the age difference in technology. You have the newer and HD games (e.g., Hero's Duty in the movie) and then the older arcade games like Wreck-It Ralph. I liked the little people in Wreck-It Ralph's game and how they animated them to be like in the video game so their movements weren't smooth. They had a little stutter and when they hopped they did a hop noise. I liked the first person shooter game too and how they handled first person shooter mode. In a lot of ways, Wreck-It Ralph is like the video game equivalent of Toy Story. The games "come alive" when no one is around and worry about being "unplugged." The movie did give me a big craving for candy, though, since most of the movie is in Candy Rush...Anyway, I really liked this movie and can see why everyone really liked it. Disney has definitely had some solid animation hits lately (e.g., Tangled) and this is one I'd recommend for people to watch. Grade: A
I started watching The Following on HuluPlus. It's the big series right now, but I heard it is gory. Gory as in a lot of blood. If it's possible, it'd be considered more gory than the CSIs or something. It's not really "graphic," but it's definitely not tame either. It's so far interesting, but I don't know if I'll keep watching on a regular basis. It's just something to watch while I'm doing my nails or something since I can easily watch it on my iPad. Kevin Bacon is good, though.
Anyway, time to go paint my nails. The Post Office lost one of my packages today. : I'm thinking it has to be at the post office, but they can't find it. Great. It's the polish I've been waiting for too! One of my favorite Indie brands is back (after a very long hiatus) and it was 2 of her new polishes and I was going to wear one of them this week, but...yeah. I guess not! At least I'm not short on polish to wear...
Friday, March 22, 2013
Saturday, March 16, 2013
TV watching when you're sick...
I'm dubbing the last month the month of illness. It first started with an infected, huge cyst. Then I had a week long stint with hives from the antibiotics for the cyst. Then I'm well for like a week or something and then I come down with a cold that is the sickliest I've been in over a year. I actually left work early 3/5 days and took a longer lunch one of the other days (the day I closed). I'm still sick, but it's better. I'm like maybe 60% well. It's amazing how tiring and horrible being sick is. It's definitely not something I've missed and it's shocked my co-workers because I've never gone home sick!
Anyway, while being sick, I haven't really wanted to do much, so I started watching TV shows again to pass the time. So this past week I found out in January (wow) that Redbox sent me my beta access code to try out the Redbox Instant. I also had a free month trial for HuluPlus from Chegg and I found CBS has a streaming app, which then started me thinking and comparing everything...
Redbox Instant vs Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant - So, I've discussed Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant before, which basically concluded that they're similar, but I like the next episode auto function on Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant doesn't have it. I have another thing I'd like to add about the apps. Netflix app you can use either on your wireless network or over wifi. Amazon Prime Instant only allows you to use it over your wifi, which I find a little weird. So, Netflix reigns over those two. The Amazon Prime Instant app is a little less user friendly too, but it's not a big deal.
I've been interested in Redbox Instant for a while, but was curious what was available to stream. Well, turns out, it's pretty much the same stuff that the other two have, but it doesn't seem to have TV shows. The app is okay too. I haven't tried it off of wifi, but considering the less amount of content (i.e., TV shows), it pretty much makes it the lesser of the 3. The only thing it has going for it is the 4 kiosk credits, but the major draw OF streaming is the fact I don't have to GO to the kiosk. Hence, I'm not going to subscribe (after my free trial is over). The 4 credits and maybe 1 or 2 movies I'll stream a month means I'm spending par on what I would pay if I just went to the kiosk every time (assuming I use all 4 credits AND stream 2 movies a month). I'd rather just not subscribe and go to the kiosk since I've got the same movies available on Amazon Prime Instant and I pay a year subscription for that. So, Redbox Instant...? Disappointment. I'll keep using Amazon Prime Instant and keep using the kiosk for Redbox, but no Instant subscription.
HuluPlus and CBS streaming - I used to use Hulu way back in the day when you didn't have to pay. Since then, I've just stopped and never wanted to pay or wait (week delay for new episodes?) so I never used it. A month free subscription came up (not the trial one on the webpage so, technically, I could get 2 months free) and I thought, "Why not?". I signed up while sick and it's come in handy. I've caught up on Bones and Castle thanks to it. Not to mention the app is handy. It's a decent app, but the webpage version has the Netflix similar next episode option when you finish an episode. Fox, ABC, and NBC both use HuluPlus, but CBS has its own streaming and doesn't use HuluPlus.
I don't particularly like the CBS version. First off, it only has the last 2-3 episodes of a season and maybe 1 other random one in the season (on CSI it's the first one and another show it's like the 5th one). I'm further behind than 3 episodes (more like 6) so it's a little awkward, BUT it's completely free (unlike HuluPlus). Then again, you can watch the last 2-3 episodes for free on Hulu, but you can't stream them on their app. So, it's a trade off. Subscribe and get a full season and app capabilities or go for free and only have the last 2-3 episodes available on the webpage only. It's more than the last 2-3 episode thing with the CBS version, though. I haven't webpage streamed, but their app is a little off. It has closed captioning (as HuluPlus has too), but it's not synced correctly and I think it's because the commercials don't break where they should. You have that pause right before a commercial, but their ads come maybe 2 or 3 seconds before the pause. So then the ads happen and then you go back to the show and THEN you get that last 2-3 seconds with the pause following it. It's kind of weird. I've also read that sometimes if you leave the app in the middle of an episode, the sound and closed captions will get off from the video. I haven't had that experience, but I also closed the app in the middle of an ad and it wasn't closed that long. I do wish CBS did something to make the entire season available, though. I also wish, sad to say, that CBS would mix-up their ads a little. I saw the same ads for all 3 CSI episodes I watched. I found you repeated ads on HuluPlus, but not as much. I watched the same ad maybe maybe 3-4 times each episode (there are 2-3 ads per break and about 4 or 5 breaks) or, at the very least, some variation of the same company. CBS was the EXACT same 5 ads for all 3 episodes, which meant I'm really tired of the Jack in the Box "Hot Mess" commercial and the Buick commercial. If you're going to torture me by making me watch ads, at least mix them up!
So, during my illness, I've definitely been doing a lot of app streaming on my iPad mini, which has been nice, but there are definite quirks on everything! It has allowed me to sort of catch up on my TV shows too. I'm a little awkwardly catching up with CSI and the other CBS shows since I'm up on the last 3 episodes, but missing episodes 11-13 (or somewhere around there).
Anyway, that's about all for now. I have watched one new movie, but I'll wait till I get another one or something.
Anyway, while being sick, I haven't really wanted to do much, so I started watching TV shows again to pass the time. So this past week I found out in January (wow) that Redbox sent me my beta access code to try out the Redbox Instant. I also had a free month trial for HuluPlus from Chegg and I found CBS has a streaming app, which then started me thinking and comparing everything...
Redbox Instant vs Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant - So, I've discussed Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant before, which basically concluded that they're similar, but I like the next episode auto function on Netflix and Amazon Prime Instant doesn't have it. I have another thing I'd like to add about the apps. Netflix app you can use either on your wireless network or over wifi. Amazon Prime Instant only allows you to use it over your wifi, which I find a little weird. So, Netflix reigns over those two. The Amazon Prime Instant app is a little less user friendly too, but it's not a big deal.
I've been interested in Redbox Instant for a while, but was curious what was available to stream. Well, turns out, it's pretty much the same stuff that the other two have, but it doesn't seem to have TV shows. The app is okay too. I haven't tried it off of wifi, but considering the less amount of content (i.e., TV shows), it pretty much makes it the lesser of the 3. The only thing it has going for it is the 4 kiosk credits, but the major draw OF streaming is the fact I don't have to GO to the kiosk. Hence, I'm not going to subscribe (after my free trial is over). The 4 credits and maybe 1 or 2 movies I'll stream a month means I'm spending par on what I would pay if I just went to the kiosk every time (assuming I use all 4 credits AND stream 2 movies a month). I'd rather just not subscribe and go to the kiosk since I've got the same movies available on Amazon Prime Instant and I pay a year subscription for that. So, Redbox Instant...? Disappointment. I'll keep using Amazon Prime Instant and keep using the kiosk for Redbox, but no Instant subscription.
HuluPlus and CBS streaming - I used to use Hulu way back in the day when you didn't have to pay. Since then, I've just stopped and never wanted to pay or wait (week delay for new episodes?) so I never used it. A month free subscription came up (not the trial one on the webpage so, technically, I could get 2 months free) and I thought, "Why not?". I signed up while sick and it's come in handy. I've caught up on Bones and Castle thanks to it. Not to mention the app is handy. It's a decent app, but the webpage version has the Netflix similar next episode option when you finish an episode. Fox, ABC, and NBC both use HuluPlus, but CBS has its own streaming and doesn't use HuluPlus.
I don't particularly like the CBS version. First off, it only has the last 2-3 episodes of a season and maybe 1 other random one in the season (on CSI it's the first one and another show it's like the 5th one). I'm further behind than 3 episodes (more like 6) so it's a little awkward, BUT it's completely free (unlike HuluPlus). Then again, you can watch the last 2-3 episodes for free on Hulu, but you can't stream them on their app. So, it's a trade off. Subscribe and get a full season and app capabilities or go for free and only have the last 2-3 episodes available on the webpage only. It's more than the last 2-3 episode thing with the CBS version, though. I haven't webpage streamed, but their app is a little off. It has closed captioning (as HuluPlus has too), but it's not synced correctly and I think it's because the commercials don't break where they should. You have that pause right before a commercial, but their ads come maybe 2 or 3 seconds before the pause. So then the ads happen and then you go back to the show and THEN you get that last 2-3 seconds with the pause following it. It's kind of weird. I've also read that sometimes if you leave the app in the middle of an episode, the sound and closed captions will get off from the video. I haven't had that experience, but I also closed the app in the middle of an ad and it wasn't closed that long. I do wish CBS did something to make the entire season available, though. I also wish, sad to say, that CBS would mix-up their ads a little. I saw the same ads for all 3 CSI episodes I watched. I found you repeated ads on HuluPlus, but not as much. I watched the same ad maybe maybe 3-4 times each episode (there are 2-3 ads per break and about 4 or 5 breaks) or, at the very least, some variation of the same company. CBS was the EXACT same 5 ads for all 3 episodes, which meant I'm really tired of the Jack in the Box "Hot Mess" commercial and the Buick commercial. If you're going to torture me by making me watch ads, at least mix them up!
So, during my illness, I've definitely been doing a lot of app streaming on my iPad mini, which has been nice, but there are definite quirks on everything! It has allowed me to sort of catch up on my TV shows too. I'm a little awkwardly catching up with CSI and the other CBS shows since I'm up on the last 3 episodes, but missing episodes 11-13 (or somewhere around there).
Anyway, that's about all for now. I have watched one new movie, but I'll wait till I get another one or something.
Saturday, March 9, 2013
The days of LotRo and movies
Now that I'm "into" Lord of the Rings Online (play almost nightly...) with a few friends and Chris, my life seems to comprise mostly of playing that and not much else! It's so bad that Chris has gotten me a gamer mouse (I "need" two thumb buttons) AND a gamer headset with a better mic. Hey, I thought my last headset was okay, but I can tell the quality difference. If anything, I actually have a bass now and my mic doesn't make me sound like a robot occasionally. For some reason everyone had problems with me sounding like a robot and not being able to understand me. :P I have also learned all sorts of complications of having a Mac and trying to game. The game client is a Mac one (when I first played LotRo back in 2009, it wasn't on the Mac, but now is), but finding a gamer mouse that works on a Mac was hard and then this mouse's drivers didn't work on the Mac with the game client so the thumb buttons were useless. I had to download a 3rd party client to get them to work. This is, technically, my 2nd new headset because the first one didn't work with a Mac since it needed a power source to get the mic to work (couldn't just plug it into the mouse jack, which is what it was and a converter is like $5-10). This one I have now (the 2nd set) is a USB one to get the mic to work. Who knew! It's been interesting, to say the least. And, no, I can't use the mic on the computer because when the fan turns on, you can hear the fan through the mic (learned that YEARS ago) and I do use the mic often and the game client makes my fan work a LOT.
I do manage to do my nails, but I'm doing them less than I used to (1-2 times a week now (occasional 3 if something chips horribly, but I go as long as possible within a week) instead of 2-3 (sometimes 4)). I'm still buying polishes, but at a MUCH slower rate (really good for my wallet and savings!) and I mostly avoid Facebook now to keep the temptation down. All those indies and new polishes coming out and all those bloggers on Facebook! I also have gone away from chunky glitters and back to holos and cremes. It's definitely a palette cleansing time. I think Christmas wore me out! I'm also doing more stamping, which I stopped doing in the latter half of last year so it's nice to get back to stamping. I also have stopped doing chunky glitters because it takes time to remove and I have to fit in nails in between LotRo times. :)
I do keep renting movies, though, but there's not a whole lot right now. It's starting to pick up, but it's been a sort of slump. Well, I guess it *feels* like a slump, even though in 2 months I've watched 12 movies. To be fair, I watched 2 of them this week. Still reading too. I fit it in between gaming and work times. It's been a slow start to the year on new books, though. Lots of my authors aren't coming out with books till summer or the latter half of the year. I have managed to read 10 or so books, though. Currently plowing through one and it's been one I've been waiting to read for 2 years! This author finished a spin-off so I haven't been with these main characters for 2 years and it's good to be back to them! My TV watching has plummeted. I never got back into watching TV shows after November. I guess it's not something I'm really missing. I think I'm really only watching the new season of Top Gear.
Anyway, the rest of life is okay. I'm in the homestretch of my contract with the Aquarium. I did my presentation this past Monday, which is sort of like my defense. It went well. Now I'm waiting on some written comments, final edits, and then I'll turn it in and I'll be finished! It'll go through copy-editing, but my job will be finished.
With that...On to movies! This is going to be short just because there are 12 movies...
Frankenweenie - It's cute. I enjoyed it. It's based on the Frankenstein story, but with a kid twist. It wouldn't appeal to all kids, but I liked it. I can see why people thought it was cute and fun, but it is a different Tim Burton film. I'm not a huge fan of Tim Burton, but I have managed to watch a few of his films and it has his style, but maybe not his normal storytelling. The animation was good, but fantastic. Grade: B- (maybe C+)
Hotel Transylvania - Another animation and I enjoyed it too. I enjoyed this about as much as Frankenweenie. Frankenweenie has the loss of a pet in the beginning and this one revolves around Dracula's daughter turning of age and the fact her mother died so he's a little protective of her. It's cute too, but not overly amazing either. Grade: B- (maybe C+)
The Paperboy (Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, John Cusack, Matthew McConaughey) - Uhm. Wow. I definitely wasn't prepared for what I was going to see. It's a good cast and decent acting, but the story is definitely not what I was expecting and what an, uhm, ending. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone to see. I guess there's a morale somewhere at the end, but it's such a downer of a movie at the end that it's hard to figure out. A movie that is taking up precious memory space... Grade: D
The Cold Light of Day (Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis, Sigourney Weaver) - Think a Die Hard movie, but without Willis being the hero. It's a little Bourne-y too. Basically, Willis's character works for the CIA or something and while the family is on a vacation, everyone gets kidnapped except Cavill. He has to go out and save his family while avoiding misleading information from the government (i.e., Weaver) and being alone in Italy. The most upsetting thing about it is Willis is in the movie, but he ends up NOT being in the movie for it since he dies in the very beginning. When does Willis die in a movie like that?! It's an okay movie. I can see why it didn't do well. It's just okay and it's a "been there, done that" without anything truly new or interesting in it. I mean, I'm okay with the "been there, done that" type of movies, but it should at least be good and this one falls flat. Grade: C-
Seven Psychopaths (Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell) - The title says it all. It really a movie full of psychopaths, but it's kind of interesting to watch. It has a good cast too. I will say, the trailer does mislead you. Sure, the whole dognapping thing sort of centers the movie (at least Harrelson's role), but it's actually about the seven psychopaths and Farrell's character is writing a script about seven psychopaths. There were a few twists in the movie, which, if I had been watching more closely, I might have noticed, but it interesting. It does have a slightly depressing ending, but given this is done by the same people who did In Bruges, I'm not too surprised. It's good if you like movies like this, but it's not for everyone. Grade: C
Flight (Denzel Washington) - The first 20 minutes of this movie literally made me jittery for the WHOLE movie. I was so wound up after watching the flight scene. It's intense. It didn't scare me away from flying, but it's intense and definitely had me on the edge of my seat and I was watching the whole thing very intently. Washington's acting is good and I can see why he was nominated, but I also didn't feel like it was phenomenal too. He definitely plays an anti-hero, though. He drinks and takes drugs, but when that flight went all wrong, he really pulled it all together and kept his cool. If anything, that alone was impressive to see (even when you know it's acting) because the contrast between him and his co-pilot is pretty extreme in their attitudes during the ordeal. It was an interesting movie, even if it was a little frustrating with his character until the end. If you're interested in it, I'd recommend it, but it's not a "must watch." Grade: B
Hit & Run (Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard) - It's a silly movie and that's what I expected. I do really like Kristen Bell, though. I really wish they didn't cancel Veronica Mars and it always seems like Bell and Shepard are fun people. Anyway, it's pretty silly and it should at no time be taken seriously either. It's over the top too, but it works somehow. Grade: C
Playing for Keeps (Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel) - When I started watching this, I could have sworn I had already seen it. I had seen the trailer SO much, I had somehow convinced myself I had seen it when I saw the intro. I still somehow think I've seen it already, but I haven't. Either it's so predictable (your typical rom-com) or I really have seen that trailer too much. At any rate, it's pretty typical, but it's an okay cast. It's nothing special and not the greatest rom-com, though. Grade: C
A Good Day to Die Hard (Bruce Willis) - It's a Die Hard film. Expect lots of explosions, shooting, running, car scenes, and Willis saving the day at the very end. If you expect anything else, you have idea what this franchise is about. I will say that the trying to bond with his son again was "heavy" for a Die Hard film, but Willis does get some jokes in here-and-there, but it's your typical Die Hard. Grade: C
Robot and Frank (Frank Langella) - I liked this film up until the end. It was a little sad for an ending and the movie sort of left me wanting something else from it. It's a good cast, but something just doesn't quite jive with me. It was like it was too short or the "intense" part (running from the cops with the robot) was too short or whatever...But it was a cute film. I liked the premise and I liked the relationship between Frank and Robot. Maybe if it went a different way with the middle of the story it would have played out better. I wish it was better to make it great. As is, it's just good to okay. Grade: C+
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller) - A good film. I liked all the acting and the story is interesting. It's a good coming of age. Grade: B
The Intouchables (Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy) - I really liked this movie. It's a foreign film, but it's good. It's really touching and it's great to see how they both taught each other what's missing from each other's lives. It's nothing too intense as it's a movie mostly about their growing friendship, but it has humor and touching moments. I enjoyed it from start to finish and would recommend this. Sy is a great actor and Cluzet does a great job too. You definitely get involved with their friendship and enjoy it almost as much as they do. I would rewatch this on DVD and maybe will rewatch it sooner rather than later. Grade: A
Oscars...Well. I wasn't too surprised. I was a little surprised about Best Animation (Brave), but I also haven't seen Wreck-It Ralph, yet, so it's hard to say. I'll be seeing it sometime next week, I suspect. It is weird how Best Director and Best Picture weren't from the same movie. Sure, it can happen and has happened before, but the directing makes a big difference in how the movie turns out. To be fair, Affleck wasn't nominated for Best Director, which was weird too. I guess you can also have a Best Picture nom and no Best/Supporting Actor/Actress awards too, but then you can have an overall feel (e.g., Lord of the Rings). Was a little surprised about Waltz for Best Supporting Actor, but he did a really good job in Django. I was happy for Lawrence (Best Actress) and Hathaway (Best Supporting Actress). I think they both did good jobs and you gotta appreciate Lawrence's spirits after she tripped going up the stairs (saw the highlights). Adele for Skyfall (Best Song) wasn't a surprise. Will be interesting if she does the next Bond song (also starring Daniel Craig) because of Skyfall's popularity (rumors are she might). I haven't seen the opening piece for the Oscars in a while, but I liked a few pieces from Mcfarlane's. I did like the "losers" song at the end, which was kind of funny. That also took some amazingly quick memorization since they kept changing it all night! With that...Not much else to say. :)
Time to read and go to bed!
I do manage to do my nails, but I'm doing them less than I used to (1-2 times a week now (occasional 3 if something chips horribly, but I go as long as possible within a week) instead of 2-3 (sometimes 4)). I'm still buying polishes, but at a MUCH slower rate (really good for my wallet and savings!) and I mostly avoid Facebook now to keep the temptation down. All those indies and new polishes coming out and all those bloggers on Facebook! I also have gone away from chunky glitters and back to holos and cremes. It's definitely a palette cleansing time. I think Christmas wore me out! I'm also doing more stamping, which I stopped doing in the latter half of last year so it's nice to get back to stamping. I also have stopped doing chunky glitters because it takes time to remove and I have to fit in nails in between LotRo times. :)
I do keep renting movies, though, but there's not a whole lot right now. It's starting to pick up, but it's been a sort of slump. Well, I guess it *feels* like a slump, even though in 2 months I've watched 12 movies. To be fair, I watched 2 of them this week. Still reading too. I fit it in between gaming and work times. It's been a slow start to the year on new books, though. Lots of my authors aren't coming out with books till summer or the latter half of the year. I have managed to read 10 or so books, though. Currently plowing through one and it's been one I've been waiting to read for 2 years! This author finished a spin-off so I haven't been with these main characters for 2 years and it's good to be back to them! My TV watching has plummeted. I never got back into watching TV shows after November. I guess it's not something I'm really missing. I think I'm really only watching the new season of Top Gear.
Anyway, the rest of life is okay. I'm in the homestretch of my contract with the Aquarium. I did my presentation this past Monday, which is sort of like my defense. It went well. Now I'm waiting on some written comments, final edits, and then I'll turn it in and I'll be finished! It'll go through copy-editing, but my job will be finished.
With that...On to movies! This is going to be short just because there are 12 movies...
Frankenweenie - It's cute. I enjoyed it. It's based on the Frankenstein story, but with a kid twist. It wouldn't appeal to all kids, but I liked it. I can see why people thought it was cute and fun, but it is a different Tim Burton film. I'm not a huge fan of Tim Burton, but I have managed to watch a few of his films and it has his style, but maybe not his normal storytelling. The animation was good, but fantastic. Grade: B- (maybe C+)
Hotel Transylvania - Another animation and I enjoyed it too. I enjoyed this about as much as Frankenweenie. Frankenweenie has the loss of a pet in the beginning and this one revolves around Dracula's daughter turning of age and the fact her mother died so he's a little protective of her. It's cute too, but not overly amazing either. Grade: B- (maybe C+)
The Paperboy (Nicole Kidman, Zac Efron, John Cusack, Matthew McConaughey) - Uhm. Wow. I definitely wasn't prepared for what I was going to see. It's a good cast and decent acting, but the story is definitely not what I was expecting and what an, uhm, ending. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone to see. I guess there's a morale somewhere at the end, but it's such a downer of a movie at the end that it's hard to figure out. A movie that is taking up precious memory space... Grade: D
The Cold Light of Day (Henry Cavill, Bruce Willis, Sigourney Weaver) - Think a Die Hard movie, but without Willis being the hero. It's a little Bourne-y too. Basically, Willis's character works for the CIA or something and while the family is on a vacation, everyone gets kidnapped except Cavill. He has to go out and save his family while avoiding misleading information from the government (i.e., Weaver) and being alone in Italy. The most upsetting thing about it is Willis is in the movie, but he ends up NOT being in the movie for it since he dies in the very beginning. When does Willis die in a movie like that?! It's an okay movie. I can see why it didn't do well. It's just okay and it's a "been there, done that" without anything truly new or interesting in it. I mean, I'm okay with the "been there, done that" type of movies, but it should at least be good and this one falls flat. Grade: C-
Seven Psychopaths (Colin Farrell, Woody Harrelson, Sam Rockwell) - The title says it all. It really a movie full of psychopaths, but it's kind of interesting to watch. It has a good cast too. I will say, the trailer does mislead you. Sure, the whole dognapping thing sort of centers the movie (at least Harrelson's role), but it's actually about the seven psychopaths and Farrell's character is writing a script about seven psychopaths. There were a few twists in the movie, which, if I had been watching more closely, I might have noticed, but it interesting. It does have a slightly depressing ending, but given this is done by the same people who did In Bruges, I'm not too surprised. It's good if you like movies like this, but it's not for everyone. Grade: C
Flight (Denzel Washington) - The first 20 minutes of this movie literally made me jittery for the WHOLE movie. I was so wound up after watching the flight scene. It's intense. It didn't scare me away from flying, but it's intense and definitely had me on the edge of my seat and I was watching the whole thing very intently. Washington's acting is good and I can see why he was nominated, but I also didn't feel like it was phenomenal too. He definitely plays an anti-hero, though. He drinks and takes drugs, but when that flight went all wrong, he really pulled it all together and kept his cool. If anything, that alone was impressive to see (even when you know it's acting) because the contrast between him and his co-pilot is pretty extreme in their attitudes during the ordeal. It was an interesting movie, even if it was a little frustrating with his character until the end. If you're interested in it, I'd recommend it, but it's not a "must watch." Grade: B
Hit & Run (Kristen Bell, Dax Shepard) - It's a silly movie and that's what I expected. I do really like Kristen Bell, though. I really wish they didn't cancel Veronica Mars and it always seems like Bell and Shepard are fun people. Anyway, it's pretty silly and it should at no time be taken seriously either. It's over the top too, but it works somehow. Grade: C
Playing for Keeps (Gerard Butler, Jessica Biel) - When I started watching this, I could have sworn I had already seen it. I had seen the trailer SO much, I had somehow convinced myself I had seen it when I saw the intro. I still somehow think I've seen it already, but I haven't. Either it's so predictable (your typical rom-com) or I really have seen that trailer too much. At any rate, it's pretty typical, but it's an okay cast. It's nothing special and not the greatest rom-com, though. Grade: C
A Good Day to Die Hard (Bruce Willis) - It's a Die Hard film. Expect lots of explosions, shooting, running, car scenes, and Willis saving the day at the very end. If you expect anything else, you have idea what this franchise is about. I will say that the trying to bond with his son again was "heavy" for a Die Hard film, but Willis does get some jokes in here-and-there, but it's your typical Die Hard. Grade: C
Robot and Frank (Frank Langella) - I liked this film up until the end. It was a little sad for an ending and the movie sort of left me wanting something else from it. It's a good cast, but something just doesn't quite jive with me. It was like it was too short or the "intense" part (running from the cops with the robot) was too short or whatever...But it was a cute film. I liked the premise and I liked the relationship between Frank and Robot. Maybe if it went a different way with the middle of the story it would have played out better. I wish it was better to make it great. As is, it's just good to okay. Grade: C+
The Perks of Being a Wallflower (Emma Watson, Logan Lerman, Ezra Miller) - A good film. I liked all the acting and the story is interesting. It's a good coming of age. Grade: B
The Intouchables (Francois Cluzet, Omar Sy) - I really liked this movie. It's a foreign film, but it's good. It's really touching and it's great to see how they both taught each other what's missing from each other's lives. It's nothing too intense as it's a movie mostly about their growing friendship, but it has humor and touching moments. I enjoyed it from start to finish and would recommend this. Sy is a great actor and Cluzet does a great job too. You definitely get involved with their friendship and enjoy it almost as much as they do. I would rewatch this on DVD and maybe will rewatch it sooner rather than later. Grade: A
Oscars...Well. I wasn't too surprised. I was a little surprised about Best Animation (Brave), but I also haven't seen Wreck-It Ralph, yet, so it's hard to say. I'll be seeing it sometime next week, I suspect. It is weird how Best Director and Best Picture weren't from the same movie. Sure, it can happen and has happened before, but the directing makes a big difference in how the movie turns out. To be fair, Affleck wasn't nominated for Best Director, which was weird too. I guess you can also have a Best Picture nom and no Best/Supporting Actor/Actress awards too, but then you can have an overall feel (e.g., Lord of the Rings). Was a little surprised about Waltz for Best Supporting Actor, but he did a really good job in Django. I was happy for Lawrence (Best Actress) and Hathaway (Best Supporting Actress). I think they both did good jobs and you gotta appreciate Lawrence's spirits after she tripped going up the stairs (saw the highlights). Adele for Skyfall (Best Song) wasn't a surprise. Will be interesting if she does the next Bond song (also starring Daniel Craig) because of Skyfall's popularity (rumors are she might). I haven't seen the opening piece for the Oscars in a while, but I liked a few pieces from Mcfarlane's. I did like the "losers" song at the end, which was kind of funny. That also took some amazingly quick memorization since they kept changing it all night! With that...Not much else to say. :)
Time to read and go to bed!
Monday, January 28, 2013
Redbox and Lots of Polish
I, once again, have cancelled my Netflix account. This 2nd time, I only had the streaming plan (no DVDs) so it wasn't that terribly pricey; however, there also wasn't a whole lot I was using with Netflix. When it comes down to it, Amazon Prime Instant works just as well. In fact, they seem to have the same contracts so it was really kind of useless to be paying for both (to be fair, I have Prime for the free 2-day shipping (regardless of order price point) and not for the Prime Instant, that came a year or so after I started with paying for Prime). The only real plus to Netflix over Amazon Prime Instant is the "next episode" auto play (or option) on Netflix. Amazon Prime doesn't have it (makes sense since some things you might have to pay for), but I wish they could figure out a way to make it do that. I strongly dislike having to exit out of my full screen, find the next episode, hit play, and then go back to full screen. I know...what an absolutely harsh life I live (aka #firstworldproblems), but...come on!
At any rate, I'm really interested to see how Redbox does their streaming service. Their service has been "coming soon" for a few months now and I'm really interested to see how it's different than Netflix. It's fairly cheap (cheaper than Netflix at $8/month for unlimited streaming and 4 DVDs out per month) and if it carries the NEW DVDs on streaming, it will be well worth the money.
Let's do some math:
1 DVD = $1.30 (tax included)
$8 subscription / $1.30 movie = ~ 6.15 movies/month
6.15 movies * 12 months = 73.8 movies/year
Let's round up to 74 movies. I watched 101 movies last year and 16 of them were in theaters (I rewatched 2 of them in theater too, but that's not in my count). That's 85 movies I did not watch in theater and all of them but one (to my recollection) I rented from Redbox. That's 84 movies! And also $109.20 for the year (really not a large number for watching 84 movies...). So, I basically get to watch 10 movies for free or save $13.20. Not a large sum, admittedly, but let's factor in my potential wait times (I still haven't been able to track Frankenweenie down) and also sometimes out-of-the-way driving to return a Redbox (why isn't there one at the Monterey mall or anywhere near the mall?!). Not to mention I lost out on a $1.30 once because I reserved a movie ahead of time, but when I got there, the machine was broken (last time I've reserved a DVD...). So, based on time and convenience, it's worth the money. The fact I actually do save money (if I watch at least 75 movies), it's like icing on a cake. With that said, it'll mostly be worth it for me if it carries the new movies. If I have to wait weeks after a new movie comes out, I might make do, but since I'm currently caught up, I'm going to have an awkward lull; however, I could go check out a physical DVD too, but it also sort of loses its appeal for me. So, anyway, it'll be interesting. If it carries the new stuff, it'll be ahead of Netflix and Amazon Instant (no clue with iTunes). If it doesn't, what's the point? I will say that Netflix is relying more on its TV show availability than its movies, so, we'll see!
Had some good and interesting nails the past week or so. I've been trying to cleanse my palette lately (i.e., I've been in a nail funk), but I had two recent incidents that required fancy nails. Both were a pain to do and only one turned out really good. Not to say the other one is bad, but it's definitely not my favorite and lasted a sort of 2 days. LoL My current mani is just pretty. :)
Before I get to the photos, though, I was looking at some blogger photos of a new Valentine's Day collection from an indie brand. I saw one of the polishes and instantly went, "GUM!" Gum, as in bubble gum. I sat there thinking about it for a minute and then figured out WHICH gum it reminded me of. I went and found a photo and, yup, I'm a dork. I know I love my gum (goodness knows I eat enough of it and try all sort of flavors regularly), but I didn't realize I was starting to become a connoisseur of gum!
This is what I mean:
Left: Pointless Cafe's swatch of Nail Junkie's Bouquet. Right: Ice Breakers Ice Cubes in Bubble Breeze.
See what I mean? Pink (not sure why that shade of pink always says "bubble gum," but it does) base with blue glitter. That gum is pink base with blue flavor crystals! Of all the gums in the world, I think of this gum. I will say that I've only bought that particular flavor twice too. I enjoy the kiwi watermelon one the most. I just tried the new grape, which reminded me of Dimetapp grape flavor. It was, by far, my favorite medicine as a kid. LoL So, I didn't NOT enjoy the grape medicine flavor of the new grape Ice Breakers Ice Cubes gum. :P
Anyway, on to photos...
(Click photos to enlarge) Glitter Gal Lizard Belly for the tips, China Glaze Devotion for the silver stamp, BM 16 for the stamp, and Northern Lights in silver for the holo glitter in the clear base. I did this to show a co-worker I could do something similar to what she wanted (leopard on a gold base). This was more me than doing an animal print. :) I have never done something like this so it was a total shot in the dark and it turned out really good! I really liked it. Some of my tips could have been angled a little more, but it still looked good. This took a LONG time, though. Base primer, base, Northern Lights, tip color, tip stamp, top coat. Yeah, work! I had to wait for Northern Lights and the tip color to dry before the next steps too.
I had a meeting that was going to be a Superbowl theme (meeting was focused on teamwork) and we were asked to wear our favorite team's colors or jerseys or whatever. I don't watch football, but my manager and a co-worker are 49er fans. To honor that, I did 49er nails. Red is nubar Fiery Red and gold accent is Zoya Goldie. The gold moons are nubar 24k. The logo are various nubar nail art pens. I knew I was never a moon person (the crescents at the top), but I decided to try it. Yeah, first off, I didn't really like how I drew my moons and, second, I just didn't really like them. It's just weird to me. Then I drew the SF 49ers logo and it took a ridiculous amount of time to do and I did NOT like how it looked. There were flaws all over it and it drove me nuts. Sure, it's better than most people could do, but the flaws drove me bonkers. I wore the logo for a day, but the rest of the colors (had a white plain nail) for 2 days. I had a male customer said he liked my nails. It was funny.
Luckily, for those polishes, I already had red and gold polishes. I bought them for my Gryffindor colors (every nail person should have his/her Harry Potter house colors in polish!), but then people started pointing out to me they all thought it was Iron Man. Hm. The red is a smidgen darker in person, but whatever. I can see it (and started seeing Iron Man towards the end). It's scarlet and scarlet is bright, which is what it is on the color wheel and what Gryffindor's colors are. :P So...They're my Gryffindor colors!
At any rate, I'm really interested to see how Redbox does their streaming service. Their service has been "coming soon" for a few months now and I'm really interested to see how it's different than Netflix. It's fairly cheap (cheaper than Netflix at $8/month for unlimited streaming and 4 DVDs out per month) and if it carries the NEW DVDs on streaming, it will be well worth the money.
Let's do some math:
1 DVD = $1.30 (tax included)
$8 subscription / $1.30 movie = ~ 6.15 movies/month
6.15 movies * 12 months = 73.8 movies/year
Let's round up to 74 movies. I watched 101 movies last year and 16 of them were in theaters (I rewatched 2 of them in theater too, but that's not in my count). That's 85 movies I did not watch in theater and all of them but one (to my recollection) I rented from Redbox. That's 84 movies! And also $109.20 for the year (really not a large number for watching 84 movies...). So, I basically get to watch 10 movies for free or save $13.20. Not a large sum, admittedly, but let's factor in my potential wait times (I still haven't been able to track Frankenweenie down) and also sometimes out-of-the-way driving to return a Redbox (why isn't there one at the Monterey mall or anywhere near the mall?!). Not to mention I lost out on a $1.30 once because I reserved a movie ahead of time, but when I got there, the machine was broken (last time I've reserved a DVD...). So, based on time and convenience, it's worth the money. The fact I actually do save money (if I watch at least 75 movies), it's like icing on a cake. With that said, it'll mostly be worth it for me if it carries the new movies. If I have to wait weeks after a new movie comes out, I might make do, but since I'm currently caught up, I'm going to have an awkward lull; however, I could go check out a physical DVD too, but it also sort of loses its appeal for me. So, anyway, it'll be interesting. If it carries the new stuff, it'll be ahead of Netflix and Amazon Instant (no clue with iTunes). If it doesn't, what's the point? I will say that Netflix is relying more on its TV show availability than its movies, so, we'll see!
Had some good and interesting nails the past week or so. I've been trying to cleanse my palette lately (i.e., I've been in a nail funk), but I had two recent incidents that required fancy nails. Both were a pain to do and only one turned out really good. Not to say the other one is bad, but it's definitely not my favorite and lasted a sort of 2 days. LoL My current mani is just pretty. :)
Before I get to the photos, though, I was looking at some blogger photos of a new Valentine's Day collection from an indie brand. I saw one of the polishes and instantly went, "GUM!" Gum, as in bubble gum. I sat there thinking about it for a minute and then figured out WHICH gum it reminded me of. I went and found a photo and, yup, I'm a dork. I know I love my gum (goodness knows I eat enough of it and try all sort of flavors regularly), but I didn't realize I was starting to become a connoisseur of gum!
This is what I mean:
Left: Pointless Cafe's swatch of Nail Junkie's Bouquet. Right: Ice Breakers Ice Cubes in Bubble Breeze.
See what I mean? Pink (not sure why that shade of pink always says "bubble gum," but it does) base with blue glitter. That gum is pink base with blue flavor crystals! Of all the gums in the world, I think of this gum. I will say that I've only bought that particular flavor twice too. I enjoy the kiwi watermelon one the most. I just tried the new grape, which reminded me of Dimetapp grape flavor. It was, by far, my favorite medicine as a kid. LoL So, I didn't NOT enjoy the grape medicine flavor of the new grape Ice Breakers Ice Cubes gum. :P
Anyway, on to photos...
(Click photos to enlarge) Glitter Gal Lizard Belly for the tips, China Glaze Devotion for the silver stamp, BM 16 for the stamp, and Northern Lights in silver for the holo glitter in the clear base. I did this to show a co-worker I could do something similar to what she wanted (leopard on a gold base). This was more me than doing an animal print. :) I have never done something like this so it was a total shot in the dark and it turned out really good! I really liked it. Some of my tips could have been angled a little more, but it still looked good. This took a LONG time, though. Base primer, base, Northern Lights, tip color, tip stamp, top coat. Yeah, work! I had to wait for Northern Lights and the tip color to dry before the next steps too.
I had a meeting that was going to be a Superbowl theme (meeting was focused on teamwork) and we were asked to wear our favorite team's colors or jerseys or whatever. I don't watch football, but my manager and a co-worker are 49er fans. To honor that, I did 49er nails. Red is nubar Fiery Red and gold accent is Zoya Goldie. The gold moons are nubar 24k. The logo are various nubar nail art pens. I knew I was never a moon person (the crescents at the top), but I decided to try it. Yeah, first off, I didn't really like how I drew my moons and, second, I just didn't really like them. It's just weird to me. Then I drew the SF 49ers logo and it took a ridiculous amount of time to do and I did NOT like how it looked. There were flaws all over it and it drove me nuts. Sure, it's better than most people could do, but the flaws drove me bonkers. I wore the logo for a day, but the rest of the colors (had a white plain nail) for 2 days. I had a male customer said he liked my nails. It was funny.
Luckily, for those polishes, I already had red and gold polishes. I bought them for my Gryffindor colors (every nail person should have his/her Harry Potter house colors in polish!), but then people started pointing out to me they all thought it was Iron Man. Hm. The red is a smidgen darker in person, but whatever. I can see it (and started seeing Iron Man towards the end). It's scarlet and scarlet is bright, which is what it is on the color wheel and what Gryffindor's colors are. :P So...They're my Gryffindor colors!
Above the Curve Risen Angel. This is a loose linear (I think it's linear) holo and it's PRETTY! It's like a purple-gray color and the holo in it is amazing. It's really distracting to look at because the shift is really neat. I like linear ones because it's a strong rainbow, but this loose one is almost more distracting because it's softer and is ALL over the nail. The two left photos are in artificial light, but show the color shift. The right one (excuse the dry cuticles...ick) is in the sun just to show it's all sparkley! It looks better in person.
I also stamped the ring fingers, but it's hard to see and sort of moot when you've got a pretty holo polish! It's BM 306 with China Glaze Devotion, though. This is what the polish looks like without the bling going. :)
With that...Not much going on. Work hasn't been fun, but what are you going to do about it? Hopefully not murder anyone, I suppose...*sigh* Watched Frankenweenie, but will post about that later since I'll be watching Hotel Transylvania this week. Started doing my taxes too. Fantastic that Goodwill pays me just enough to mess me up, but not enough to really live on. *rolls eyes* My student loans ended up saving me and also being a renter in the state of California. Who'd of thunk...
Anyway, I'm off!
With that...Not much going on. Work hasn't been fun, but what are you going to do about it? Hopefully not murder anyone, I suppose...*sigh* Watched Frankenweenie, but will post about that later since I'll be watching Hotel Transylvania this week. Started doing my taxes too. Fantastic that Goodwill pays me just enough to mess me up, but not enough to really live on. *rolls eyes* My student loans ended up saving me and also being a renter in the state of California. Who'd of thunk...
Anyway, I'm off!
Sunday, January 20, 2013
Redbox, Musings, and Fantastic Nails
I, once again, have cancelled my Netflix account. This 2nd time, I only had the streaming plan (no DVDs) so it wasn't that terribly pricey; however, there also wasn't a whole lot I was using with Netflix. When it comes down to it, Amazon Prime Instant works just as well. In fact, they seem to have the same contracts so it was really kind of useless to be paying for both (to be fair, I have Prime for the free 2-day shipping (regardless of order price point) and not for the Prime Instant, that came a year or so after I started with paying for Prime). The only real plus to Netflix over Amazon Prime Instant is the "next episode" auto play (or option) on Netflix. Amazon Prime doesn't have it (makes sense since some things you might have to pay for), but I wish they could figure out a way to make it do that. I strongly dislike having to exit out of my full screen, find the next episode, hit play, and then go back to full screen. I know...what an absolutely harsh life I live (aka #firstworldproblems - yes, for not Tweeting, I do know some of the common hashtags thanks to the FB/Twitter integration...), but...come on!
At any rate, I'm really interested to see how Redbox does their streaming service. Their service has been "coming soon" for a few months now and I'm really interested to see how it's different than Netflix. It's fairly cheap (cheaper than Netflix at $8/month for unlimited streaming and 4 DVDs out per month) and if it carries the NEW DVDs on streaming, it will be well worth the money.
Let's do some math:
1 DVD = $1.30 (tax included)
$8 subscription / $1.30 movie = ~ 6.15 movies/month
6.15 movies * 12 months = 73.8 movies/year
Let's round up to 74 movies. I watched 101 movies last year and 16 of them were in theaters (I rewatched 2 of them in theater too, but that's not in my count). That's 85 movies I did not watch in theater and all of them but one (to my recollection) I rented from Redbox. That's 84 movies! And also $109.20 for the year (really not a large number for watching 84 movies...). So, I basically get to watch 10 movies for free or save $13.20. Not a large sum, admittedly, but let's factor in my potential wait times (I still haven't been able to track Frankenweenie down) and also sometimes out-of-the-way driving to return a Redbox (why isn't there one at the Monterey mall or anywhere near the mall?!). Not to mention I lost out on a $1.30 once because I reserved a movie ahead of time, but when I got there, the machine was broken (last time I've reserved a DVD...). So, based on time and convenience, it's worth the money. The fact I actually do save money (if I watch at least 75 movies), it's like icing on a cake. With that said, it'll mostly be worth it for me if it carries the new movies. If I have to wait weeks after a new movie comes out, I might make do, but since I'm currently caught up, I'm going to have an awkward lull; however, I could go check out a physical DVD too, but it also sort of loses its appeal for me. So, anyway, it'll be interesting. If it carries the new stuff, it'll be ahead of Netflix and Amazon Instant (no clue with iTunes). If it doesn't, what's the point? I will say that Netflix is relying more on its TV show availability than its movies, so, we'll see!
I was going to have a few musings, but my Redbox sort of turned into a musing. My main thing was going to talk about life and death. A morbid musing for sure, but it's been a rough first part of the year for me with a family death, my housemate's grandfather's death, and I found out today a regular customer I like (and hadn't seen in months) was diagnosed with cancer in October and given a year to live (reason I haven't seen him in months). Not to mention pet deaths (two, so far) and they were dearly loved. Partially from all of this, I was talking to my housemate (and co-worker) and we got into a discussion about if there was a way to stop our cells from aging or to continue to reproduce, would we do it? We discussed it in a hypothetical term of taking a pill and we threw in the whole you can stop taking the pill if you wish to "die." That brings up other thoughts about assisted suicide (or suicides in general), but it was an interesting discussion about whether 1) Would people want to take "the pill"; 2) How would the world/class system be affected; and 3) If whether people would stop wanting to take "the pill." I actually associated this all with the movie In Time with Justin Timerblake and Amanda Seyfried. My co-worker has seen it and it almost perfectly illustrates how I feel it would end up. In that world, time is currency and when you run out, you're dead. I don't think time would end up being the currency since our lives can't be tied like that, but it's pretty similar. If you stop taking the pill, you'd die. If you run out of money, no more pill, no more life.
At any rate, I'm really interested to see how Redbox does their streaming service. Their service has been "coming soon" for a few months now and I'm really interested to see how it's different than Netflix. It's fairly cheap (cheaper than Netflix at $8/month for unlimited streaming and 4 DVDs out per month) and if it carries the NEW DVDs on streaming, it will be well worth the money.
Let's do some math:
1 DVD = $1.30 (tax included)
$8 subscription / $1.30 movie = ~ 6.15 movies/month
6.15 movies * 12 months = 73.8 movies/year
Let's round up to 74 movies. I watched 101 movies last year and 16 of them were in theaters (I rewatched 2 of them in theater too, but that's not in my count). That's 85 movies I did not watch in theater and all of them but one (to my recollection) I rented from Redbox. That's 84 movies! And also $109.20 for the year (really not a large number for watching 84 movies...). So, I basically get to watch 10 movies for free or save $13.20. Not a large sum, admittedly, but let's factor in my potential wait times (I still haven't been able to track Frankenweenie down) and also sometimes out-of-the-way driving to return a Redbox (why isn't there one at the Monterey mall or anywhere near the mall?!). Not to mention I lost out on a $1.30 once because I reserved a movie ahead of time, but when I got there, the machine was broken (last time I've reserved a DVD...). So, based on time and convenience, it's worth the money. The fact I actually do save money (if I watch at least 75 movies), it's like icing on a cake. With that said, it'll mostly be worth it for me if it carries the new movies. If I have to wait weeks after a new movie comes out, I might make do, but since I'm currently caught up, I'm going to have an awkward lull; however, I could go check out a physical DVD too, but it also sort of loses its appeal for me. So, anyway, it'll be interesting. If it carries the new stuff, it'll be ahead of Netflix and Amazon Instant (no clue with iTunes). If it doesn't, what's the point? I will say that Netflix is relying more on its TV show availability than its movies, so, we'll see!
I was going to have a few musings, but my Redbox sort of turned into a musing. My main thing was going to talk about life and death. A morbid musing for sure, but it's been a rough first part of the year for me with a family death, my housemate's grandfather's death, and I found out today a regular customer I like (and hadn't seen in months) was diagnosed with cancer in October and given a year to live (reason I haven't seen him in months). Not to mention pet deaths (two, so far) and they were dearly loved. Partially from all of this, I was talking to my housemate (and co-worker) and we got into a discussion about if there was a way to stop our cells from aging or to continue to reproduce, would we do it? We discussed it in a hypothetical term of taking a pill and we threw in the whole you can stop taking the pill if you wish to "die." That brings up other thoughts about assisted suicide (or suicides in general), but it was an interesting discussion about whether 1) Would people want to take "the pill"; 2) How would the world/class system be affected; and 3) If whether people would stop wanting to take "the pill." I actually associated this all with the movie In Time with Justin Timerblake and Amanda Seyfried. My co-worker has seen it and it almost perfectly illustrates how I feel it would end up. In that world, time is currency and when you run out, you're dead. I don't think time would end up being the currency since our lives can't be tied like that, but it's pretty similar. If you stop taking the pill, you'd die. If you run out of money, no more pill, no more life.
Thursday, January 17, 2013
Welcome to the New Year! ...2.5 weeks late...
2.5 weeks in and my first real post...Not to say that life has been really crazy, but I have been in bookland a LOT. I've already read 4 books? Not small books either. So, mostly it's been me reading with the occasional movie (not watching a ton of TV either). I also have, weirdly, been really rundown by the end of my work week and sleeping 13 hours...I did it yesterday (Wed) and the previous Wed (they are my Fridays). I get home, fall asleep for about 4 hours, wake up at midnight, get ready for bed, awake for an hour, and pass out again till either 9:30 or 10:30. I haven't remembered sleeping like that in a LONG time. Then again, I'm fine all week (no naps or anything) and then come my Friday, I'm just super tired. I feel pretty good after the sleep marathon too. Who knows.
Work has been okay. Not much new or different. I'm taking a 4-day weekend at the end of February and think I'll do another one the end of May. Pretty much trying to get my licks in before our manager goes on, basically, paternity leave for about 3-4 weeks. We'll be a keyholder down so I likely won't be enjoying my extra days off for the 4th of July since he'll be gone by then! :) I still have only used 10 hours of paid-time-off in the year I've been there. I STILL won't be using any PTO for my 4 -days (holiday, normal weekend, and safety day (accumulation of perk hours we get)), but whatever. Maybe after he comes back I'll take a full week as my compensation for managing while he was gone!
Been slowing down my nail polish too. I think Christmas wore me out...It wore me out LAST year too. At any rate, I'm going at a rate of about every 5-7 days. For Christmas, I was averaging every 2-3 days (3 manis a week). Mostly it's around 5 days now. Nothing fancy lately either. This weekend I think I will, though, because a co-worker requested fancy tips. My nails are long and I want to trim them down, but I think I'll do the fancy tips first. I haven't done anything with tips lately.
At any rate, not much in regards to life or work or anything else. Everything is about same ol', same ol'. I am working on my most recent Aquarium peer review comments. We're thinking it'll be the last one and they'll close the peer review portion. I did, randomly and weirdly, get bit by something ALL along my back. I have 12 bites. It must have been in my shirt or something. It was a shirt I hadn't worn in a while, but still. It's mainly in two areas (opposite sides too). Who knows. It's weird and also annoying because (I swear) 10/12 bites all itch like crazy!
With that, I have managed a fair amount of movies. In 17 days, I've managed to watch 7 movies. Three of them I watched today (To Rome with Love, Gangster Squad, and Beasts of the Southern Wild). I'll comment on the Oscar nomations a bit at the end too.
Django Unchained (Jamie Foxx, Christopher Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio) - First movie of the year! Didn't think I was going to end up watching it in theater, but I ended up doing it for various reasons. At any rate, I liked it, but it is rather bloody. I liked the music in the movie too. I'm not surprised it got an Oscar nod (it's Tarantino, of course it would have) and I'm glad Waltz got a supporting actor nod. Waltz was really good. In fact, not to say Foxx was bad, but Waltz and DiCaprio were superb and stole the movie for me. DiCaprio was SO good, I actually got distracted during the movie thinking, "Goodness DiCaprio is a good actor." I suppose that's a little ironic since if he was so good I shouldn't have been distracted by his acting, but he was so good I was distracted, but whatever. DiCaprio was really good. Waltz was absolutely excellent too. The movie, I will say, didn't play out the way I thought it would. I thought the saving-Django's-woman plot was going to be a subplot or towards the end, but it actually is the MAIN plot of the movie. Their bounty hunting is maybe the first half hour. The movie was also pretty funny (not unexpected). So, I enjoyed it. I'm rather hesitant to recommend it to people who I'm not sure of their movie tastes because it is a little on the bloody-R-rated side of films, but if you don't mind the blood, some word usages, and like Tarantino films, I'd say go for it. Grade: B (perhaps a B+ because I really liked DiCaprio and Waltz)
Ted (Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis) - I heard this was funny by multiple people and multiple people told me I should watch it. Maybe my expectations were too high or I just really don't prefer stupid-humor movies (this falls into the category), but I didn't find it as fantastic as people led me to believe. Sure, it was funny, but I didn't think it was *that* funny. The thunder/lightning song was kind of funny (though, I could have lived without its ending). It's a cute film in its own way and it was funny, but it wasn't as good as I was led to believe. It's definitely for older audiences. Grade: C
Ice Age: Continental Drift - The 4th movie in the Ice Age saga and I enjoyed it. This one is a lot about family and being there for each other. It's pretty much your typical Ice Age film and I can't say it's worse or better than the others. Then again, it's been a while since I watched the others too. Did you know it's been 10 years (in 2012, that is) when the first one came out? Since I've only watched the subsequent sequels only once each, I can only compare to the first and the first is still the best. With that said, the first is more about friends becoming family and sticking together. This one is really about family and all that comes with family. It even has Syd's crazy grandmother! Grade: B
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry) - I can see why people liked it. Wallis does an amazing acting job for being so young. She's the youngest actress to have been nominated for the leading actress award (at age 9) and she's really good (REALLY good). The story is touching too. I don't quite get the whole point other than the fact Wallis's and Henry's characters reconnect at the end, but it is an interesting story about the folks of Bathtub and how they survive the storm that, basically, wipes out their town. I can also see why people may not like it, but I like it's fantastical drama and it's good acting. Don't think I'd watch it again, but I'm glad I watched it. Grade: B
Gangster Squad (Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, etc) - The first 2013 released film! Not the best film, but it was good. Set in the late 40's, there is a lot of gun shooting, but I liked the acting. It was a good action/mob film. I am definitely enjoying Gosling as an actor. I thought I was getting a little tired of him (don't ask me why) after the Gosling-streak (Drive, Ides of March, and Crazy, Stupid, Love), but watching Gangaster Squad made me like him again. He's a good actor. I also liked the Emma Stone/Gosling duo too (I liked them in Crazy, Stupid, Love too). At any rate, I liked the film for its action and the acting was decent. Brolin DEFINITELY is your spittin' image of a decent, loyal, honest cop in the late 40's, whereas Penn definitely made a good mobster. Funny how some people just have those looks. Fluff, but good fluff. Grade: B (maybe B-)
To Rome with Love (Woody Allen, Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, etc) - I am totally baffled by this movie. What did I watch? Things started going haywire in the middle and, at the end, everything went back to the way it was before? Except, no one is the same. My MAJOR complaint about the movie is 3 people end up cheating on their significant others. One pair are a recently married couple and they both cheat and then one guy cheats on his girlfriend with her best friend. Everyone goes back to their significant others and everyone's lives go back to the way they were at the beginning of the film (just changed), but...still! Baldwin's character with Eisenberg's was also kind of confusing and one of the other characters suddenly gets famous for no good reason and Allen's character convinces the father of his daughter's fiance to sing opera, except he can only sing spectacularly in the shower so they drag him around stag in a shower stall. It was a bizarre film, but I liked some of the stories and I liked some of the actors. It's a Woody Allen film, but I far more enjoyed Midnight in Paris. Grade: C-
Bourne Legacy (Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton) - What did I watch? I get the point to intersperse the previous Bourne movies (the Matt Damon ones) throughout this one to connect it and explain why they were killing all the operatives, but, at the same time, it was rather unnecessary. To top it off, this movie was waaaaay out there in comparison to the others. This one is all about Renner's character trying to get hold of the "blue pill." The operatives were taking two pills: green and blue. The green were for the physical adaptations they had done to them. The blue was for the mental. He didn't need the green anymore since they injected him with some virus or something that kept his physical peak up, but the blue was needed for his mental state. The operation was closed down, so he hooked up with one of the scientists to get to an Asian country (I forget where now) to get him injected with the virus (or whatever) for the blue to be permanent. Yeah, that was the ENTIRE story. I like Renner and Weisz was good, but it was a dud of a movie, more-or-less. It wasn't anywhere near the standards of the previous Bourne movies. I wouldn't have minded the spin-off if it had either more of a point or was to the standard of the previous one. Chris and I did have a short debate about whether Damon's or Renner's character would win, though. Jury is still out on that one. Grade: C
Oscar nomations! Wasn't too surprised. They were pretty accurately predicted. I do think it was interesting that they did obtain 9 movies (the most) for this year. Some of the stuff I was reading was thinking it was possible with movies all over the map this year that there weren't going to be enough votes to reach 9, but apparently there was.
Best Picture: I haven't heard of Amour (I think...), but the rest I want to see. If you take out Amour, I've seen half (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérsables, and Silver Linings Playbook). I want to see Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, and Zero Dark Thirty. Critics are guessing it's probably Lincoln's to lose. My personal opinion? I'd like Silver Linings Playbook to win. I liked Les Mis an awful lot and it'd be great if it won too, but I think Silver Linings Playbook sort of had it all and has a better shot.
Plus, interestingly enough, Silver Linings Playbook has a nominee in all 4 actor/actress categories, writing for an adaptation, and director. Lincoln misses all actor/actress with a miss in best lead actress. Lincoln does have the most nominations of all, though.
I am a little sad Skyfall didn't make Best Picture. I know it's a Bond film and no Bond film has ever been nominated, but Django Unchained was nominated and, frankly, the acting was just as good and it's just as much of an action film. In some ways, I find it more appealing than Django, but that is personal preference.
Not surprised about the animated films. Not sure of The Pirates! Band of Misfits (never heard of it, but there seems to always be one every year). I will have watched 3/5 by Oscar time. I won't get Wreck-it Ralph in time. My prediction is Wreck-it Ralph will win. Funny too how, basically, Disney has 3 of the 5 nominations. Okay, so Pixar did Brave, but since they're now owned by Disney and Frankenweenie is released by Disney and so is Wreck-it Ralph, Disney really is maintaining its high on animation rights! Poor DreamWorks needs to get its act together for 2013 (How to Train Your Dragon 2 comes out in 2014...).
I like looking at the music scores, but since I've only see 1 of the films nominated, it's hard to compare. Some big names, though: Desplat, Williams, and Newman. I might have to check them out and see if I can figure out who might win. Original Song I've less of an opinion about than the scores. I liked Skyfall by Adele, but I'd be surprised if it won. I can't remember the rest off the top of my head and I've heard 3/5 of them.
Costume design made me chuckle that Mirror Mirror was nominated against Anna Karenina, Les Mis, Lincoln, and Snow White and the Huntsman. It was a total "what?" nomination, in my opinion. Goodness. Snow White and the Huntsman I can see because Theron's costumes were rather elaborate. I'm betting Anna Karenina wins.
With that, I don't really have much else to comment on. I'll do what I normally do...Don't watch it, read who wins on-line (probably some blogger updating during real time), and look at all the red carpet photos with details on-line. It's what I do every year and it works for me! Speaking of red carpet photos, I never did finish the Golden Globes...Must get back to that! :)
With that...Back to reading and editing!
Work has been okay. Not much new or different. I'm taking a 4-day weekend at the end of February and think I'll do another one the end of May. Pretty much trying to get my licks in before our manager goes on, basically, paternity leave for about 3-4 weeks. We'll be a keyholder down so I likely won't be enjoying my extra days off for the 4th of July since he'll be gone by then! :) I still have only used 10 hours of paid-time-off in the year I've been there. I STILL won't be using any PTO for my 4 -days (holiday, normal weekend, and safety day (accumulation of perk hours we get)), but whatever. Maybe after he comes back I'll take a full week as my compensation for managing while he was gone!
Been slowing down my nail polish too. I think Christmas wore me out...It wore me out LAST year too. At any rate, I'm going at a rate of about every 5-7 days. For Christmas, I was averaging every 2-3 days (3 manis a week). Mostly it's around 5 days now. Nothing fancy lately either. This weekend I think I will, though, because a co-worker requested fancy tips. My nails are long and I want to trim them down, but I think I'll do the fancy tips first. I haven't done anything with tips lately.
At any rate, not much in regards to life or work or anything else. Everything is about same ol', same ol'. I am working on my most recent Aquarium peer review comments. We're thinking it'll be the last one and they'll close the peer review portion. I did, randomly and weirdly, get bit by something ALL along my back. I have 12 bites. It must have been in my shirt or something. It was a shirt I hadn't worn in a while, but still. It's mainly in two areas (opposite sides too). Who knows. It's weird and also annoying because (I swear) 10/12 bites all itch like crazy!
With that, I have managed a fair amount of movies. In 17 days, I've managed to watch 7 movies. Three of them I watched today (To Rome with Love, Gangster Squad, and Beasts of the Southern Wild). I'll comment on the Oscar nomations a bit at the end too.
Django Unchained (Jamie Foxx, Christopher Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio) - First movie of the year! Didn't think I was going to end up watching it in theater, but I ended up doing it for various reasons. At any rate, I liked it, but it is rather bloody. I liked the music in the movie too. I'm not surprised it got an Oscar nod (it's Tarantino, of course it would have) and I'm glad Waltz got a supporting actor nod. Waltz was really good. In fact, not to say Foxx was bad, but Waltz and DiCaprio were superb and stole the movie for me. DiCaprio was SO good, I actually got distracted during the movie thinking, "Goodness DiCaprio is a good actor." I suppose that's a little ironic since if he was so good I shouldn't have been distracted by his acting, but he was so good I was distracted, but whatever. DiCaprio was really good. Waltz was absolutely excellent too. The movie, I will say, didn't play out the way I thought it would. I thought the saving-Django's-woman plot was going to be a subplot or towards the end, but it actually is the MAIN plot of the movie. Their bounty hunting is maybe the first half hour. The movie was also pretty funny (not unexpected). So, I enjoyed it. I'm rather hesitant to recommend it to people who I'm not sure of their movie tastes because it is a little on the bloody-R-rated side of films, but if you don't mind the blood, some word usages, and like Tarantino films, I'd say go for it. Grade: B (perhaps a B+ because I really liked DiCaprio and Waltz)
Ted (Mark Wahlberg, Mila Kunis) - I heard this was funny by multiple people and multiple people told me I should watch it. Maybe my expectations were too high or I just really don't prefer stupid-humor movies (this falls into the category), but I didn't find it as fantastic as people led me to believe. Sure, it was funny, but I didn't think it was *that* funny. The thunder/lightning song was kind of funny (though, I could have lived without its ending). It's a cute film in its own way and it was funny, but it wasn't as good as I was led to believe. It's definitely for older audiences. Grade: C
Ice Age: Continental Drift - The 4th movie in the Ice Age saga and I enjoyed it. This one is a lot about family and being there for each other. It's pretty much your typical Ice Age film and I can't say it's worse or better than the others. Then again, it's been a while since I watched the others too. Did you know it's been 10 years (in 2012, that is) when the first one came out? Since I've only watched the subsequent sequels only once each, I can only compare to the first and the first is still the best. With that said, the first is more about friends becoming family and sticking together. This one is really about family and all that comes with family. It even has Syd's crazy grandmother! Grade: B
Beasts of the Southern Wild (Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry) - I can see why people liked it. Wallis does an amazing acting job for being so young. She's the youngest actress to have been nominated for the leading actress award (at age 9) and she's really good (REALLY good). The story is touching too. I don't quite get the whole point other than the fact Wallis's and Henry's characters reconnect at the end, but it is an interesting story about the folks of Bathtub and how they survive the storm that, basically, wipes out their town. I can also see why people may not like it, but I like it's fantastical drama and it's good acting. Don't think I'd watch it again, but I'm glad I watched it. Grade: B
Gangster Squad (Ryan Gosling, Sean Penn, Emma Stone, Josh Brolin, etc) - The first 2013 released film! Not the best film, but it was good. Set in the late 40's, there is a lot of gun shooting, but I liked the acting. It was a good action/mob film. I am definitely enjoying Gosling as an actor. I thought I was getting a little tired of him (don't ask me why) after the Gosling-streak (Drive, Ides of March, and Crazy, Stupid, Love), but watching Gangaster Squad made me like him again. He's a good actor. I also liked the Emma Stone/Gosling duo too (I liked them in Crazy, Stupid, Love too). At any rate, I liked the film for its action and the acting was decent. Brolin DEFINITELY is your spittin' image of a decent, loyal, honest cop in the late 40's, whereas Penn definitely made a good mobster. Funny how some people just have those looks. Fluff, but good fluff. Grade: B (maybe B-)
To Rome with Love (Woody Allen, Penelope Cruz, Alec Baldwin, Jesse Eisenberg, etc) - I am totally baffled by this movie. What did I watch? Things started going haywire in the middle and, at the end, everything went back to the way it was before? Except, no one is the same. My MAJOR complaint about the movie is 3 people end up cheating on their significant others. One pair are a recently married couple and they both cheat and then one guy cheats on his girlfriend with her best friend. Everyone goes back to their significant others and everyone's lives go back to the way they were at the beginning of the film (just changed), but...still! Baldwin's character with Eisenberg's was also kind of confusing and one of the other characters suddenly gets famous for no good reason and Allen's character convinces the father of his daughter's fiance to sing opera, except he can only sing spectacularly in the shower so they drag him around stag in a shower stall. It was a bizarre film, but I liked some of the stories and I liked some of the actors. It's a Woody Allen film, but I far more enjoyed Midnight in Paris. Grade: C-
Bourne Legacy (Jeremy Renner, Rachel Weisz, Edward Norton) - What did I watch? I get the point to intersperse the previous Bourne movies (the Matt Damon ones) throughout this one to connect it and explain why they were killing all the operatives, but, at the same time, it was rather unnecessary. To top it off, this movie was waaaaay out there in comparison to the others. This one is all about Renner's character trying to get hold of the "blue pill." The operatives were taking two pills: green and blue. The green were for the physical adaptations they had done to them. The blue was for the mental. He didn't need the green anymore since they injected him with some virus or something that kept his physical peak up, but the blue was needed for his mental state. The operation was closed down, so he hooked up with one of the scientists to get to an Asian country (I forget where now) to get him injected with the virus (or whatever) for the blue to be permanent. Yeah, that was the ENTIRE story. I like Renner and Weisz was good, but it was a dud of a movie, more-or-less. It wasn't anywhere near the standards of the previous Bourne movies. I wouldn't have minded the spin-off if it had either more of a point or was to the standard of the previous one. Chris and I did have a short debate about whether Damon's or Renner's character would win, though. Jury is still out on that one. Grade: C
Oscar nomations! Wasn't too surprised. They were pretty accurately predicted. I do think it was interesting that they did obtain 9 movies (the most) for this year. Some of the stuff I was reading was thinking it was possible with movies all over the map this year that there weren't going to be enough votes to reach 9, but apparently there was.
Best Picture: I haven't heard of Amour (I think...), but the rest I want to see. If you take out Amour, I've seen half (Beasts of the Southern Wild, Django Unchained, Les Misérsables, and Silver Linings Playbook). I want to see Argo, Life of Pi, Lincoln, and Zero Dark Thirty. Critics are guessing it's probably Lincoln's to lose. My personal opinion? I'd like Silver Linings Playbook to win. I liked Les Mis an awful lot and it'd be great if it won too, but I think Silver Linings Playbook sort of had it all and has a better shot.
Plus, interestingly enough, Silver Linings Playbook has a nominee in all 4 actor/actress categories, writing for an adaptation, and director. Lincoln misses all actor/actress with a miss in best lead actress. Lincoln does have the most nominations of all, though.
I am a little sad Skyfall didn't make Best Picture. I know it's a Bond film and no Bond film has ever been nominated, but Django Unchained was nominated and, frankly, the acting was just as good and it's just as much of an action film. In some ways, I find it more appealing than Django, but that is personal preference.
Not surprised about the animated films. Not sure of The Pirates! Band of Misfits (never heard of it, but there seems to always be one every year). I will have watched 3/5 by Oscar time. I won't get Wreck-it Ralph in time. My prediction is Wreck-it Ralph will win. Funny too how, basically, Disney has 3 of the 5 nominations. Okay, so Pixar did Brave, but since they're now owned by Disney and Frankenweenie is released by Disney and so is Wreck-it Ralph, Disney really is maintaining its high on animation rights! Poor DreamWorks needs to get its act together for 2013 (How to Train Your Dragon 2 comes out in 2014...).
I like looking at the music scores, but since I've only see 1 of the films nominated, it's hard to compare. Some big names, though: Desplat, Williams, and Newman. I might have to check them out and see if I can figure out who might win. Original Song I've less of an opinion about than the scores. I liked Skyfall by Adele, but I'd be surprised if it won. I can't remember the rest off the top of my head and I've heard 3/5 of them.
Costume design made me chuckle that Mirror Mirror was nominated against Anna Karenina, Les Mis, Lincoln, and Snow White and the Huntsman. It was a total "what?" nomination, in my opinion. Goodness. Snow White and the Huntsman I can see because Theron's costumes were rather elaborate. I'm betting Anna Karenina wins.
With that, I don't really have much else to comment on. I'll do what I normally do...Don't watch it, read who wins on-line (probably some blogger updating during real time), and look at all the red carpet photos with details on-line. It's what I do every year and it works for me! Speaking of red carpet photos, I never did finish the Golden Globes...Must get back to that! :)
With that...Back to reading and editing!
Friday, January 4, 2013
2012 Movie Recap
Seems to be a record breaking year for me. I read over 50 new books (I reread a bit more than a dozen books in addition to the new ones) and I was only trying for 24 (2 a month) and I watched over 70 movies this year. The movies are really impressive since I made it to 101! Next year's goal will have to be 100, but my low goal will be 80. I won't watch something I don't have any desire to watch.
At any rate, of the 101 movies I watched, 39 were movies from last year or earlier (so about 61% was from this year). I will say that I've watched so many movies this year that it's hard to remember those movies even came out this year! Funny how quickly the year flies by and, at the same time, January 1st felt like ages ago.
Here's my 2011 recap to compare. I did much better this year than last year's for my 2011's to see on DVD and I did okay on my 2012's to watch.
I didn't watch from 2011 (out of 19):
With that said...On to favorites of 2012 movies (will not include movies that came out in 2011 or earlier)!
Favorites of the year (no particular order):
At any rate, of the 101 movies I watched, 39 were movies from last year or earlier (so about 61% was from this year). I will say that I've watched so many movies this year that it's hard to remember those movies even came out this year! Funny how quickly the year flies by and, at the same time, January 1st felt like ages ago.
Here's my 2011 recap to compare. I did much better this year than last year's for my 2011's to see on DVD and I did okay on my 2012's to watch.
I didn't watch from 2011 (out of 19):
- Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
- The Beginners (technically, that's a 2010 movie, but it's on my 2011 list)
Have to say, 2/19 is really good. I didn't even realize The Beginners technically came out in 2010 till I tried finding it to watch earlier in the year. Oops. I still haven't watched it, for whatever reason. Girl with the Dragon Tattoo just didn't appeal to me in the end. I saw the Swedish ones and I wanted to watch this one to compare, but realized I really didn't need to watch it.
Ones I didn't watch from 2012 (out of 20):
- GI Joe: Retaliation
- Ice Age: Continental Drift
- The Bourne Legacy
- Rise of the Guardians
- Life of Pi
- The Great Gatsby
With that said...On to favorites of 2012 movies (will not include movies that came out in 2011 or earlier)!
Favorites of the year (no particular order):
- The Avengers
- The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey
- Skyfall
- Dark Knight Rises
- Hunger Games
- Les Miserables
Definitely a short list of favorites this year...Kind of a dud of a year for me. Not to say there weren't good movies, but they weren't "favorites." I will say there were a lot of the indies I enjoyed that I probably wouldn't see again, but I did highly enjoy them (e.g., Moonrise Kingdom).
Must see movie of the year: Avengers, Hobbit, Les Miserables (all tie!)
Runner-ups: Those three pretty much sum it up for me
Favorite stupid comedy: 21 Jump Street
Runner-up: N/A
Romantic/Romantic Comedy: Silver Linings Playbook (not your typical rom-com, but I'm putting it here)
Runner-ups: Moonrise Kingdom (more drama than comedy), What to Expect When You're Expecting (more comedy than rom), and This Means War (your typical rom-com)
Horror: Does Dark Shadows count? It was the only thing remotely close that I watched.
Family film (non-animated): The Hobbit (I'm counting it as family!)
Runner-up: N/A
Family film (animated): Brave
Runner-up: Lorax
Action-Adventure: Skyfall
Runner-up: Looper
Sci-Fi/Fantasy/Comic: Hobbit (actually surpassed Avengers)
Runner-ups: Avengers, Dark Knight Rises, Hunger Games
Drama: Les Miserables
Runner-ups: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel and Flowers of War
Worst of the year: By far, Wanderlust still beats everyone out! That movie leaves images in your head you wish you never saw! L!fe Happens, 5-Year Engagement, and Lawless would be the ones that follow (least to greatest).
That was actually hard to compile. I feel like there were a lot of "notable" movies, but not a lot of stand outs.
2012 Movies to See on DVD in 2013 (no order):
- Ice Age: Continental Drift
- The Bourne Legacy
- Rise of the Guardians
- Life of Pi
- Wreck-It Ralph
- Lincoln
- Argo
- Flight
- The Impossible
- Anna Karenina
- The Perks of Being a Wallflower
- Frankenweenie
- Zero Dark Thirty (it hits theaters in a week, but came out in 2012)
- Promised Land
- Django
2013 Movies I Want to (Most Likely) See (release date order):
- Hansel and Gretal: Witch Hunters (1/25)
- A Good Day to Die Hard (2/14)
- Jack and the Giant Slayer (3/1)
- Oz: The Great and Powerful (3/8)
- GI Joe: Retaliation (3/29)
- The Host (3/29)
- Iron Man 3 (5/3)
- The Great Gatsby (5/10)
- Star Trek Into Darkness (5/17)
- The Hangover Part III (5/24)
- Now You See Me (6/7)
- This is the End (6/14)
- Man of Steel (6/14)
- Monsters University (6/21)
- Kick-Ass 2 (6/28)
- Despicable Me 2 (7/3)
- Lone Ranger (7/3)
- The Wolverine (7/26)
- Red 2 (8/2)
- Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters (8/16)
- Mortal Instruments (8/23)
- Thor: The Dark World (11/8)
- The Hunger Games: Catching Fire (11/22)
- The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug (12/13)
I am most excited for The Hobbit (duh!), Iron Man 3, Thor, Hunger Games, and Star Trek. I will most likely see all of those in theater. I'm also interested in Monsters University, but it may not be a theater watch, but we'll see. There's a few others I'm interested in too, but I can't remember what they are...Too many movie trailer watching. :) It looks like it'll be a better next year than this year, but we'll see. You never know!
So, next year's low goal will be 80 and high goal will be 100. I've listed 39 movies to watch next year, but we'll see.
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