I've watched exactly 100 movies in the last 365 days. What is wrong with me??
Gone With the Wind (1939)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Julie & Julia (2009)
Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope (1977)
Titanic (1997)
Ladies in Lavender (2004)
Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
Inception (2010)
Holiday (1938)
Scott Pilgrim vs. the World (2010)
All About Eve (1950)
Spanglish (2004)
Sybil (1976)
The Wizard of Oz (1939)
Some Like It Hot (1959)
Guess Who’s Coming To Dinner (1967)
Doctor Zhivago (1965)
Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
Sixteen Candles (1984)
The Seven Year Itch (1955)
Amélie (2001)
Star Wars: Episode VI – Return of the Jedi (1983)
Bringing Up Baby (1938)
Bonnie and Clyde (1967)
Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
Almost Famous (2000)
Pretty Woman (1990)
Thelma & Louise (1991)
Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999)
Confessions of a Shopaholic (2009)
The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999)
Annie Hall (1977)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones (2002)
Enchanted (2007)
La Historia Oficial (1985)
When Harry Met Sally… (1989)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
El Secreto en sus Ojos (2009)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part I (2010)
Charlie Bartlett (2007)
I Love You, Man (2009)
Memento (2000)
The Silence of the Lambs (1991)
Rain Man (1988)
Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2008)
E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982)
Pan’s Labyrinth (2006)
Office Space (1999)
The Truman Show (1998)
Vicky Cristina Barcelona (2008)
Easy A (2010)
Moulin Rouge! (2001)
My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002)
The Stepford Wives (2004)
Sleepless in Seattle (1993)
Kick-Ass (2010)
Despicable Me (2010)
V for Vendetta (2006)
Harold and Maude (1971)
Blue Valentine (2010)
Winter’s Bone (2010)
Bolt (2008)
The Hangover (2009)
Spirited Away (2001)
How to Train Your Dragon (2010)
The King’s Speech (2010)
Taxi Driver (1976)
Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
The Social Network (2010)
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005)
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958)
Tangled (2010)
Adam’s Rib (1949)
Salt (2010)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
M*A*S*H (1970)
The Book of Eli (2010)
How to Die in Oregon (2011)
Date Night (2010)
Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009)
Black Swan (2010)
X-Men: First Class (2011)
Bridesmaids (2011)
Catch Me If You Can (2002)
The Holiday (2006)
Zoolander (2001)
The African Queen (1951)
Ordinary People (1980)
Good Will Hunting (1997)
The Virgin Suicides (1999)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part II (2011)
X-Men (2000)
Love Story (1970)
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Sunset Boulevard (1950)
Midnight in Paris (2011)
X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)
Duck Soup (1933)
Sunday, July 31, 2011
Thursday, July 21, 2011
Day 02 – Your least favorite song
I try not to have least favorite songs, unless their lyrics are horrible enough to be actually painful. But I do have an irrational distaste for California Gurls by Katy Perry. I honestly don't know why. The lyrics are not necessarily worse than other Katy Perry songs, but most of her other songs are catchy and tuneful on the first few listens at least. Take Teenage Dream and Last Friday Night, for example. Perfectly decent pop songs. Even Firework had a good intro (don't get me started on the chorus though). And the songs from before she was famous! Simple, from 2005, is one of my top ten most-played songs ever (holy crap, she looks so different in that video). Something about California Gurls, though, makes me want to run away screaming or puke. From the first (maybe second) time I heard it.
I've never watched this music video before. It makes me both really hungry and rather creeped out. Also, I see absolutely no correlation between the song and the video, besides the fact that Katy Perry is a female from the state of California. And she says "popsicle" and is in a candyland. FURTHERMORE, why do they have her sing "daisy dukes, bikinis on top" whilst having a shot that shows she's obviously naked?
I've never watched this music video before. It makes me both really hungry and rather creeped out. Also, I see absolutely no correlation between the song and the video, besides the fact that Katy Perry is a female from the state of California. And she says "popsicle" and is in a candyland. FURTHERMORE, why do they have her sing "daisy dukes, bikinis on top" whilst having a shot that shows she's obviously naked?
Wednesday, July 20, 2011
Hungry for Games?
Warning: full-on rant and spoilers below.
I just reading the the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy, so I feel like I should blog about it. But I honestly cannot articulate what just happened. It was so...polarizing. Polarized? The trilogy felt like it was being pulled in too many directions, but they barely managed to sync with each other. Having the animalistic Hunger Games juxtaposed against the Capitol with all their frivolity and fancy technology seems like a good idea, but I think this story takes the dichotomy a little too far, making it seem almost implausible. It came together a lot better at the climax of Mockingbird, when the two worlds collided.
Actually, I think it was the reality TV that did me in. That's the main reason it seemed so far-fetched. The two worlds - the poor districts vs. the rich Capitol - are pretty standard, except then Collins throws in makeup artists and camera crews everywhere, filming and recording every moment of everything, and then arranging it into propaganda. That just seems out of place, but at the same time, I suppose that's what keeps this trilogy from falling into the cookie-cutter rebels-battling-oppressive-invaders storyline à la John Christopher's The Tripods trilogy (which is a good series nonetheless).
Another thing that irked me was the writing style. It is so solidly rooted in Young Adult Literature. Maybe it's because I haven't read new YA-lit in such a long time. (Haven't read much of anything in a long time, actually. With the exception of the occasional hipster novel.) Everything was spelled out (or it was, eventually), and every small remark had an explanation later on. Like the description of the Hanging Tree song! The lyrics had some promising nuance, which was promptly parsed in detail in the ensuing paragraph. Often events work out in just the right way, like how the last safe house for Katniss's group is a former stylist's pad, just when they needed to disguise themselves. Or things go wrong for a reason, like when Peeta comes back from the Capitol deranged. Not that it wasn't a surprising turn of events at the time; it's just that in retrospect, it was a very YA-lit thing to happen.
And I felt like some topics got more screen time because they were catered to the young-adult set: gory battle scenes, pretty clothes and personal stylists, Katniss's relationship with two guys who are madly in love with her (plus a random hot guy), authority figures who just don't understand her. Her relationship with her family is centered mainly on her beloved little sister and less on her mother or dead father - sheesh, who needs parents anyways?
It was so maddeningly unoriginal with the ideas - the Hunger Games as a Minotaur/"The Lottery" reference with some John Christopher thrown in. And the naming! Castor and Pollux? Mockingjay? Really? The names seem overly descriptive and unimaginative, especially the naming tributes after their district. Although that did help me keep them straight; there were quite a few of them. But even though the books borrowed so much from pre-existing ideas, they were woven together in such an unexpected way (see above re: reality TV). And the third book was rather interesting in that although Katniss fought so hard to escape the Capitol to join the rebels in District 13, the rebels turn out to be little better than the Capitol.
It also focused way too much on nit-picky details, like the names and descriptions of all the tributes, as well as their districts. The clock arena also seems like an excuse to organize the twelve ordeals in a neat and orderly fashion. (Not that it wasn't a clever new idea for the arena!) However, as an obsessive list-maker, I can relate to this and rather enjoyed it. Stand proud, fellow anal ISTJs! We welcome you into our club, Suzanne Collins. Sometimes it felt like too much unnecessary detail (to draw a parallel to Harry Potter, that's what fan sites like mugglenet.com is for; don't try to cram it into the books themselves!), but somehow it all ended up being useful. I think the problem is that she had 24 tributes each year and tried to describe most of them, as well as their districts. If she had only 10 districts, maybe it wouldn't have felt like such an overload of details. But then District 13 would be named District 11, which I suppose isn't as cool. And the Games wouldn't have lasted very long, since a large percentage have to die in the first day.
And P.S., what the heck happened to Gale?? After all his talk about duking it out with Peeta, he just disappears? That could have been significant, but since it wasn't commented upon in this write-it-all-out YA-lit book, I'm inclined to say that it wasn't. Maybe it's because he bombed her sister. Whatever, asshole. Team Peeta all the way.
Also: side note to authors, epilogues are rarely necessary *coughHarryPottercough*. The one in Mockingjay was barely passable; it ended the story very nicely, but the Suzanne Collins could have done without, and it would have been perfectly fine.
Despite all that, these books were the most gripping novels I have read in a long, long time. Even though I think it's sometimes melodramatic and unimaginative and grasping at straws. Even though it's terribly depressing and everyone dies. Even though Katniss is angsty and strident at times. I even spent my lunch break today in the car reading the last book. I think one of the reasons it was so enthralling was that Suzanne Collins created her own world with likeable characters that you could follow for two or three books, where no one was all good or all bad. (The series sounds a lot like Harry Potter in these ways. BUT THAT'S WHERE THE SIMILARITIES END.) It was also interesting to experience two iterations of the Games, to see how they were similar but so different from each other. Plus, I'm a sucker for series set in a different (but thoroughly described) world where the characters are still somewhat relatable (see: Harry Potter, The Tripods). And the books did make me think, even if a large portion of that was fixated on the YA-ness of the novels.
I know this all sounds really jumbled. I can't decide if I love or hate this series. Probably both.
Aaaand now I've officially spent an hour and a half writing this post. I should probably stop staring at screens for a while and take a shower.
I just reading the the last book of the Hunger Games trilogy, so I feel like I should blog about it. But I honestly cannot articulate what just happened. It was so...polarizing. Polarized? The trilogy felt like it was being pulled in too many directions, but they barely managed to sync with each other. Having the animalistic Hunger Games juxtaposed against the Capitol with all their frivolity and fancy technology seems like a good idea, but I think this story takes the dichotomy a little too far, making it seem almost implausible. It came together a lot better at the climax of Mockingbird, when the two worlds collided.
Actually, I think it was the reality TV that did me in. That's the main reason it seemed so far-fetched. The two worlds - the poor districts vs. the rich Capitol - are pretty standard, except then Collins throws in makeup artists and camera crews everywhere, filming and recording every moment of everything, and then arranging it into propaganda. That just seems out of place, but at the same time, I suppose that's what keeps this trilogy from falling into the cookie-cutter rebels-battling-oppressive-invaders storyline à la John Christopher's The Tripods trilogy (which is a good series nonetheless).
Another thing that irked me was the writing style. It is so solidly rooted in Young Adult Literature. Maybe it's because I haven't read new YA-lit in such a long time. (Haven't read much of anything in a long time, actually. With the exception of the occasional hipster novel.) Everything was spelled out (or it was, eventually), and every small remark had an explanation later on. Like the description of the Hanging Tree song! The lyrics had some promising nuance, which was promptly parsed in detail in the ensuing paragraph. Often events work out in just the right way, like how the last safe house for Katniss's group is a former stylist's pad, just when they needed to disguise themselves. Or things go wrong for a reason, like when Peeta comes back from the Capitol deranged. Not that it wasn't a surprising turn of events at the time; it's just that in retrospect, it was a very YA-lit thing to happen.
And I felt like some topics got more screen time because they were catered to the young-adult set: gory battle scenes, pretty clothes and personal stylists, Katniss's relationship with two guys who are madly in love with her (plus a random hot guy), authority figures who just don't understand her. Her relationship with her family is centered mainly on her beloved little sister and less on her mother or dead father - sheesh, who needs parents anyways?
It was so maddeningly unoriginal with the ideas - the Hunger Games as a Minotaur/"The Lottery" reference with some John Christopher thrown in. And the naming! Castor and Pollux? Mockingjay? Really? The names seem overly descriptive and unimaginative, especially the naming tributes after their district. Although that did help me keep them straight; there were quite a few of them. But even though the books borrowed so much from pre-existing ideas, they were woven together in such an unexpected way (see above re: reality TV). And the third book was rather interesting in that although Katniss fought so hard to escape the Capitol to join the rebels in District 13, the rebels turn out to be little better than the Capitol.
It also focused way too much on nit-picky details, like the names and descriptions of all the tributes, as well as their districts. The clock arena also seems like an excuse to organize the twelve ordeals in a neat and orderly fashion. (Not that it wasn't a clever new idea for the arena!) However, as an obsessive list-maker, I can relate to this and rather enjoyed it. Stand proud, fellow anal ISTJs! We welcome you into our club, Suzanne Collins. Sometimes it felt like too much unnecessary detail (to draw a parallel to Harry Potter, that's what fan sites like mugglenet.com is for; don't try to cram it into the books themselves!), but somehow it all ended up being useful. I think the problem is that she had 24 tributes each year and tried to describe most of them, as well as their districts. If she had only 10 districts, maybe it wouldn't have felt like such an overload of details. But then District 13 would be named District 11, which I suppose isn't as cool. And the Games wouldn't have lasted very long, since a large percentage have to die in the first day.
And P.S., what the heck happened to Gale?? After all his talk about duking it out with Peeta, he just disappears? That could have been significant, but since it wasn't commented upon in this write-it-all-out YA-lit book, I'm inclined to say that it wasn't. Maybe it's because he bombed her sister. Whatever, asshole. Team Peeta all the way.
Also: side note to authors, epilogues are rarely necessary *coughHarryPottercough*. The one in Mockingjay was barely passable; it ended the story very nicely, but the Suzanne Collins could have done without, and it would have been perfectly fine.
Despite all that, these books were the most gripping novels I have read in a long, long time. Even though I think it's sometimes melodramatic and unimaginative and grasping at straws. Even though it's terribly depressing and everyone dies. Even though Katniss is angsty and strident at times. I even spent my lunch break today in the car reading the last book. I think one of the reasons it was so enthralling was that Suzanne Collins created her own world with likeable characters that you could follow for two or three books, where no one was all good or all bad. (The series sounds a lot like Harry Potter in these ways. BUT THAT'S WHERE THE SIMILARITIES END.) It was also interesting to experience two iterations of the Games, to see how they were similar but so different from each other. Plus, I'm a sucker for series set in a different (but thoroughly described) world where the characters are still somewhat relatable (see: Harry Potter, The Tripods). And the books did make me think, even if a large portion of that was fixated on the YA-ness of the novels.
I know this all sounds really jumbled. I can't decide if I love or hate this series. Probably both.
Aaaand now I've officially spent an hour and a half writing this post. I should probably stop staring at screens for a while and take a shower.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Exciting new musiccccc
Music I'm looking forward to:
Eric Hutchinson - Moving Up, Living Down, set to release this fall. "The People I Know" is a single from the album, and I really like it. He's also one of the best live performers I've had the pleasure of seeing.
Mika - The Origin of Love, set to release in 2012 (whyyyy is it not sooner!). Quote from Wikipedia: "Mika has said in numerous interviews that he will include a number of French tracks on the album. He has also said that '(The album is) quite weird. It's a little crazy, it's like a mix of Daft Punk and Fleetwood Mac'. His new single, "Elle Me Dit," is amazing. HOOOOLY CRAP. It makes me want to dance. And I never dance. If Mika has a local show I am most definitely going.
The A Fine Frenzy album that will supposedly be released this fall. I know very little about it, but I'm sure it will be as beautiful as her past two albums.
The Coldplay album. Their music is always both widely appealing and good quality, which is difficult.
The Jason Mraz album, also set to release soon. About time, too, since WS.WD.WST. came out more than three years ago. Need some new Mraz in my life!
Speaking of musicians with really old latest albums - I just found out that Weird Al Yankovic released his newest album since Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006! It's called Alpocalypse and I can't wait to hear it.
Eric Hutchinson - Moving Up, Living Down, set to release this fall. "The People I Know" is a single from the album, and I really like it. He's also one of the best live performers I've had the pleasure of seeing.
Mika - The Origin of Love, set to release in 2012 (whyyyy is it not sooner!). Quote from Wikipedia: "Mika has said in numerous interviews that he will include a number of French tracks on the album. He has also said that '(The album is) quite weird. It's a little crazy, it's like a mix of Daft Punk and Fleetwood Mac'. His new single, "Elle Me Dit," is amazing. HOOOOLY CRAP. It makes me want to dance. And I never dance. If Mika has a local show I am most definitely going.
The A Fine Frenzy album that will supposedly be released this fall. I know very little about it, but I'm sure it will be as beautiful as her past two albums.
The Coldplay album. Their music is always both widely appealing and good quality, which is difficult.
The Jason Mraz album, also set to release soon. About time, too, since WS.WD.WST. came out more than three years ago. Need some new Mraz in my life!
Speaking of musicians with really old latest albums - I just found out that Weird Al Yankovic released his newest album since Straight Outta Lynwood in 2006! It's called Alpocalypse and I can't wait to hear it.
Friday, July 15, 2011
Concert notes
Went to a Neon Trees concert recently. It was an outdoor park concert, and I ended up perched precariously on the sloped roots of a nearby tree to get an extra 6 inches of height. Note to short people: if you forgot to wear wedges to a concert in a park, stand on or in a tree. Or wear heels if you don't mind sinking into the grass every few steps.
Anyway, here are a few things I observed from my arborous home base:
--Smoke everywhere. weed, cigarettes, pipes, you name it.
--Crowd-surfing. The population density of the mosh pit was more than enough for this.
--Obnoxious and/or drunk teens. or pre-teens. Is it an unforgivable sign of aging that I can't tell them apart anymore? and there are behaviors I can identify as what people my age did when I was younger. I do hope we weren't this annoying and excessively-decorated when we were their age; see below.
--Really tacky eye makeup
--Hair feather things
--Those circles that make your earlobe piercing like 1cm in diameter.
--Tattoos. The girl I was standing next to had a pretty cool butterfly tattoo across her foot.
--PDA (i.e. pre-teens making out) and PDAs (i.e. Blackberries)
--Hipster mullets and true mullets. Also, hipster half mohawks.
--Ray-Ban wayfarers
--Corporate hipsters. My life aspiration. Perhaps a more accurate moniker would be "yuppies"? (identifiable as wayfarers with bright button-down shirt tucked into slacks for guys, and pencil skirt with Longchamp for girls. btw, I am terrible at describing things.)
--This pair of sweet espadrilles. Snapped a picture. I will cherish it forever.
--A grey Chloe Paraty. I suspect it was a real one, but I can't be sure. Those things are dang expensive, but that girl looked like she meant business. I honestly never understood their appeal until now. It was absolutely gorgeous.
--An Asian-gangster DO doppelganger. Not kidding.
How were the Neon Trees? Pretty much phenomenal. (The crowd, as described above, was questionable. Also, there were so many people crammed in that tiny park that the organizers had to tell everyone to take a few steps four times, because the people in the front couldn't breathe.) Tyler Glenn has a unique voice and a good sense of pitch when he sings live, which I don't think is asking for much, but it's so hard to come by these days. Props, man! Plus, they opened with Your Surrender, my newest craze. I don't know why they didn't end with Animal though; it was their second-to-last song. Note to bands: if you have many relatively unknown songs with a few hits, no one will stay after they hear those particular songs. Sad, but true. People were pouring out before the show ended because they already heard all the songs they knew.
Anyway, here are a few things I observed from my arborous home base:
--Smoke everywhere. weed, cigarettes, pipes, you name it.
--Crowd-surfing. The population density of the mosh pit was more than enough for this.
--Obnoxious and/or drunk teens. or pre-teens. Is it an unforgivable sign of aging that I can't tell them apart anymore? and there are behaviors I can identify as what people my age did when I was younger. I do hope we weren't this annoying and excessively-decorated when we were their age; see below.
--Really tacky eye makeup
--Hair feather things
--Those circles that make your earlobe piercing like 1cm in diameter.
--Tattoos. The girl I was standing next to had a pretty cool butterfly tattoo across her foot.
--PDA (i.e. pre-teens making out) and PDAs (i.e. Blackberries)
--Hipster mullets and true mullets. Also, hipster half mohawks.
--Ray-Ban wayfarers
--Corporate hipsters. My life aspiration. Perhaps a more accurate moniker would be "yuppies"? (identifiable as wayfarers with bright button-down shirt tucked into slacks for guys, and pencil skirt with Longchamp for girls. btw, I am terrible at describing things.)
--This pair of sweet espadrilles. Snapped a picture. I will cherish it forever.
--A grey Chloe Paraty. I suspect it was a real one, but I can't be sure. Those things are dang expensive, but that girl looked like she meant business. I honestly never understood their appeal until now. It was absolutely gorgeous.
--An Asian-gangster DO doppelganger. Not kidding.
How were the Neon Trees? Pretty much phenomenal. (The crowd, as described above, was questionable. Also, there were so many people crammed in that tiny park that the organizers had to tell everyone to take a few steps four times, because the people in the front couldn't breathe.) Tyler Glenn has a unique voice and a good sense of pitch when he sings live, which I don't think is asking for much, but it's so hard to come by these days. Props, man! Plus, they opened with Your Surrender, my newest craze. I don't know why they didn't end with Animal though; it was their second-to-last song. Note to bands: if you have many relatively unknown songs with a few hits, no one will stay after they hear those particular songs. Sad, but true. People were pouring out before the show ended because they already heard all the songs they knew.
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