Monthly Archives: December 2009

Dec 30 2009
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Movies

Best Movies I Saw in 2009.

Taking a page from Kathleen’s post in the same nature, I’m going to try to post the top ten movies I saw this year– from her list it doesn’t look like they had to come /out/ this year, but just that I saw them this year, so let’s go from 10 to 1, shall we? Also, honorable mentions for movies I have yet to see but have good hopes for: Inglorious Basterds and G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra.

  • 10. X-Men Origins: Wolverine – While I found a lot of it kind of convoluted, and it didn’t have a lot of the Deadpool I’d love to see, it was still rather entertaining with enough plot twists and actions to keep me interested. Plus, comic book nerds unite.
  • 9. Julie & Julia – I realise the movie wasn’t a major accomplishment or anything for anyone, but it was cute, and I enjoyed watching it, and Meryl Streep as Julia Child was just… amazing.
  • 8. Four Christmases – All right, I love me some Reese Witherspoon and I kind of like Vince Vaughn, so it was definitely a movie to drag me in, and it was quite entertaining and funny. Not an amazing achievement but definitely worth a watch.
  • 7. Veronika Decides to Die – While not one of the more well-known movies, or even touted this year very much, when I watched it I fell in love with Sarah Michelle Gellar all over again– she’s an amazing actress, and David Thewlis is convincing as the Doctor who hides behind his patients, but ultimately is trying to make them see. I adored it, nice look inside the mental health epidemic.
  • 6. Dragon Hunters – A really under-appreciated animated movie that has a design and style unlike you’ve seen elsewhere, the characters are compelling and the story is different enough to pull you in, but familiar enough that you feel at home with it– to be fair it smacks of World of Warcraft at times, but in a good way. Definitely worth seeing.
  • 5. Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs – I seem to watch a lot of animated films, but that’s because they’ve evolved a long way from just stupid humour, as shown best in this film where I don’t think many children would be giggling their heads off, but adults can find subtle humour in little things within. <3
  • 4. Up – Pixar usually hits them out of the park but the mix of humour in this film with the almost making me cry was just overwhelming at times. Besides, Dug was enough to make anyone love this film.
  • 3. Coraline – The adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s fantasy/”horror” title was actually rather provoking– I was actually disturbed several times in that way I /like/ to be when I’m experiencing Gaiman genius– definitely great.
  • 2. Zombieland – Mixing humour with shooting the skulls off of zombies has to be one of the most brilliant things I’ve ever seen– honestly, I wish I had thought of it, but it still stands as one of my favourite movies this year.
  • 1. Marley and Me – All right, you might be going ‘wtf?’ or at least thinking I’m a bit cracked out to have this on the top, but if you’ve ever had dogs die on you and had to take them to be put down, you know exactly why this movie affected me the most, I actually had to pause it and bury my face in my boyfriend’s lap to sob at one point. That’s a movie that evokes feelings.

Now let’s go this one better and point down the biggest let-downs of this year that I saw. Should be interesting. In reverse order again.

  • 4. I Love You, Beth Cooper – Again with the disappointment on the comedy front, even though I very much like Hayden and what she does– just felt kind of meh about the comedy aspect and the general story, it’s been done.
  • 3. Year One – Jack Black usually makes me think of Comedy, and especially when the movie is touted as a comedic endeavour, I expect there to be delivering– I was sadly disappointed when the jokes were ‘funny’, but not enough to make me actually laugh, more like “Oh, that’s kind of funny.” then I move on to the next scene– I think I laughed /once/, then it was over. Mreh.
  • 2. Watchmen – I had such hopes for this movie as well, considering the hype it got, but in the end I was underwhelmed and found the only things in it to be worth the time was the fight scene in the prison hallway, and Rorschach as a hole as a compelling character, but still not enough to save the film.
  • 1. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince – the biggest let down of all was the one I was most excited about. I cannot believe what they did to the story and how convoluted the plot got– they left out everything that made the book good and added in stuff that made the movie terrible. Elaborated on more here.

I invite you all to do the same and reflect on the movies– you might agree with me, you might not. <3 Comment with opinions, obviously.

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Dec 26 2009
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Life, Personal

Self-appointed life coach.

I haven’t blogged about myself in a while, so this should be interesting– or at least I’m hoping it will be.

So, I’m not used to having people add me on Twitter, so lately, when I’ve been using it more– they’ll add me, I’ll add them back, and everything is peachy, right? Only I’ve noticed an unnatural number of them are like giving great speeches (as twitter allows, at least, in size) every few hours about how the world is our oyster and everything happens for a reason– and keep your chin up kitten, hang in there, everything will be okay if you’re positive.

I’m wondering if I somehow give off the vibe of someone who is in desperate need of positive reinforcement, of even beyond that, just in need of some serious help from some random stranger halfway across the world to help me ‘realise my dreams’. I understand that at 26 with no job and no forseeable future in that direction it would seem as if I’m in need of someone to help start pushing me towards some kind of dream or hopeful end, but I don’t remember ever asking for any such thing.

So this leads me to ask: am I so pathetic that they can sense me from a mile away? Are they adding everyone just to see how many people will listen to their hawking of the self-actualising drivel that the self-appointed ‘life coach’ feels will make everyone’s lives better. Am I such a hopeless case that I have three or four of these people adding me a day to send weirdly capitalised messages about how I can realise my dreams, and how I’m just awesome for existing, because honestly, no one is awesome for just existing (except maybe my dad and best friend, too awesome), no one exceeds potential just by going “I’m a special snowflake, the world will see that and make me even more specialer.”

When did life become a mass of self-believing, pretentious people who think that just existing and acting like they’re special will somehow bring them good luck and many, many buckets of fortune. Did society forget the fact that everything is something you have to work for. Nothing is free, no one is free, and as sad as that is, it is the truth. Knowledge is power and deluding yourself into thinking that just because you believe it to be true, the world will bend in your favour is just something I cannot abide by.

I’m all for positive thinking to get yourself through the day, to make your life a little bit more bearable, but if all you do all day is sit on Twitter and hawk your useless words at people in hopes that they’ll respond about how much you’ve helped them, or how much you matter in the grand sense of things, then you’re just as hopeless at the rest of us– the not so self-actualised people in the world.

I still feel weird that they seem to be targeting me lately.

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Dec 24 2009
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Deaths, Famous, Life, Movies, Television

Rest in Peace, Brittany Murphy

It’s rather common knowledge as of now that on December 20, 2009, actress Brittany Murphy passed away in her West Hollywood home, and now that everyone is not having a fluffy happy blog heaven about writing about her, I think I might take a crack at it.

I’ve adored Brittany’s work since I was much younger, but really came to adore her as I grew up and found myself relating to her as a person, and her characters in their own way. I have never seen an actress who can be more diverse in a single role than most actresses can be in several different roles.

One of my favourite roles was minor on her part, when she was in Girl, Interrupted. At least, from an outside stand-point her role would seem miniscule but it is her and her alone that opens Susanna’s eyes to just what she’s getting herself into with the whole adoration of Lisa thing. Her insanity, and subsequent suicide at the teasing of Lisa, is what made Susanna realise just exactly what she was in– and I honestly could not see another person playing that role.

There is speculation that she died of overdose, and Perez Hilton is claiming that it was because of her harried lifestyle and partying, but to that I wonder when people are going to learn to respect the dead. Yes, she may have partied at points, but I have never heard massive reports of drunken driving or pill popping on behalf of the beautiful Actress, not nearly as much as you hear everyday about others in the same profession.

I never knew her, I didn’t have the pleasure, but on the day of her death a few of the people on twitter who did know her posted about how crushed they were, and how much of a wonderful person she was– and in that, I can believe, and will continue to believe. This will not be a slag piece about how she should have known better, or prepared better– no, this is merely to say one thing.

Rest in Peace, Brittany Murphy, you will be missed.

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Dec 23 2009
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Music, Pop/Dance

Rated R, Rihanna

So, for the last few weeks I’ve been listening to Rihanna‘s new album, Rated R, and hoping to think of something to write about it– it had to grow on me, for one thing. At first, I only liked a couple of songs, but now I find myself listening to the whole thing and kind of wanting to shimmey or dance to it, or at least feeling somewhat motivated by the /entire/ thing, which is a big deal. It’s not the kind of album you have life-changing revelations about or anything, but it is definitely an album worth having if you enjoy catchy music that makes your hips move.

The album has an entire different feel that you’d expect, in many ways, from Rihanna. It’s like she’s taken off the kid gloves and is coming at you as a grown-up. While they aren’t totally provocative songs, there are themes that most would consider a bit on the side of ‘edge’.

The following will be a detailed track-listing and what exactly I think of each song– as well as a link to where you can buy each song, or the entire album if you want it. :P

Rihanna– Rated R

  1. Mad House – 1:34 — The opening song, which sets the pace for the entire thing with the ‘disclaimer’ that isn’t really to be heeded.
  2. Wait Your Turn – 3:46 — Granted, not one of my favourite tracks on the album, but it still has its catchy moments, and the beat is danceable.
  3. Hard – 4:10 — as odd as it sounds, this song makes me feel like the biggest bitch in the yard and you know, wanting to dare anyone to step to me- it works so well for some RP I do. Also, mucho catchy.
  4. Stupid in Love – 4:10 — this song speaks to me crazily- it’s slower paced, much like Unfaithful, but with a different kind of feel, like she’s the one been done wrong and too ‘stupid’ to realise it but swearing up and down she isn’t that stupid. It’s great.
  5. Rockstar 101 – 3:58 — one of my favourites off of the album, even though it’s lyrics are simple and the beat isn’t all that intense- the guitar with it somehow draws it in, that and it has a general swagger feel to it.
  6. Russian Roulette – 4:47 — the first song I heard from the album and the reason I wanted to get it- it gives that feel that she’s grown up, considering she’s talking a bit about straight up murder/suicide. Regardless, /I/ think it’s a kind of nod to the risks you take with anyone, also, extremely catchy.
  7. Fire Bomb – 4:17 — I love this song, it’s such a me song with all the fiery attributes, and the fact that she’s got this whole ‘someone has to understand me, and what I’m going through’ feeling. It’s also rather catchy in the chorus, though the beat is something more mellow.
  8. Rude Boy – 3:42 — Actually one of my least favourite songs, while it can be catchy, it just doesn’t speak to me at all, but I could honestly see it being a club hit. :\
  9. Photographs – 4:46 — Even though it’s kind of a reminiscent song rather than a love song, I do absolutely think of it as a love song and enjoy it as such– will-i-am adds so much to it’s crazy. A favourite.
  10. G4L – 3:59 — Another song that kind of crept up onto me, and I’d have said I loved it before even knowing it’s name, but it reminds me of a lot of characters I’ve played over the years, and it has that ‘biggest bitch’ and swagger feel to it. Mm.
  11. Te Amo – 3:28 — Though it’s not something I’d consider a favourite song, it does have this danceableness to it, that kind of comes out as a seduction and fear more than anything else.
  12. Cold Case Love – 6:04 — Sadness personified, but also in that way that Unfaithful was, beautifully done and one that I could fall in love with over and over again.
  13. The Last Song – 4:16 — Probably the softest song on the entire album, and fitting as she ends the whole thing on a note of beauty. I do love Rihanna’s voice, especially when she’s /singing/.

download from Itunes • download from Amazon.com

While some people are going off about how Rihanna has given up on her roots and is no longer any good, I found this album to be amazing, and what some would probably consider a Senior album, when the artist comes into her own and finds her own voice, outside of exactly what everyone else want. I hope to see more songs and albums from Miss Rihanna that are this catchy and danceable.

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Dec 21 2009
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Television, True Blood

True Blood, again

Again there may be spoilers and such, read at your own risk.

So, I managed to again marathon watch True Blood and polish off Season 2 in record time (which had me up to 8 am), and actually quite enjoyed this season.

Honestly, I may have ended up liking it more than Season 1, if only because of Godric and the evolution of Eric’s character. I felt that season 1 had that intrigue, but it kind of dragged at points, like the development of characters was going too slowly to fully drag me in– I actually found myself refusing to go to sleep just to watch another episode, hence being up until 8 am one night just watching seven or eight episodes.

The fact that most of the season took place in a divided loyalty setting (with Sookie, Eric, Bill, and Jason off in Dallas, while Tara, Sam, and the rest were in Bon Temps), was actually rather intriguing to me, like somehow it added another flavour to the series to see how well these people did split up, without each other, how they managed without their polar halves. Seeing Jason develop into a somewhat competent man was quite enjoyable. :D

Though, by far, my favourite part of the season was meeting Godric, and getting delved into that relationship between he and Eric– you learn so much about Eric in that season, and even though you feel like you want to slap him around for all the trickery, you do feel for him in losing Godric, the person who brought him to his new self, and the person who was /still/ teaching him even a thousand years later– it is obvious in many ways that Eric is absolutely and truly in love with his Maker (whereas Bill and Lorena are just like “nyeh”).

I can’t wait to see what comes of the new bond between Sookie and Eric, though I also have a bit of that worry that it might end up in more relationship drama with Sookie being a kind of faux-whore. It annoys me to no end that everytime she gets mad at Bill she starts looking at other people to kiss.

And oh, OH, this is a huge spoiler for the last episode so please do not read on if you don’t want to know, but Sookie pausing and having her own stupid drama after her beloved vampire lays his heart on the line and asks her to marry him and go to Vermont to see it done, and running off to the bathroom like a squealing girl to cry and think about her other options, only to realise what we all knew all along– that Bill is the only person she should ever want to spend her life with– and coming out to find him gone because of her indecision?! If she hadn’t left to cry to herself and be a sissy, she would have been there instead of him getting ninjaed off by silver chains.

The stuff with Maryann was relatively interesting at times, though I honestly didn’t feel that part of the season was all that tasty– I had high hopes for Maryann and got a bit let down by what it turned into– she ended up annoying me to no end and I sought to just see the end of her whole plot line and move on. Also, poor Eggs.

… Regardless, having to wait until June is probably going to kill me. :|

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