Movies of 2011

Not as many as last year ... but eh, it's not a big deal. Pretty good count overall, I'd say.

In Theaters (in the order of viewing)

1. Paul
2. Taxi Driver (re-release)
3. Source Code
4. Thor
5. X-Men: First Class (excellent ensemble superhero team/origin flick)
6. Super 8
7. Midnight In Paris (light-hearted, yet serious and very well-done)
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (excellent cinematography, but that also goes for Part 1, too)
9. Captain America (probably the best of the superhero films this year)
10. Cowboys and Aliens
11. Drive (one of the best films of the year)
12. 50/50
13. The Muppets
14. Crazy Stupid Love (theater grand re-opening; New Year's Eve (ha-ha, coincidence?) wasn't working, so we got a vote and the majority went for Crazy Stupid Love)
15. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (stellar action flick)
16. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
17. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) (intense, but very well done and up there on the Best Of The Year list)
18. The Adventures of Tintin (stunning and probably up there, too)

On DVD (in the order of viewing)

1. Amelie
2. The Social Network
3. Vertigo
4. The Apartment
5. Bellamy
6. The Kids Are All Right
7. Crumb
8. American Splendor
9. Last Night
10. Stage Beauty
11. The Godfather
12. The Godfather, Part 2
13. Children of Men
14. Fanboys
15. Bon Cop, Bad Cop
16. Bridget Jones's Diary
17. Howl
18. Pearl Jam 20
19. Nirvana: Live at the Paramont
20. Despicable Me

Not counting or tallying re-watches this year, but the few I can think of include Monsters, Inc., Up, and Little Rascals.

Books of 2011

I know that close to half of these are graphic novels, but I still count them. And I know that I didn't finish three items on the list (as indicated), but two were short story collections that didn't need to be read fully and one was a novel we were told to read up to a certain point in before skimming the rest. The three were for classes. So I read them as I needed to for the class. That's that. And I'm 6 books short of last year's tally, but ... eh. Beat the Nerdfighter Challenge (50 books in a year).

1. Just Another Judgment Day (Simon R. Green)
2. Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins)
3. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less (Sarah Glidden)
4. The Passage (Justin Cronin)
5. A Contract With God (Will Eisner)
6. Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)
7. Serenity: Those Left Behind (Joss Whedon)
8. A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller Jr.)
9. Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur (Nick Roche)
10. Doctor Who: Fugitive (Tony Lee)
11. Doctor Who: Through Time and Space (Tony Lee, et al)
12. Fun Home (Allison Bechdel)
13. The Sandman: A Game of You (Vol 5) (Neil Gaiman)
14. The Sandman: World’s End (Vol 8) (“)
15. The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
16. Children of Men (P.D. James)
17. Buddha (Vol 1) (Osamu Tezuka)
18. Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft (Vol. 1) (Joe Hill)
19. The Sandman: The Kindly Ones (Vol 9) (Neil Gaiman)
20. The Good, The Bad, and The Uncanny (Simon R. Green)
21. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Man On Earth (Chris Ware)
22. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye (Vol 1) (Frank Miller)
23. Earth Abides (George R. Stewart)
24. The Illustrated Book of Genesis (Robert Crumb)
25. In The Shadow of No Towers (Art Spiegelman)
26. The Postman (David Brin)
27. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Vol 1: My Father Bleeds History) (Art Spiegelman)
28. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Vol 2: X) (Art Spiegelman)
29. The Lover’s Dictionary (David Levithan)
30. One of Our Thursdays is Missing (Jasper Fforde)
31. Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud)
32. How to Survive in a Science Fictional World (Charles Yu)
33. A Hard Day’s Knight (Simon R. Green)
34. The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
35. The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch)
36. On a Pale Horse (Piers Anthony)
37. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
38. Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? (Vol. 1) (Brian Michael Bendis)
39. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs)
40. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
41. Pamela (Samuel Richardson) (not fully …)
42. Selected Tales (Edgar Allan Poe) (not fully …)
43. Selected Tales and Sketches (Nathaniel Hawthorne) (not fully …)
44. Batman: Year One (Frank Miller)
45. The Sorrows of Young Werther (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
46. The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
47. Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity (Hugh MacLeod)
48. Locke and Key: Head Games Vol. 2 (Joe Hill)
49. Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows Vol. 3 (Joe Hill)
50. Batman: Cacophony (Kevin Smith)
51. Batman: The Widening Gyre (Kevin Smith)
52. The Night Eternal (Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan)
53. The Old English Baron (Clara Reeve)
54. A Game of Thrones (George R.R. Martin)
55. Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life (Matt Sturgis)
56. Locke and Key: Keys to the Kingdom Vol. 4 (Joe Hill)
57. God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (Kurt Vonnegut)

Absence

Hello readers! It's ... um ... been a while?
In the time that I've not been posting here, I saw Danielle twice, got a Tumblr, worked at the local day camp that I worked at last year for the summer, and started and finished my second-to-last semester of college. I've been doing some reading and some film viewing, but not as much as I would've hoped for. Let's take a look at the Summer Goals post to evaluate.

1) Read

• This is so simple it goes without saying. I have a stack of eleven books from the library to get through, four of them being "new" books. I aim to get through all of them, including the three I have on reserve that are slowly making their way towards me. Additionally, I have a reading list (eighteen books long, including works like Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, and Sorrows of Young Werther) for two of my upcoming fall courses that I want to try to partially work my way through to get a head start on the course material. And perhaps one or two other books that I've been meaning to get to for a while. In other words, who is probably going to have close to 70 books read by the end of the year?
• Additionally, I've had a Harry Potter re-read on the horizon for a while and this seems like an appropriate summer to do so, especially because I've talked about the idea with Danielle. And the re-read won't be a part of my book count for the year. I only count new books.

I'm to 51 books for the year, namely because I wasn't quite able to keep up with some readings for classes ... like Moby Dick. But that shall be finished ... most likely over the break. Long story short, I was slowing down with the readings, taking notes in the margins ... and things kept building up a bit, but I had the class discussions and Wikipedia and Sparknotes to keep me more or less abreast of things.
The Potter re-read? Yeeeeah ... books 1 and 2 were checks ... and then we jumped ahead to book 7, but I didn't finish the re-read of that. XD

2) Watch

• Dexter: During the second spring break period my college had, I picked up season 1 of Dexter from the library, having read three of the five novels and always wanting to watch the show, but not being able to since we didn't get Showtime. I marathoned the season over a few days and immediately wanted more. I proceeded to check out seasons 2 and 4, watching the second season over the last week-ish, but waiting on season 4 until I could get my hands on season 3. After season 4, I aim to either wait until season 5 is on DVD, or I'll ask the glorious Internets for assistance.

• Doctor Who: Believe it or not, I haven't seen all of Doctor Who. ... I mean New Who. I do aim to watch what I can of it and I've said it numerous times, but I have a friend with ALL of Classic Who, so yeah ... there's that. But back to New Who. I have most of series 1 to finish watching (5 to 7 episodes) and a smidge of series 2 to finish (2 to 3 episodes). And I'm so going to. Finally.

• Movies: A bunch of classics and new films, like The Graduate, Apocalypse Now, and Transsiberian, among others. And perhaps some re-watches, too, like Dr. Strangelove, The Usual Suspects, and Fight Club.

 Okay ... well ... I got through season 3 of Dexter and I've now got seasons 4 and 5 on my external. As for Doctor Who, that's a check! But as for the re-watches and other DVD viewings ... that's a no. Well, I did see Bon Cop, Bad Cop, Bridget Jones's Diary, and Howl ... and Sorcerer's Stone, Chamber of Secrets, and one or two other movies. But as for in-theater viewings since then, there's been X-Men: First Class, Super 8, Midnight In Paris, Deathly Hallows, Part 2, Captain America, Cowboys and Aliens, Drive, 50/50, The Muppets, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol, and Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.

3) Reorganize

• Bookshelf: I seriously want more space on my bookshelf for books from college and other such things. I mean, to start, I can clean out or move my collection of Rolling Stone backissues ... and do something about all those photo albums and chachkas ...
• Wall: My wall is a jumble of postcards, ticket stubs, posters, and other miscellaneous items from the last year or two. I have a bunch more posters and things I want up there, but to do that, there needs to be some reorganization. We'll see how things fare.
• Notes: I've been wanting to do this for a while: type up my class notes. Why? So I don't have to worry about carrying around notes for a previous class in a spiral notebook. And to save paper and whatnot. Shouldn't take too long with my typing skills ... hopefully.

Well ... could've had more progress there. Got through some of the magazines. Didn't really reorganize the wall, but I moved King Tut to behind the computer desk and put Scott Pilgrim in the center over my bed. And I got a good deal of my class notes from last semester typed up.
***
Otherwise ... I went to a Maureen Johnson Q&A and saw Paul McCartney at Yankee Stadium over the summer and both were excellent! ^_^ And I caught Andrew Bird in October. Incredible! And Robbers on High Street in October, too!
A good amount of the later half of the year is documented on Dailybooth, so take a peek there. And Tumblr, too.
Back next week with the book and movie lists of the year!

Summer Goals

I feel that I haven't done one of these in a while and that I should so I have something to refer back to when I ask myself what I've actually accomplished over the summer.

1) Read

• This is so simple it goes without saying. I have a stack of eleven books from the library to get through, four of them being "new" books. I aim to get through all of them, including the three I have on reserve that are slowly making their way towards me. Additionally, I have a reading list (eighteen books long, including works like Moby Dick, Robinson Crusoe, and Sorrows of Young Werther) for two of my upcoming fall courses that I want to try to partially work my way through to get a head start on the course material. And perhaps one or two other books that I've been meaning to get to for a while. In other words, who is probably going to have close to 70 books read by the end of the year?
• Additionally, I've had a Harry Potter re-read on the horizon for a while and this seems like an appropriate summer to do so, especially because I've talked about the idea with Danielle. And the re-read won't be a part of my book count for the year. I only count new books.

2) Watch

• Dexter: During the second spring break period my college had, I picked up season 1 of Dexter from the library, having read three of the five novels and always wanting to watch the show, but not being able to since we didn't get Showtime. I marathoned the season over a few days and immediately wanted more. I proceeded to check out seasons 2 and 4, watching the second season over the last week-ish, but waiting on season 4 until I could get my hands on season 3. After season 4, I aim to either wait until season 5 is on DVD, or I'll ask the glorious Internets for assistance.
• Doctor Who: Believe it or not, I haven't seen all of Doctor Who. ... I mean New Who. I do aim to watch what I can of it and I've said it numerous times, but I have a friend with ALL of Classic Who, so yeah ... there's that. But back to New Who. I have most of series 1 to finish watching (5 to 7 episodes) and a smidge of series 2 to finish (2 to 3 episodes). And I'm so going to. Finally.
• Movies: A bunch of classics and new films, like The Graduate, Apocalypse Now, and Transsiberian, among others. And perhaps some re-watches, too, like Dr. Strangelove, The Usual Suspects, and Fight Club.

3) Reorganize

• Bookshelf: I seriously want more space on my bookshelf for books from college and other such things. I mean, to start, I can clean out or move my collection of Rolling Stone backissues ... and do something about all those photo albums and chachkas ...
• Wall: My wall is a jumble of postcards, ticket stubs, posters, and other miscellaneous items from the last year or two. I have a bunch more posters and things I want up there, but to do that, there needs to be some reorganization. We'll see how things fare.
• Notes: I've been wanting to do this for a while: type up my class notes. Why? So I don't have to worry about carrying around notes for a previous class in a spiral notebook. And to save paper and whatnot. Shouldn't take too long with my typing skills ... hopefully.

I'm sure there's more stuff to hit on, but those are the main categories I hope to work on over the summer, giving me something to do. I'll check back on these at the end of the summer.

Until next post. Allons-y, Alonso!

It's Been About a Month ...

*coughcoughcough* So ... *shuffles around and dusts off keyboard* It's been a while ... I have a few reasons ... first, being the second spring break. I didn't do much work and indulged in some pleasure reading. When I came back from break, I was playing catch-up, mostly with Earth Abides for my Apocalyptic Lit class. The book was ... okay. It was slow ... and I wasn't really liking the narration style. The main character, Ish, thought to himself most of the time, he rushes into a relationship with an African American woman after the apocalypse, no moves are really made to try and restore civilization to a pre-apocalyptic way of life ... and he overpraises his bright son who dies of typhoid fever. Okay read, a bit over-hyped by the professor.
Apart from that, I was finishing up Vlog/Video Every Day in April and doing my best to keep up with the rest of my coursework, the remainder of my internship, and other goings-on on campus. And those things have taken time away from my internet social activities, like blogging and vlogging and such. I mean, Twitter and Dailybooth are relatively easy to keep up with, but I wanted to hold off on the time-intensive activities until I had time ... and that time is nearing.
The semester is almost at an end, thankfully. I handed in a roughly 8-pager yesterday and I'm finishing off 2 4-to-5 pagers for tomorrow, followed by a final tomorrow night, followed by station business, and one on Tuesday night, followed by ice cream with friends. And packing. Lots and lots of packing. Well, maybe minus one of those "lots", thanks to the fact that my parents took back about half of my stuff when they stopped in for lunch the weekend after the second break. Most of this round of packing is sheets and mattress-related materials, so they'll take up the most space.
*cracks knuckles* Well, I'd best better be getting back to the writing ... post-food, of course. See you all in a few days ... with a few more comics, hopefully. Not too much drawing improvement, but ... meh.

Until next time! Allons-y, Alonso!

Self-Portrait (4/13/11)

Beautiful Monday (4/11/11)

Lazy Sunday (4/10/11)

Pillowman and BUMP (4/9/11)

Friday Highlights (4/8/11)

Boring Thursday (4/7/11)

Inspired by 'Emitown'

I decided to take a little leaf out of Emitown when I picked up a black flare pen and a piece of paper I had laying around. This is the result. I may continue this. I mean, I did pick up 3 80-page Moleskine journals ...

Also, I just wanted to thank everyone once again who read and commented on the last post about Neil's opinion on getting people into Doctor Who. It seriously made my Tuesday, if not my week.

On Neil and Doctor Who

I've been watching the Doctor Who panel from Wondercon this past weekend (so jealous of everyone there ... mostly 'cause Neil Gaiman and Mark Sheppard were on the panel and there were cool promotional shirts ... and the spoiler-y stuff). Neil retweeted a link to it on Twitter earlier and I've been watching on and off over the last hour or so ... when I should be doing readings and a bit of writing for tomorrow. But who cares, right? It's Doctor Who!
Anyways, about 16 and a half minutes into the video (probably 20 or so minutes into the panel), Neil said something so true about the show in regards to whether or not people have to know about the 47 years of Doctor Who mythology.

No, look, there's a blue box. It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside. It can go anywhere in time and space and sometimes even where it's meant to go. And when it turns up, there's a bloke in it called The Doctor and there will be stuff wrong and he will do his best to sort it out and he will probably succeed 'cause he's awesome. Now sit down, shut up, and watch 'Blink'.

That's all I wanted to share. :) If you wish to watch it, it's linked here.

Until next time! Allons-y, Alonso!

On Teachers, Health, Tape, and Other

Yes, I know I haven't posted in roughly three and a half weeks, but I have my reasons ... the first being midterms, followed closely by PAX East (I made a video about it), pre-Spring Break work, and lastly, Spring Break (well, one of two ... but that's a story for another time). I have a few things I feel are worthy of mentioning on this blog that have happened recently, so we'll proceed in chronological order, starting with returning to my high school alma mater.

Teachers
I returned to my old high school yesterday to see the spring musical. They had the privilege of putting on a production of The Phantom of the Opera.  The performance was excellent, despite the production being high school level. There was an actual chandelier that was "crashed", they had a boat that worked (for the most part ... I mean, it was moving thanks to the stripped down electrical wiring of a wheelchair), and the three leads sounded fantastic! I caught up a bit with two teachers during intermission and a bit after the show was over. The first was my band teacher, who I had seen here and there since graduating. He's a rather cool guy and I can't believe how old his oldest son is now. The second was my 12th grade AP English teacher.  She was overjoyed to hear I'm majoring in English and we talked about where I might go with the major for a bit. I shall have to return to visit both on my next break.

Health
I'm close to getting over whatever it is I got after PAX East and it's been almost 2 weeks since I showed symptoms and went in to Health Services. *sigh* All the doctors I've seen (three at Health Services, one pediatrician I've seen for years, and my uncle via phone) have said it's viral and I should get rest and eat healthy and gargle salt water and drink tea and such ... and I have been, but the symptoms have been going away slowly. My mom is convinced it's mono, but there's been no fever and no soreness in my abdomen ... the headache's gone, and so has most of the tenderness under my chin, along with my sore throat. *double sigh* I'm on bed/apartment rest, apart from classes and things I need to be at (my internship, my radio show, the Relay this weekend (again, depending on whether or not I'm feeling 100%, but I should be by Saturday)). But I can manage. I think I'm close to kicking whatever it is to the curb.

Tape
While waiting on an unusually long End-of-Spring-Break line (truthfully, a lot of the line was people seeing their children off) for a bus back to college, I started up a short conversation with the father of the girl ahead of me. He was talking about movies and spoilers (but not mentioning stuff like "Oh, Snape killed Dumbledore"), like Reservoir Dogs, The Sixth Sense, and The Usual Suspects. I commented on the Tarantino and Singer flicks, and he proceeded to mention Taxi Driver, which I had seen recently, so I mentioned my thoughts on it (Good 3-star film, but Bickle is hard to identify with. And also how the media can glorify those who don't fit the category of "hero".). While we were slowly filing up the line, we passed tape from a cassette strewn on the ground. We both noticed it and he commented on it to his daughter. I, meanwhile, thought of how we throw aside a trusty form of entertainment for the next hot thing on the market.

By the by, I created a side project of sorts where I post little anecdotes about the little things in life, like helping out a family member who you don't particularly get along with or being thanked by a class of 3rd or 4th graders for holding a door (speaking of those two, I should toss that post up on the site soon ...). Give it a look if you like.

Until next post! Allons-y, Alonso!

Dream Journal #7: Zooey and the Food Court

Oddly enough, I had two dreams last night that somehow flowed together ... well? Decently? I dunno, but they flowed as dreams do.

#1
I was in one of my high school science classrooms and Zooey Deschanel was at the front of the classroom, either with the teacher ... or she was the teacher. The class was working on a lab and we all asked her if she could sing for us. With some coaxing, she started singing 'Sing'. Coincidentally, 'Sing' was on my iPod queue this morning when it was trying to wake me up. Anyways, Zooey finished singing and the class dismissed. On my way out, I asked two classmates what the homework assignment was, just for clarification.

#2
I was looking at the pre-prepared sandwiches and such in the food court and I noticed that the position of the soup pots was different, two on either side of the sandwich carrel. Courtney, one of the other interns at my internship, came up and started ladling soup (chicken noodle, I believe it was) out of one of the pots. It wasn't looking like chicken soup, as there were black beans in it. It might've been mislabeled, but she was looking a little disgusted to start. I believe I went over to another soup pot and got myself some soup and went off on my merry way.

Until next dream!

Live-Blogging the 2011 Oscars

Let's get the show on the road a little early, shall we?
***
Pre-show
7:54 PM- I'm watching the ending of the Red Carpet stuff. Robert Downey Jr. and his wife are on now. They're adorable!
8:01 PM- Waitwait, half an hour until the awards start?! C'mon!
***
The show
8:30 PM- Ooooooh, awesome opening montage! And excellent song choice!
8:31 PM- Eeeeee! ^_^ I love this! Franco and Hathaway in Inception, The Social Network, The Fighter, True Grit ... MORGAN FREEMAN! :D ... The King's Speech, Black Swan ... Alec Baldwin! "Inceptioned!" ... BACKTOTHEFUTURE! :DDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD
8:37 PM- Where was the DeLoreon?! XD
8:40 PM- And we're thanking the moms ...
8:41 PM- "Where's the dad?" XD
8:42 PM- First award! Presenting: Tom Hanks! And it's for Art Direction.
8:43 PM- The girls across the hall just squeed about Titanic.
8:44 PM- Art Direction goes to Alice in Wonderland! 1 for 1
8:47 PM- Cinematography ... and it goes to Inception! Congrats to Wally! 1 for 2
8:49 PM- Commercial
8:51 PM- Kirk Douglas?! Wow ... *applause* 95 this December ... presenting for Supporting Actress, huh?
8:55 PM- Eeee! Adorable!
8:57 PM- Congrats to Marissa Leo! 1 for 3
8:59 PM- And Melissa got bleeped. XD
9:00 PM- Nearly cried, maybe?
9:01 PM- Let's see if Justin tries to hit on Mila. XD And no, Justin, you aren't Banksy. And Justin and Mila are presenting Best Animated Short.
9:02 PM- And he whips out his iPod/iPhone. XP
9:03 PM- And ... The Lost Thing. 1 for 4
9:05 PM- Best Animated Feature!
9:06 PM- TOYSTORY3! :D 2 for 5
9:08 PM- Commercial
9:12 PM- And we're back! Anne Hathaway is taking about the history of the Oscars!
9:13 PM- Oooh, Brolin and Bardem in matching suits! ^_^ And they're presenting Best Adapted Screenplay!
9:14 PM- Sorkin wins! :D 3 for 6
9:16 PM- And here goes Original Screenplay ... God, I love Javier's tone!
9:18 PM- And ... The King's Speech it is! 3 for 7
9:20 PM- And another commercial
9:23 PM- Anne Hathaway in a suit! ^_^ Song and dance number?
9:24 PM- Cut to embarrassed Hugh! XD
9:25 PM- That's ... that's ... XD And a Charlie Sheen joke!
9:26 PM- Will Russell hit on Helen? I hope not! ... Oh dear. XD
9:27 PM- In a Better World ... 3 for 8
9:29 PM- And Reese is presenting Supporting Actor!
9:32 PM- Aaand ... Christian Bale! 4 for 9
9:35 PM- Commercial time
9:39 PM- And the Oscars will still air on ABC until the world ends ... or past that. XD
9:40 PM- Ze Aussies are coming, ze Aussies are coming! XD Ze are presenting Sound Editing! And probably Sound Mixing, too. And Score, I would guess. Classic John Williams medley! :D
9:42 PM- Okay, Best Score it is.
9:43 PM- Oh, well ... I'm still very pleased that Trent and Atticus won. 4 for 10
9:45 PM- And here's ScarJo ... and Matthew who slurs a bit ... I think. XD Presenting Sound Mixing and Editing, I guess.
9:47 PM- INCEPTION! Sound Mixing! Alright! 5 for 11
9:48 PM- "Chris is the architect ..." ... Wait ... so who is in control of the dream? XD And now it's Sound Editing.
9:49 PM- And it's Inception ... 5 for 12
9:50 PM- And we're back to the commercials
9:54 PM- Tomei presenting ... the Science and Tech stuff.
9:55 PM- Here we go to Cate Blanchett, presenting for Makeup!
9:56 PM- Rick Baker wins! 5 for 13
9:58 PM- And here we go to Costume Design.
9:59 PM- Another win for Alice? XD 6 for 14
10:01 PM- Well, hello, Mister President! Nice to see you poking into the Oscars! And here's Kevin Spacey!
10:02 PM- For Best Song ... we start with Randy Newman for Toy Story 3.
10:05 PM- Mandy Moore ... and Zach Levi! :D
10:07 PM- And a commercial break partway through the Best Song part? XP
10:11 PM- Jake! Quite making James jealous! But you're presenting Best Documentary Short with Amy Adams! :)
10:13 PM- Congrats to Strangers No More. 6 for 15
10:14 PM- And to Best Live-Action Short!
10:15 PM- And I got it wrong. XP 6 for 16
10:17 PM- Remixing and Auto-tuning .. did they get the Gregory Brothers or Mike Relm for this? XD
10:19 PM- Oprah ... what're you doing presenting at the Oscars? XD But you're presenting Best Documentary.
10:21 PM- And another one for my brother XD 6 for 17
10:23 PM- And another commercial?! Geez!
10:26 PM- Oh, Billy ... you've put on some weight ...
10:29 PM- Oooooh, the first televised Oscars!
10:30 PM- Yeah ... a talking Bob Hope is a little unnerving ... but hey, it's Jude and Robert! :D I love the bromance.
10:33 PM- INCEPTION! :D YES! 7 for 18
10:34 PM- And to Film Editing we go!
10:35 PM- Congrats to The Social Network! And it's another I lost. XD 7 for 19
10:36 PM- I hope I will break into the double digits tonight. XD I won't get them all right.
10:37 PM- And another commercial XP
10:41 PM- Mkay, James, innuendos? Really? XP But at least the Songs are continuing.
10:42 PM- Florence of Florence & The Machine did the vocals for this song?! WHOA! :D
10:46 PM- Randy Newman got it? :/ Oh well ... 7 for 20
10:48 PM- And another commercial break XP
10:52 PM- And here's Celine Dion honoring the ones we've lost.
10:55 PM- And to another commercial? XD Or no! Halle Berry talking about Lena Horne ... and another commercial ... after Lena finishes singing?
11:00 PM- Well, they didn't keep the ceremony under 2 and a half hours. But here's Hillary Swank introducing Kathryn Bigelow introducing Best Directing.
11:02 PM- Whoa! That's a shock! Congrats, Tom! 7 for 21
11:05 PM- Heeeere's Annette!
11:06 PM- Oh, wonderful awards recap!
11:08 PM- And another commercial XP
11:11 PM- And we're back! Get to the final awards! JEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEFF! And here we go, glad-handing the Lead Actress nominees.
11:16 PM- Called it! 8 for 22
11:18 PM- Quick! Zoom in on Natalie's belly!
11:19 PM- Anne, you're flubbing your words. XD Hrm ... last year's Lead Actor and Actress winners presenting to this year's.
11:21 PM- Is Jeff going to win this again? Nah.
11:25 PM- COOOOOOOOOOLIN! :D 9 for 23 Can I make it to double digits?!
11:29 PM- C'mon! Can't we get this ceremony under 3 hours?

11:31 PM- STEVEN! :D FINALLY! Get on with the presentation!

11:35 PM- EXCELLENT montage!

11:36 PM- And the Oscar goes to ... THEKING'SSPEECH! I got into the double digits! 10 for 24

And with that, I bid you all adieu. Thanks for following along and see you all next year at the Oscars! Allons-y!

2011 Oscar Picks

From one awards show to another we go. This time, it's the Oscars. And I'm a film buff (despite not seeing a fair amount of the classics like Gone With the Wind, Braveheart, and Dances With Wolves), so this is a big deal for me. And for the first time, I've seen all but two of the Best Picture nominees. So without further ado, Here are my picks. And yes, I'll be live-blogging the ceremonies on Sunday. And once again, I'll be competing with Danielle. Friendly competition, mind you. We haven't decided on what the winner will receive. ANYWAY (in reverse order) ...

Best Live-Action Short is one of the over-looked categories that I don't get to ... so I'm just going to pick Wish 143. It sounds amusing. Dying 21 year old cancer patient goes to a Make-A-Wish-like group and asks for sex before he dies. Also nominated are The Confession, The Crush, God of Love, and Na Wewe.

I'm going with Pixar's Day & Night out of habit for Best Animated Short ... 'cause it's Pixar and they're awesome. The Gruffalo, Let's Pollute, The Lost Thing, and Madagascar, Carnet de Voyage are also nominated.

Um ... *does Eenie Meanie Miney Moe* Poster Girl for Best Documentary Short? Also nominated were Killing in the Name, Strangers No More, Sun Come Up, and The Warriors of Qiugang.

I'll give Best Visual Effects to Inception. Seriously awesome stuff. Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Hereafter (Seriously, was it for the giant wave or for Clint?), and Iron Man 2 were also nominated.

Inception for Best Sound Mixing! The King's Speech, Salt, The Social Network, and True Grit were also nominated.

Let's give one to TRON: Legacy, shall we? Also nominated in Best Sound Editing is Inception, Toy Story 3, True Grit, and Unstoppable.

Another category I don't pay much attention to, but I'll go with "If I Rise" from 127 Hours for Best Song. Also nominated are "Coming Home" from Country Strong, "I See the Light" from Tangled, and "We Belong Together" from Toy Story 3.

The epicness of Inception or the awesome electronica of The Social Network ... Zimmer it is! Also nominated for Best Score is 127 Hours, How to Train Your Dragon, and The King's Speech.

Um ... let's just give The Wolfman Best Makeup, shall we? It's Rick Baker! Also nominated were Barney's Version and The Way Back.

Oh ... the smooth flowing ballet-like editing of Black Swan or the stacatto cutting of The Social Network? I'll go with Black Swan. Also nominated in Best Editing are 127 Hours, The Fighter, and The King's Speech.

I'll say Alice in Wonderland for Best Costume Design. Also nominated were I Am Love, The King's Speech, The Tempest, and True Grit.

Grrr, another tough category ... part of me is saying The Social Network, but another is saying Black Swan for Best Cinematography ... I'll go with Black Swan. Also nominated are Inception, The King's Speech, and True Grit.

I'll pick Alice in Wonderland for Best Art Direction. Also nominated were Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1, Inception, The King's Speech, and True Grit.

We can either go political (Gasland, Inside Job, Restrepo) or odd (Exit Through the Gift Shop) or inspiring (Waste Land) for Best Documentary. Sounds like Exit Through the Gift Shop is going to take it, so I'll go with it.

Best Toy Animated Story Feature 3. Additionally, How to Train Your Dragon and The Illusionist received nominations.

Um ... I don't get to see many foreign films ... but let's go with Biutiful for Best Foreign Language Film. Dogtooth, In a Better World, Incendies, and Outside the Law are also nominated.

Let's give one to Nolan for Inception, shall we? Also nominated in Best Original Screenplay are Mike Leigh (Another Year), Scott Silver + Paul Tamasy + Eric Johnson (The Fighter), Lisa Cholodenko and Stuart Blumberg (The Kids Are All Right), and David Seidler (The King's Speech).

Gaaaaaaah, why must the Best Adapted Screenplay category be another tough one? Um ... I'm going with Sorkin for The Social Network. Also nominated were Danny Boyle and Simon Beaufoy (127 Hours), Michael Arndt (Toy Story 3), The Coen Brothers (True Grit), and Debra Granik and Anne Roselini (Winter's Bone).

I'd honestly be happy with any of the nominees for Best Director, but I think I'll have to go with Fincher (The Social Network). But Aronofsky (Black Swan) would be a pleasant surprise. Additionally, David O. Russell (The Fighter), Tom Hooper (The King's Speech), and the Coen Brothers (True Grit) were nominated.

Natalie Portman. Black Swan. Best Actress. Need I say more? Additionally, Annette Bening (The Kids Are All Right), Nicole Kidman (Rabbit Hole), Jennifer Lawrence (Winter's Bone), and Michelle Williams (Blue Valentine) were nominated.

Best Actor, without a doubt, goes to Colin Firth as King George VI in The King's Speech. Additionally, James Franco (127 Hours), Jesse Eisenberg (The Social Network), Jeff Bridges (True Grit), and Javier Bardem (Biutiful) were nominated.

I'd be all for Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross in True Grit for Best Supporting Actress, but Helena Bonham Carter was pretty good in The King's Speech ... Hailee it is! Additionally, Amy Adams and Melissa Leo were up for their performances in The Fighter and Jacki Weaver got a nod for her part in Animal Kingdom.

Best Supporting Actor seems to be a bit of a toughie for me. See, I've heard fantastic things about Christian Bale in The Fighter, but Geoffery Rush was excellent in The King's Speech ... but I'll go with Bale. Additionally, John Hawkes (Winter's Bone), Jeremy Renner (The Town ... and also fantastic in The Hurt Locker), and Mark Ruffalo (The Kids Are All Right) garnered nominations.

For Best Picture, I'm going with The King's Speech. My explanation is here. Additionally, The Social Network, True Grit, Black Swan, Inception, 127 Hours, The Kids Are All Right, The Fighter, Toy Story 3, and Winter's Bone are nominated.

Let's see how my picks do tonight. What are some of yours? And who will do better with their picks?

On Arcade Fire's Win

Well, where to begin? Seeing Arcade Fire on the stage launching into 'Month of May' was absolutely fantastic, although I didn't think it was the best choice from the album to play at the Grammys. But then again, it was the first single. When I heard it last year when it dropped, I listened to it and thought something along the lines of "Oh, this is cool. Maybe a little loud and scream-y for me ..." And then I heard the whole album when it dropped and I flat out loved it.
And then when Barbara Streisand announced that The Suburbs won ... I nearly jumped out of my seat. Both fists shot up in the air and started pistonning. I was making a high pitched noise somewhere short of a dog whistle. I was jubilant. ... Extremely jubilant. Yes, I know that The Black Keys won an award or two or three for Brothers and Vampire Weekend was nominated in two or three categories for Contra but didn't win and Mumford and Sons didn't win either ... but still ... we can now say that Arcade Fire is a Grammy Award-winning band.

Live-Blogging the 2011 Grammys

I haven't really done this for the Grammys before, but what the hell, I'll give it a whirl.

Pre-show
I've seen two promos for the Grammys so far naming the artists who'll be performing. And they don't mention Arcade Fire, The Avett Brothers or Mumford and Sons. x_x

The show
8 PM: Yes, starting with an honorary performance/award for Aretha Franklin! Great way to start! ... But Aretha, oh how the years have treated you. :(
8:02 PM: Christina Aguilera and Martina McBride as part of a tribute to Aretha? Um ... interesting. But toss Florence of Florence & The Machine in there? Nice! :)
8:05 PM: Florence ... you are awesomeness!
8:13 PM: Oh, hi, Aretha! :D
8:14 PM: And we have a commercial.
8:19 PM: And we're back. Bows for the tribute performers. Oh, and they're presenting for Pop Performance (Duo or Group). Hrm ... *sees nominees* ... I'd be fine with Glee, Train, Maroon 5, or ... Paramore.
8:21 PM: Congrats to Train!
8:22 PM: Oy! Easy with the playing people off! And Ricky Martin ... are you in silver lamé pants? XD
8:23 PM: Heeeeeeeeeeeere's Gaga! ... In an egg. And she's hatching! ... I like the hat!
8:26 PM: Organ? A la Phantom? ... Or ... wait ... it looks like something out of the Fortress of Solitude. And the dancers are in skin-colored underwear.
8:28 PM: And another commercial. ... C'mon! Announce Mumford and Sons, Arcade Fire, and The Avett Brothers!
8:33 PM: Wait ... who is this guy? ... *goes on Wikipedia* Oh. Huh. Miranda Lambert's hubby. Can you say preferential treatment? XD
8:38 PM: Lenny Kravitz! Nice to see ya! And introducing Muse! :D
8:40 PM: Someone rushing on stage? What? ... Oh, part of the act! XD
8:45 PM: And another commercial. XP
8:49 PM: Seacrest! Bravo! ... How are you still relevant? ... Um ... interesting super group? Bruno, aren't you supposed to be somewhere ... on charges? *checks Wikipedia* Okay, never mind, community service. Get going on that! ... After this set. I'm rather enjoying it. :)
8:57 PM: Dierks ... who? Country singer? Finally another award presentation! Sure took long enough! ... Female Country Vocalist. Um ... yeah ... I don't really care about this category ... but I'd be fine with Jewel.
8:59 PM: Well, Miranda performed and she won. Congrats to her.
9 PM: And a commercial. ... THEY MENTIONED MUMFORDANDSONSANDTHEAVETTBROTHERSYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES! ANDARCADEFIRETOO! *HAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYHAPPYDANCE*
9:05 PM: ... Eva, what are you doing introducing Justin Bieber at the Grammys? ... *snickers at "Beautiful relationship"*
9:06 PM: Justin ... you can play guitar? ... 'Baby' on acoustic guitar? Well ... I'm slightly impressed. No Auto-tuning? ... Japanese drummers?! ... And back to the Autotuning singing. XP *cracks open Frank Miller's The Dark Knight Returns*
9:09 PM: Jaden? Where's your sister? Too busy whipping her hair? XD ... And you're in leopard skin tight-pants.
9:13 PM: Paramore and the goth actress (and by goth I mean the character she plays dresses goth-like) from NCIS? Uh ... okay. But it's Best Rock Album! Oh, Jeff Beck, Muse, Pearl Jam, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Neil Young ...damn, I'd be fine with any of 'em. ... Okay, Muse, nice, nice! :)
9:15 PM: And another commercial.
9:20 PM: Donnie, please take off the glasses ... unless you're hungover. ... And paired with Selena Gomez? Uh ... And in this category (Best Pop Vocal Album), I'm either for Susan Boyle or Lady Gaga. Or maybe John Mayer. Maybe Katy Perry. ... Congrats, Gaga! ... Skin-tight, pre-fitted leather outfit? Okaaaaay ...
9:23 PM: And they start to play Gaga off, but they let her finish. :) And Letterman has a bit? Okaaaaaaaay ...
9:25 PM: MUMFORDANDSONSMUMFORDANDSONSMUMFORDANDSONSMUMFORDANDSONS!
9:27 PM: AVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETBROTHERS! :D
9:30 PM: DYLAN ... and his raspy growl. XD
9:34 PM: *clears throat and calms down* So ... 'The Cave', 'Head Full of Doubt/Road Full of Promise', and 'Maggie's Farm' were just fantastic! Wow ... I kinda want to see Mumford and Sons, The Avett Brothers, and Bob Dylan make an album together. :) And now a commercial.
9:39 PM: Oh, Lifetime Achievement awards. Nice, nice. :) And ... wait, wait, an NFL player? Okaaaaay?
9:40 PM: Lady Antebellum covering Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes? I'm impressed!
9:44 PM: Miley with Kings of Leon? ... Nothing about Miley having sex while on fire? ... I kid, I kid. And presenting for Best Country Album. Hrm ... I'm going with the Zac Brown Band. Or Lady Antebellum. Congrats, Lady Antebellum!
9:50 PM: Okay, Cee-Lo looks like a giant painted turkey. And Gwyneth Paltrow singing along with him on 'Forget You'? And another commercial.
9:56 PM: NPH! SINGSINGSINGSING ... no? :( ... But a sex joke about Katy Perry? Okaaaay?
10 PM: And now you're in a tiny diamond coated summer dress. Bravo, Katy, I think you gave a fair amount of the male Grammy audience a raging hard-on. ... Me? No thanks.
10:02 PM: Going a bit country now? Oh, never mind, this is a good tune. Dolly Parton cover, huh? :) Maybe minus John Mayer.
10:04 PM: Song of the Year. Okay. Either Ray LaMontagne or Cee-Lo. Mkay, Lady Antebellum is still good. :)
10:06 PM: Mkay, another commercial ... and nothing against Bieber, but I don't want to see him win when he's up against people like Florence and the Machine and Mumford and Sons.
10:12 PM: Seth Rogen presenting a Grammy? Mkaaaaay? Well, the Miley Cyrus pot joke was amusing.
10:13 PM: *mutes TV/lowers volume and opens The Dark Knight Returns*
10:20 PM: Jewel? John Legend? Okay. ... Best New Artist? Bieber? Nope. Drake? Nah. Florence and the Machine? I could go for them. And Mumford and Sons too. ^_^ Dunno about Esperanza Spalding. AAAAAAAAAAAAAND ... okay, an unknown in my book, but congrats, Esperanza!
10:23 PM: Another commercial. But Album of the Year is coming soon. :)
10:28 PM: Matthew Morrison! Do something from 'South Pacific'! ... Probably not.
10:32 PM: And a memoriam. Bobby Hobb? I recognize the song he's singing. Gerry Rafferty ... :( Oh, so many great names. Alex Chilton too. ... We lost Jimmy Dean? O_o
10:34 PM: MICKJAGGER!
10:40 PM: Commercial. God, as if there weren't enough. XP
10:46 PM: Kris, we haven't seen you in a while! ... And is it just me or are you and Jeff Bridges looking oddly similar nowadays? XD
10:47 PM: Babs!
10:50 PM: A remix of 'Misirlou'? Mkay ... Nikki, you have ... Marge Simpson hair. Best Rap Album? Um ... *picks blindly* The Roots? ... Eminem. Well ... I guess white guys can rap.
10:53 PM: Mkay, another commercial. GETTOARCADEFIREALREADY!
10:58 PM: Puff Daddy/P-Diddy/Sean Combs ... you're still relevant?
10:59 PM: Rihanna and Drake performing? *returns to The Dark Knight Returns*
11:02 PM: Marc Anthony and J-Lo? Presenting Record of the Year ... I'm pulling for maybe Cee-Lo.
11:04 PM: Well, congrats again, Lady Antebellum! Really taking the Grammys this year!
11:05 PM: And another commercial. Arcade Fire already, c'mon!
11:12 PM: ARCADEFIREYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
11:20 PM: Babs and Kris presenting Album of the Year! Arcade Fire all the way!
11:22 PM: YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEES!
11:25 PM: And they're playing 'The Suburbs'. This is the best end to the Grammys. Ever. (Correction: 'Ready to Start')
11:28 PM: Hey! End credits and Delta and Hilton ads! Off my screen! I wanna see Arcade Fire!

And the Grammys are over. Well, not a fan of all the winners, but I might have to check out Lady Antebellum now. Until the Oscars! Allons-y!

On ... Well ... Stuff

While this doesn't necessarily represent my dabblings in cooking ... it's a bit close. XD The most I've made is a quiche ... but that was back in September.
***
I started using Pandora again the other day after getting a bit tired of my Alternative playlist. I started an Arcade Fire station. So far, I've gotten ... probably close to 10 Arcade Fire songs ... and 3 different versions of 'Hallelujah'. One is by Rufus Wainright, another by Jeff Buckley, and another by John Cale.
***

Updates ... let's see ... classes are going well. I'm doing my best to keep up with the Lit Theory readings, which are going to be the most demanding. My internship is going well, too. So far, I've locked and uploaded one video. I'm finishing another up hopefully for this Thursday.

Until next post! Allons-y, Alonso!

On Turning 21

Having not posted since the 9th, I feel that this is a good time to post. Oh, and this is my 600th post on this blog. Yay? ... Better reason to say "Yay!": I celebrated my 21st.
As I've become accustomed to the college way of life over the last two and a half semesters, I've kept my birthdays relatively low-key: go out for dinner with some friends, come back to the dorm, have cake, play Apples to Apples ... well, this year, things changed a bit. I still brought a cake up, I still had friends over (to the apartment this time), but there was no dinner out (probably later in the week) and there was no Apples to Apples ... just talking for about 2 or 3 hours. And it was ... well, nice. It usually is. Maybe it was nicer because I didn't have any classes today. ... Yes, the semester started on my birthday. If I did have classes ... well, they'd be syllabus review, most likely.
Turning 21 ... feels like a milestone, yet it doesn't at the same time. I've lived mostly a dry life. I've only had some wine here and there at family gatherings or holiday dinners and some sips of champagne at New Year's. I'm not one to dive right into alcohol. Binge drinking isn't my thing. The idea of a drink with dinner or out with friends is right up my alley ... but I don't know my preferences or my limits so I don't know where to start. I guess slow yet safe experimentation is the way to go. Hell, my new license hasn't even arrived yet.
***
I've received 193 wall posts on Facebook. I've received 8 @replies with birthday well-wishes. I've received 2 very nice videos, one from Danielle (and some assorted web friends) and a short one from Mike. I've received 3 cards from family members. I've received a number of well-wishes in person. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy (21st) birthday. I'm so glad that I know so many people who make an effort to send annual well-wishes my way, to someone who had a chance of not being here now if things had gone awry.
Thank you all <3

Pre-Israel Thoughts

I'm leaving for Israel tomorrow night with my campus's Hillel program for Birthright. 10 days, with peers, mostly Kosher food ... wonderful. I was thinking about bringing a ham sandwich to the airport with me to eat while waiting in the terminal ... but that would probably be un-Kosher ... yeah.
I mean, I can deal with the food. I was in Israel for two weeks in the summer of 2008 for a family bar/bat mitzvah trip and I got accustomed to the food rather quickly ... especially shwarma ... oh, shwarma ... :)




Now, where was I? Yes, right, Israel. 10 days, 2 (maybe 3) books ... yes, books. Big books. Justin Cronin's The Passage (a 700 pager, roughly) and Neil Gaiman's Smoke and Mirrors. The flights are going to be long, of course ... and we're going to have downtime in the hotels and on the bus ... we'll see what I can get done. And I might also bring Randy Pausch's The Last Lecture for a quick read to knock it off my reading queue.
***
But what else is there to talk about? I've been to Israel once before. I've seen a large portion of the sights and sounds ... but that's because I was there for a few more days and we went up and down the country. On this tour, we won't be going too far into the Negev ... and on the Margaret Morse tour, we went as far south as Eilat. Well ... we'll see what the trip shall hold.

Until next post! Allons-y!