And this is why I'm completely in love with Bon Iver. Maybe a little late to the game, but at least I got there.
Wednesday, December 2, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Movies Movies Movies!!
The time has come to catch up on the movies I missed this past summer.
So here we go...
500 Days of Summer
Such a refreshing movie from a new director. The style and concept may have been a bit 'trendy', but I was perfectly fine with that. The acting was thumbs up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt being one of my favorite 'somewhat indie' actors (awesome in both Brick and The Lookout) and Zooey Deschanel was her usual quirky self. Her character irked me a bit which tells me right there that she did a great job. I can always appreciate a director that adds artistic qualities to the production. It just makes it so much more imaginative.. so much more than just watching people act out a real life situation on film. The music was also great, and I plan on hunting down the soundtrack. Overall, wonderful.
Moon
This movie was quite simplistic and yet so grandiose at the same time... if that's even possible. With pretty much only one actor, Sam Rockwell, and a talking robot voiced by Kevin Spacey, it kept my attention very well. It's a very quiet movie, with an amazing soundtrack done by the incredible Clint Mansell. Mr. Mansell is also responsible for one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, The Fountain. His pieces are so haunting and earth shattering and passionate. I've found myself near tears just listening to his work. The flick is short at only 93min. Any longer and it might have felt draggish. The actual plot is not something one can even mention without giving everything away, so I'll leave it at this- Moon kept me on the edge of my seat with it's simplicity and slowly revealing plot/theme that goes way beyond the scope of the movie.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Blah. I never know what to say about Harry Potter movies. The action is entertaining but there is just always too much missing. Even at 2.5 hours, I felt like they didn't even explore the importance of the title! The books are too long to squish everything together into a reasonable timed movie. There should be a part 1 and 2 or something. I feel like I watched the movie and by the end barely knew what was really going on in the story. Everything was too vague and too rushed. Thankfully I read the books a few years ago, so I was able to fill in the gaps. Not sure I'd recommend the movie to anyone who hasn't already read the books. Overall, it was good not great.
Up
How sad do Disney movies have to be, seriously!?! The opening was heartbreaking, but it overall redeemed itself. Actually, I fell asleep for the last 20min... so I guess I'll have to go back and watch it again. Hate when that happens.
Pandorum
Horribly disturbing concept, but also completely intriguing. Plus, Ben Foster doesn't have to do much to creep me out.. something about his acting is so unsettling. Or perhaps it's just the characters he plays. It was cheesy at times, and I had horrible flashbacks to the awful future in "The Time Machine" remake of 2002 (apparently futuristic human cannibals bother me). Overall I found it interesting but way too disjointed and jumpy. It was hard to follow at times and that's never the key to enjoying a movie. Not awful, not great.
last but not least
Public Enemies
To say I'm on the Michael Mann bandwagon is somewhat of an understatement. He can do no wrong in my book. His style is exactly what I'm drawn to in movies. Long shots, beautiful scenery, haunting scores, incredible acting. Come on people! Mann is a genius. Sometimes I watch his movies just for the cinematography, example being Miami Vice (I still barely even know the plot of that movie and I've seen it like 20x). Public Enemies could have definitely been a bit shorter. 2hour 20min is asking a LOT of my attention and ability to stay awake, but I managed. Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard were perfect and everything lived up to my expectations. Great movie. Can't wait to watch it again.
Still to go...
GI Joe
Star Trek (2nd time)
Paper Heart
9
what else am I missing?
So here we go...
500 Days of Summer
Such a refreshing movie from a new director. The style and concept may have been a bit 'trendy', but I was perfectly fine with that. The acting was thumbs up with Joseph Gordon-Levitt being one of my favorite 'somewhat indie' actors (awesome in both Brick and The Lookout) and Zooey Deschanel was her usual quirky self. Her character irked me a bit which tells me right there that she did a great job. I can always appreciate a director that adds artistic qualities to the production. It just makes it so much more imaginative.. so much more than just watching people act out a real life situation on film. The music was also great, and I plan on hunting down the soundtrack. Overall, wonderful.
Moon
This movie was quite simplistic and yet so grandiose at the same time... if that's even possible. With pretty much only one actor, Sam Rockwell, and a talking robot voiced by Kevin Spacey, it kept my attention very well. It's a very quiet movie, with an amazing soundtrack done by the incredible Clint Mansell. Mr. Mansell is also responsible for one of my favorite soundtracks of all time, The Fountain. His pieces are so haunting and earth shattering and passionate. I've found myself near tears just listening to his work. The flick is short at only 93min. Any longer and it might have felt draggish. The actual plot is not something one can even mention without giving everything away, so I'll leave it at this- Moon kept me on the edge of my seat with it's simplicity and slowly revealing plot/theme that goes way beyond the scope of the movie.
Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince
Blah. I never know what to say about Harry Potter movies. The action is entertaining but there is just always too much missing. Even at 2.5 hours, I felt like they didn't even explore the importance of the title! The books are too long to squish everything together into a reasonable timed movie. There should be a part 1 and 2 or something. I feel like I watched the movie and by the end barely knew what was really going on in the story. Everything was too vague and too rushed. Thankfully I read the books a few years ago, so I was able to fill in the gaps. Not sure I'd recommend the movie to anyone who hasn't already read the books. Overall, it was good not great.
Up
How sad do Disney movies have to be, seriously!?! The opening was heartbreaking, but it overall redeemed itself. Actually, I fell asleep for the last 20min... so I guess I'll have to go back and watch it again. Hate when that happens.
Pandorum
Horribly disturbing concept, but also completely intriguing. Plus, Ben Foster doesn't have to do much to creep me out.. something about his acting is so unsettling. Or perhaps it's just the characters he plays. It was cheesy at times, and I had horrible flashbacks to the awful future in "The Time Machine" remake of 2002 (apparently futuristic human cannibals bother me). Overall I found it interesting but way too disjointed and jumpy. It was hard to follow at times and that's never the key to enjoying a movie. Not awful, not great.
last but not least
Public Enemies
To say I'm on the Michael Mann bandwagon is somewhat of an understatement. He can do no wrong in my book. His style is exactly what I'm drawn to in movies. Long shots, beautiful scenery, haunting scores, incredible acting. Come on people! Mann is a genius. Sometimes I watch his movies just for the cinematography, example being Miami Vice (I still barely even know the plot of that movie and I've seen it like 20x). Public Enemies could have definitely been a bit shorter. 2hour 20min is asking a LOT of my attention and ability to stay awake, but I managed. Johnny Depp and Marion Cotillard were perfect and everything lived up to my expectations. Great movie. Can't wait to watch it again.
Still to go...
GI Joe
Star Trek (2nd time)
Paper Heart
9
what else am I missing?
Friday, November 27, 2009
baking and walking dogs
Crafting has been set aside this past week. My mind has been elsewhere. What with the holiday and work being insane, it's hard to fit anything else in anyway. I did bake some blueberry muffins. First I baked a batch from a box (see the one on the far right in the pic). They weren't horrible, but not great either. So then I baked some from scratch. They came out AMAZING (the one on the left, if you couldn't tell). Never baking anything from a box again! Brian and I also cooked up a typical Thanksgiving dinner. We did a pretty good job for it being the first time doing it on our own. I'm excited for some turkey sandwiches later today.
Right now a skinny 'Toto' looking dog has my heart in pieces. She's pretty new to the shelter from what I can tell from her signage, and super scared. They call it 'shy', but to me I think she's just deathly afraid. The first time I took her out to walk she wouldn't budge. She'd just plop down and start shaking. So I picked her up, walked her around the trail and sat with her for a while. The first time she warmed up to me just fine. In fact, she didn't want to leave my lap. Yesterday, she did the same thing. Thankfully I was also able to get her to walk a few steps. When I would crouch down she'd walk to me, hesitantly of course, but still a few steps is a lot. Standing up would scare her again, so I stayed crouched for most of the time there. I hope today she's a little more brave. The day I go there and my favorite dog is adopted is going to be the toughest part of all this. But of course, that's what we are working for here. All dogs to have warm, loving homes.I spent some time in the cat rooms too, and the kitties in there are quite amusing. As soon as you sit anywhere in the rooms, you have a cat eyeing your lap. It's interesting that all these cats have each other, but when a person comes in the room, the sociable cats go right for them. They obviously know where treats and head scratches come from. This is a pic of the screened in porch they have set up for the cats.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
the volunteer high
Today was my first day (orientation day) at Operation Kindness, North Texas largest no kill animal shelter. I wish I took some pictures, because the place is awesome. The shelter is literally a 2min drive from my apt, actually within walking distance on a nice day. I had no idea that it was this close when I sent in my application a while ago. Guess it's a sign.
Anyway, orientation went pretty fast. There were a lot of volunteers there, mostly made up of a group of 8th graders there for their honor society class, which kinda shocked me. They went over the rules, regulations, gave us a tour and introduced us to the animals. Until I do further training, I will only be working with the small dogs (no puppies either) and cats. This is definitely a good thing. I can be pretty fearful of large dogs... especially when they bark a lot and weigh the same as me. However, I'll do the advanced training next month just to be able to work with the puppies. They actually had a ton of puppies and kittens ready for adoption. Not just all old dogs at the no kill shelter. This year they will have adopted something like 3,000 animals. Isn't that insane?? So awesome!
So they had us all walk a small dog to get accustomed to where the leashes and collars are, the 'walk' board and the dog path that runs behind the building. It's a very rugged path through some woodsy area that I never knew existed in this part of Dallas. But then again, I don't venture out very much. I walked a small chihuahua named Papi. He wasn't very personable, but he wanted out of his cage so badly I just couldn't resist. I also spent a lot of time in the cat room. They have a screened in porch connected to the main cat room where all the friendly and healthy cats get to roam free. They just walk up to you, jump in your lap and demand attention. I was reading the book with the names and stories of all the free roaming cats and some had been there since 2006. Kinda sad, but at least they are in amazing hands.
As a volunteer, we don't have schedules and can go by the shelter at any time as long as there is a staff member present. I think I'll go by again on Monday to see how I can really get myself involved. It was such an amazing feeling being there, and I can't wait to settle in more. I actually emailed the volunteer manager about possibly taking over the shelters Twitter account. Whoever started it stopped updating back in July. I'd love to take pics and make daily updates. We'll see.
Anyway, orientation went pretty fast. There were a lot of volunteers there, mostly made up of a group of 8th graders there for their honor society class, which kinda shocked me. They went over the rules, regulations, gave us a tour and introduced us to the animals. Until I do further training, I will only be working with the small dogs (no puppies either) and cats. This is definitely a good thing. I can be pretty fearful of large dogs... especially when they bark a lot and weigh the same as me. However, I'll do the advanced training next month just to be able to work with the puppies. They actually had a ton of puppies and kittens ready for adoption. Not just all old dogs at the no kill shelter. This year they will have adopted something like 3,000 animals. Isn't that insane?? So awesome!
So they had us all walk a small dog to get accustomed to where the leashes and collars are, the 'walk' board and the dog path that runs behind the building. It's a very rugged path through some woodsy area that I never knew existed in this part of Dallas. But then again, I don't venture out very much. I walked a small chihuahua named Papi. He wasn't very personable, but he wanted out of his cage so badly I just couldn't resist. I also spent a lot of time in the cat room. They have a screened in porch connected to the main cat room where all the friendly and healthy cats get to roam free. They just walk up to you, jump in your lap and demand attention. I was reading the book with the names and stories of all the free roaming cats and some had been there since 2006. Kinda sad, but at least they are in amazing hands.
As a volunteer, we don't have schedules and can go by the shelter at any time as long as there is a staff member present. I think I'll go by again on Monday to see how I can really get myself involved. It was such an amazing feeling being there, and I can't wait to settle in more. I actually emailed the volunteer manager about possibly taking over the shelters Twitter account. Whoever started it stopped updating back in July. I'd love to take pics and make daily updates. We'll see.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
day 2b
Phew, what a day. It started off with the chai spice tea (which was super yucky bleck) and reading the sunday edition of the new york times and ended with a new pair of gloves. The entire Smashing Pumpkins discography on shuffle accompanied me along the way. I'm very pleased with my first pair of crocheted gloves. I kinda followed a pattern but kinda made up certain parts too (mostly because I wasn't sure what the pattern was saying to do). They are perfect for when I go to work on the occasionally chilly Texas morning. This way I can continue to work on pc's (not the innards of course) while my hands warm up inside. Actually, regardless of the outside temps, the store (specifically the geek squad precinct) is often freezing in the morning, plus I'm one of those 'always cold' people, so they are perfect. They are made from a really soft wool blend yarn.
This afternoon I also received an email about volunteering at Operation Kindness. I put in an application to volunteer about 3 weeks ago and was worried they denied it from the non response for so long. They finally got back to me today and are having an orientation Saturday. I'm super excited to start working with animals again (worked at petco for 4 years (best job ever)). It's been so hard living without any for so long. Like 3 years actually. That's crazy. Lets just hope this satisfies my craving and doesn't convince me to finally bring one home. It's just too hard living in a small apartment such as ours to have a dog, or even a cat. Hopefully it goes well on Saturday.
Back to work tomorrow. My 2 days off were immensely enjoyable but real life awaits me. Now for the rest of the Cav's game and to finish the day with some Dragon Age. :)
This afternoon I also received an email about volunteering at Operation Kindness. I put in an application to volunteer about 3 weeks ago and was worried they denied it from the non response for so long. They finally got back to me today and are having an orientation Saturday. I'm super excited to start working with animals again (worked at petco for 4 years (best job ever)). It's been so hard living without any for so long. Like 3 years actually. That's crazy. Lets just hope this satisfies my craving and doesn't convince me to finally bring one home. It's just too hard living in a small apartment such as ours to have a dog, or even a cat. Hopefully it goes well on Saturday.Back to work tomorrow. My 2 days off were immensely enjoyable but real life awaits me. Now for the rest of the Cav's game and to finish the day with some Dragon Age. :)
day 2
Today is being sponsored by a new tea. I was actually looking for some Acai Berry tea made by Stash, but my local tea store (aka walmart) didn't have it. No surprise I guess. Instead I picked up some Chai Spice Black Tea by the same company. I'm starting the (late) morning off with the first cup, and it's quite aromatic. I am a tad worried for the pepper sent I'm noticing, but I'll give it a shot. I really need to stock up on some REAL tea from http://www.adagio.com/. Bagless gourmet tea > walmart tea any day!So I'm obviously stalling. A ton of stuff to do and so limited time! At least yesterday I crossed a few things off my list.
DONE-visit Hancock Fabrics in Plano and find some nice wool, jersey cotton, and satin stretch fabric
DONE (made cupcakes with homemade icing and they were AWESOME)-buy a hand mixer and ingredients to make cupcakes or maybe cookies
DONE-return to the post office.. went last week on the one day it was closed (veteran's day)
I also found fabric to make my leggings, but haven't started on them yet. The fabric for the pea coat is going to have to wait til I find something amazing and cheap. I'm not going to spend $20 a yard for 5 yards of fabric. I can buy a new coat for that much!
Today I'm working on a pair of fingerless gloves I've been craving for a long time. I bought some amazingly soft charcoal colored wool yarn yesterday, and it's perfect. Now to just find the right pattern.. or make one up myself.
I also REALLY need to play some Dragon Age. The game keeps calling my name, and I keep pretending not to hear it.
I'm sure I'll do an update later on my successful completions. Crossing my fingers for a productive day!
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
celebrating my 2 days off holiday
So for some reason 2 weeks ago when I was making the schedule for the week of the 15th I gave myself off 2 days in a row. I don't even remember the last time this has happened, but it is a joyous occasion. It's like a mini holiday, and I plan on celebrating!
2 days and so much to do.
here is my list..
-read my copy of the sunday new york times
-catch up on some Dragon Age
-visit Hancock Fabrics in Plano and find some nice wool, jersey cotton, and satin stretch fabric
-start on my winter pea coat project with the wool
-make a pair of leggings, or at least create a pattern in order to make leggings
-buy a hand mixer and ingredients to make cupcakes or maybe cookies
-return to the post office.. went last week on the one day it was closed (veteran's day)
-and read some pages from The Kite Runner, which already has an awesome start
I'm sure I'm leaving a few things out, but ultimately, that's the plan. I have high hopes for these 2 days, so lets make sure nothing screws it up too early. It's probably also good that I have yet to purchase Modern Warfare 2 or LFD2. They are just too time consuming.
2 days and so much to do.
here is my list..
-read my copy of the sunday new york times
-catch up on some Dragon Age
-visit Hancock Fabrics in Plano and find some nice wool, jersey cotton, and satin stretch fabric
-start on my winter pea coat project with the wool
-make a pair of leggings, or at least create a pattern in order to make leggings
-buy a hand mixer and ingredients to make cupcakes or maybe cookies
-return to the post office.. went last week on the one day it was closed (veteran's day)
-and read some pages from The Kite Runner, which already has an awesome start
I'm sure I'm leaving a few things out, but ultimately, that's the plan. I have high hopes for these 2 days, so lets make sure nothing screws it up too early. It's probably also good that I have yet to purchase Modern Warfare 2 or LFD2. They are just too time consuming.
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