Here I am at the last post of this year, of this blog. I didn't doubt that I'd find myself here yet I couldn't really picture it until November melted into December and I found myself in the last month of this project.
Having this blog was, for me, like impulsively going to a shelter and picking up a dog that's not very cute or ugly or talented or feeble, just a plain ol' dog. I have to feed it every day and spend time with it, although the time varies depending on my mood and other obligations. Some days I couldn't wait to get to my computer and write about something that had been stewing in my head that day, or even that whole week. Some days I really dreaded writing here because I had nothing to write or no desire to put anything into writing. This has never been a habit but, as I suspected from the onset, an obligation or chore akin to doing laundry or the dishes.
That's not to say that I regret ever doing this. This "blog experiment" of a blog entry a day is probably the first resolution that I've ever fulfilled. I feel justified in patting myself on the back a bit for actually doing this, for choosing something that was challenging but doable--for me, at least. Write one post a day, psht that's easy, you might think. Eh, well I don't have 365 cohesive thoughts worth sharing over the course of a year, but I've put out 365 thoughts nonetheless. I hope that in months, years to come I will be proud and embarassed at what I've created here.
1. Spend less money on physical, tangible things and more on experiences and making memories. In other words, buy less stuff so that I can have more money to go places and see shows.
2. Write more, and often. Just...not in blog form. At least, not so publicly.
The three movies I saw this year in theaters by myself
Rango
I had been looking forward to this movie ever since the trailer came out but I didn't plan on seeing it in theaters. But one March day I found myself with a couple hours to spare before I had to be anywhere, and I was in walking distance of a AMC movie theater. I bought my ticket about ten minutes after the scheduled show time, so when I slunk into the theater I had missed the first few minutes. It was between two and four in the afternoon, and there was only one other patron seated, feet up on the row in front of him. I felt a little bad for him, that my presence made it so that he no longer had the theater entirely to himself, but then I heard him freely let out a big bellied Jabba laugh and I felt less bad.
I basked in the light and humor in this movie. This is really a movie for all ages, because kids can get a kick out of the talking animated animals and adults will snarf at the movie references and quirky script. My viewing experience would've been enhanced with an eager audience and full house but, as with all other times I've attended the theater solo, I got greedily giddy at having seen it by myself, as if I was in possession of a fantastic secret.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part II
I saw this movie twice, and the second time I went with someone who, like me, had read all seven books and seen all seven previous movies. I never intended to see it more than once in theaters or see it by myself, but that's just the way it turned out with this film. I was determined to see it on opening day; I wanted to see a midnight screening but had no way of getting to and from the theater at that time, and I was firmly against seeing it during the evening when I would've had to wait for an hour or two to get seats that wouldn't cause eye or neck strain. I think I saw a noon screening of this movie, and showed up 45 minutes before showtime. The theater was about 1/10 full when I arrived. Yes, I did the obnoxious thing of taking the seat in the middle in the row just above the middle row, and I ate the burrito I smuggled in my cavernous handbag.
About five minutes til showtime I began to regret my decision, as I could see that the theater was filling up with people who weren't as passionate about the series as I am. I anticipated having people talk during key scenes and being distracted by texters and loud popcorn munchers. Although it did not directly affect me, I was annoyed when the trailers started to play and a group six teenagers trumped into view and made exasperated faces as they tried to figure out where to sit. Thankfully the audience didn't impede my viewing pleasure and I let myself get fully absorbed into watching the movie. And yes, I did tear up toward the end; I turned my head to either side a little at this time and I saw that the female sitting in my row was also by herself (empty seats on either side) and she, too, had watery eyes and a tissue in one hand. I'm not ashamed of crying in front of other people if I really feel like crying, but it felt good to let my eyes leak freely in that instance where I was in attendence by myself.
The Artist
There's a lot of well-deserved Oscar buzz around this film, which is entirely in black-and-white and practically a silent film (there are, like, six full lines of spoken dialogue; the rest of the lines appear on the screen between the action, as is customary of old silent films). But I didn't intended to see this movie in theaters. I had planned to go to a local, non-chain theater by myself to see Shame but got the time wrong and ended up seeing this movie instead-- this is one mistake I don't regret, a happy accident. Now that I think of it, there's something especially ____ about going to see an NC-17 movie entitled Shame by oneself. As with Rango, I left the theater feeling like I had just been shared a great secret. I wasn't jumping-up-and-down about it but I did feel warm and contented inside. I felt like sighing. Maybe, since practically the entire film has no sound other than the luscious orchestral music to accompany the moving images, I had been subconsciously holding my breath-- not literally, but mentally holding my breath, if that makes sense. Since almost the entire film is without sound, I had to be a bit more attentive and imaginative when it came to watching this film. It didn't feel like work, like ugh, I have to, like, read lips and figure out what that chick is saying, but it felt like a fun brain teaser challenge. When the movie ended I felt relieved, somewhat, but that makes it sound like I dreaded the entire experience. No, I enjoyed watching the film from start to finish. Seeing it by myself didn't really add or detract from the experience, but since I didn't have anyone around me I was a bit more aware of the other audience members, who were mostly middle aged couples, and I didn't have to worry about any shenanigans during the film.
These are the four television series I fell in love with this year.
Misfits
In three words: Heroes meets Skins. This show features five miscreants who, while working off court-ordered community service hours acquire powers after a freak electrical storm. They're all misfits, all anti-heroes-- and it's hard not to root for them. Misfits explores so many of those classic superhero tropes with verisimilitude, with a wickedly cynical satirical edge. The five main characters are all incredibly flawed young adults and I adore them all. My favorite is Kelly, the girl with the power to read minds, who has the greatest chav accent that I can barely understand at times. She's tenacious, says what she means and isn't afraid to get physical. The actress who played her, Lauren Socha, won a BAFTA award-- the British Oscars/Emmys--for her portrayal of Kelly. But the other four actors' work is nothing to scoff at. This show reminds me of Community in that every episode has a different structure, focus, and approach to a topic that has been done before but with less finesse, hilarity, and profanity.
Avatar: The Last Airbender
I want to say that there's never been a show with so much heart and with kids who can manipulate water, fire, earth and air...and then it sounds like I'm a Captain Planet enthusiast. This show may have been a Nickelodeon animated series but it's a show that grown-ups can enjoy too. The main characters are all preteens and their personal growth is carefully, poignantly built up over the three seasons; like Misfits it deals with kids with special powers, but these kids feel the weight of their responsibilites much more acutely and within the context of learning to leave childhood behind. Plot aside, the animation is beautiful and expansive thanks to the ever-changing setting, be it in the isolated and pristine north pole, lush tanga, or imperial kingdom. And the music! I can't think of a single design element that I didn't enjoy. I'd more aptly perform an interpretive dance to express my passion for this show than to put it in words.
Circus
I love any behind-the-scenes look at the performing arts. PBS put out the six-part series on the happenings in the 2008-2009 season of the Big Apple Circus. Last year I saw the series The Fire Within that was on Bravo and featured about eight performers from the start of their training to their opening night Cirque du Soleil show Varekai, so I had some expectations of what I might encounter in this series. I liked this series a bit more in that it had no narrator and delved more into the performers' personal lives. For example, the man who plays the feature clown Grandma finds out that he has cancer, and the camera crew follows him to the hospital as he gets an MRI done. He is claustrophobic, despite having spent many years crammed into a car with like a bunch of other clowns. Also, unlike the other series, Circus also lets the audience in on the lives of the crew, the people who aren't performers but literally put the circus together.
Late Night with Jimmy Fallon
I don't watch SNL much but I've seen a fair amount of Jimmy Fallon's work there. I'd say his gig as the host of Late Night was the perfect transition, as it allows him to be funny and laugh at his own jokes. He's an earnest, enthusiastic goofball and does a good job at putting the guests at ease-- again, because he's not afraid to laugh at himself. Sure, his name is in the title, but it's clear that his house band The Roots and his writing staff really bring it all together for consistently entertaining shows.
1. Times Square flash mob for "Star Wars: The Old Republic"
I think flash mobs are starting to get passé, untrendy, and cosplay is easy to mock, but I still really like how this was put together. Unmasked Darth Vader is much more horrifying that masked Darth Vader, and seeing him walk out into Times Square must've been a truly singular experience even for the jaded New Yorker (though I doubt that they'd bother to go to this busy tourist hotspot). And I love how the people who seemed to be bystanders took out their own lightsabers and enacted countless more duels between good and evil. Which side would I choose? It'd be more fun to be the bad guys but, really, I'd have to follow my heart and fight for the Rebel Alliance.
2. Super Bowl Volkswagon commercial
Of course I have to include this adorable ad. So simple and effective even though there are no lines spoken and the commercial only highlights a single feature of the car, albeit a supercool feature. I was slightly crestfallen when I found out that the child actor inside the costume had never even seen Star Wars prior to filming the commercial (!), but I think that goes to show that this commercial still does a good job telling a story.
3. Kristen Schaal's commercials for the Sony Xperia PLAY
I already wrote a post on my favorite of the series because I didn't think I'd end up making a list of a bunch of my fav commercials. Again, I like these commercials because they're funny and do a good job selling both the actor and the product.
4. New Era Rivalry commercials featuring Alec Baldwin and John Krasinski
I think the first commercial is my favorite but they've all made me laugh. New Era made a smart move in casting these two actors and using them as representatives of their respective baseball teams. I wonder if the other 48 states are tired of hearing about the Red Sox vs. Yankees rivalry, but it still lives on and continues to be a source of frustration and satire. Here are my thoughts on the second, third, fourth, fifth, and last commercials from this series.
5. Promo for season 3 of the NBC's "Community"
I watched all of the episodes from season 3 at leats twice in preparation for the fall premiere and was not disappointed with any of the episodes. This show is so wildly creative and packed with pop culture references and bumps up against the fourth wall and pushes boundaries in unexpected ways, and seeing all those descriptors written out it's no wonder that this show hasn't been a ratings darling and has been cancelled postponed indefinitely. All shows come to an end (well, maybe not Doctor Who) but it's much too soon for Community to end. It's poignant to look back at this promo and see just the tip of what this third season has given. How many other shows feature multiple timelines, a man with an elephant ivory toupee, shadow puppets, an epic Japanimation foosball showdown, and a Doctor Who parody in the same season?
This year I made:
1. Mexican hot chocolate cookies (chocolate snickerdoodles, essentially)
2. Candied ginger
3. A pen pal
4. A nine-year-old cry, because I accidentally pushed him over so that he fell on his injured leg
5. A blister on one of my knuckles, from grazing the inside of an oven when making aforementioned cookies
6. A few hundred dollars for participating in various medical research studies, in which I my blood drawn, needles stuck in my throat, and an ultrasound conducted on my uterus
These are seven books I read for the first time this year and would like to reread in 2012:
1. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
2. The Giver by Lois Lowry
3. Watchmen by Alan Moore and Dave Gibbons
4. Me Talk Pretty One Day by David Sedaris
5. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
7. I, Q: Independence Hall by Roland Smith
The past month, by the numbers:
3- different Christmas gigs
8- nights that I've played Christmas music
12- Christmas shows performed
24- number of hours that I've played/listened to Christmas music
30- number of times I played "Deck the Halls"
_59-amount of money paid for services
It's not hard to bemoan all I've endured for the sake of some more money in the bank, but ultimately I wouldn't do all this if I didn't like it or find any personal value or growth through the opportunities these shows have provided me. I've met some really cool people (musicians are artists, after all) and had some really good laugh in between periods of boredom and tedium.
I have been to the ballet a few times in my life, but this year, for the first time, I attended a show by myself. It was a surprisingly transcendent experience, even though it sounds a bit depressing, to go to the ballet solo. Moreover, the ballet I saw was Romeo and Juliet, and I witnessed many a heterosexual couple in attendence, and had I less self-esteem this scenario that I was in would be a prime opening scene of a romantic comedy: single female attends possible the most romantic ballet ever surrounded by couples swaddled in their own sense of coupleness and bemoans her loneliness. Pssht, as if that would happen to me. No, I really truly enjoyed the experience of going to see this ballet by myself and savoring the two-and-half-hours of Prokofiev's score set to the graceful moves of the dancers on stage. We all know the tragic ending, and yet I left the theater in a very satisfied, hovering mood. I spent the rest of the day smiling inwardly, utterly contented by the way this most famous love story was told. It's hard to completely understand Shakespeare to begin with, and not an easy undertaking to translate the written word into movement, into telling a story with the body-- but it really worked.
Sure, it's great to share experiences with people that you know, but it's worth seeking out shared experiences with strangers and doing things on your own, by yourself. I would like to see more ballet shows, whether by myself or with other people.
Ten memorable food/drink moments I had this year (not ranked):
1. BBQ Seitan sandwich (seitan is a vegan protein sourced derived from gluten)
2. Peach-flavored aloe vera drink with chunks of aloe pulp
3. Hibiscus tea
4. Rooibus tea with honey
5. Thanksgiving with a Korean twist
6. An adult root beer float: root beer vodka, cola, and high-quality locally made ice cream
7. Purple yam
8. Homemade onion foccacia
9. Stir-fried peppers and onions with American-style rice (made in a pan instead of a rice cooker)
10.CHOCOLATE MOUSSE CAKE
I can appreciate a new, modern twist on a classic. But even before I open my violin case I'm slightly defeatist about the contemporary Christian rock versions of traditional hymns that I will be playing for a Christmas eve gig. I'm not against either genre as a whole; I quite like Christmas hymns and take prejudicial umbradge at the fact that they have been "modernized". I'll have to wait to hear what it sounds actually sounds like, but I fear that the saying "don't fix what ain't broke" will apply to this music.
Still, there are much worse ways of making money, so I will stop complaining...now.
First reaction: suspicion. It's not like North Korean media is a reliable source. But I don't seen why they'd fake his death. If anything, they'd be apt to put out propoganda that he's immortal. After all, he was purported to not use the bathroom because he was superhuman and produced no waste. Also he supposedly made like eleven holes-in-one in the first time he ever played golf because he's a supreme being.
Second reaction: what does this change? Reminds me of the announcement of Osama Bin Laden's death. Dang, a lot happened this year in this world, amiright? Seal team 6 seals the deal, they capture Whitey, and now the ruler of the hermit kingdom is no more. Dang. But anyway, I'm disinclined to celebrate; he took over ruling North Korea from his father, and now his son looks like the most likely candidate to fill in the small but powerful shoes left behind.
Third reaction: be the one to tell my parents, who have actual opinions on this matter, having been born and raised in South Korea.
Fourth reaction: embarassing, but I'll admit it-- I wonder if this'll seep into the sixth season of 30 Rock. The fifth season of this NBC comedy ended with (spoiler alert!) Avery Jessup (played by Elizabeth Banks, who'll be busy for the next few years with a big role in the Hunger Games movies) taken hostage by North Korea, forced to be a "journalist" there, and maybe married to an officer. The sixth season is currently in production, and I wonder if/how the writers will incorporate this news into her plotline. But more importantly, I wonder if they're bring Margaret Cho back to give another devastating impersonation of le deceased
Kristen Schaal! She's moving on up and out of the "oh hey it's that chick" category of actresses, I think. She's been on the Daily Show, Flight of the Conchords, and in an episode of How I Met Your Mother; this year she did a smashing job at hosting the Writer's Guild Awards (well, from what I can tell from this opening monologue and song-and-dance number), she did these commercials, AND she scored what looks like a recurring guest role on 30 Rock (named Hazel Whatshername).
Out of the many commercials shot for the Sony Xperia PLAY, this one is my favorite:
Hehe, eyeballs. It's wonderfully bizarre and has that wonderfully weird juxtaposition of using a mobile device for looking at cat pictures and for fighting epic battles in full Xena battle regalia.And it has no profanity in it, whereas most of the other ones do.I’m not against profanity as a whole, and I think it’s used well in the other ads, really highlighting the contrast between her charming, girly voice and her intensely violent gamer side. Wonderful.
I find it hilarious that there are different types of spoken English language (American, The Queen's, Australian) and that there are distinct accents within those regions. So many words that are pronounced differently, and sometimes it's not even a regional thing so much as a personal tendency based off how one is raised. What do I mean?
Take the word "new". Do you say it as "nyew" or "nooh"? I think I use the former for "New England" and the latter when I say "New York". It's just too busy for my lazy tongue to go back and make two consecutive "y" sounds.
Or the word "aunt". Should a someone teaching English abroad tell his/her students to say it as "ant" or "ont"? Answer: both. But there's no real rhyme or reason to which one to use. I have a friend with an Ant Mary and Ont Michelle. Why? Well, because.
Aaand the word that got me thinking about this topic is bagel. Duh, you might say, it's pronounced "bay-gull". Well, that's what I think is right, too. I had never heard it said any other way until this:
This almost seems like some made-up pronunciation used for comic effect, right? Well, actually (yes, I'm pushing the bridge of my glasses further up my nose as I write this), creator Dan Harmon actually mentions in the commentary track for this episode that he says "bagel" weirdly. The way he says it is more like "baegle", a cross between the regular version and Britta's version. And he says it's not a regional funny Wisconsin thing.
And one last thing: pronunciation. Some people say it verbatim, others say "pro-noun-ciation". Not a regional or national thing, I think. Curious, all the same
It's easy to be cynical about Christmas, but for me it's hard to maintain that necrotic attitude in the face of classic Christmas cartoons like the one below.
What do I love? Lots of stuff:
1. Even just the music that accompanies the Buena Vista title page is comforting, welcoming.
2. Chip and Dale don't cross the line into Alvin and the Chipmunks cloyingly squeaky voices.
3. Nobody leaves any footprints in the snow (makes me appreciate how far animation has come).
4. Combination of music and animation when Mickey cuts down the tree.
5. The way Mickey cuts down the tree so that the bottom is a perfect point.
6. The small visual joke from 2:22-2:25 [Chip (or Dale?) pokes his butt and says "Hey, wake up!" and-- SURPRISE-- actually he was poking Dale's (or Chip's) butt instead, HAHAHA].
7. View of the tree decorations from inside the tree.
8. Santa Claus candles gag.
9. Shorn of leaves and ornaments, at 6:10 the tree looks like a Charlie Brown one.
10.Mickey forgives all, because aww, chipmunks in our tree!
11.Happy ending with traveling carol singers--wait, a trio of a singer, a cello and an accordion?! In the snow?! <-- Not intended as a backhanded compliment, but this was what I found to be the most LOL-ing part of this cartoon.
2. A friend named Viviana, so I can call her Vivi-AHN-nuh like the nightclub announcer
3. Vivian the Chanteuse's dress
4. An occasion to wear said dress
My mind first interpreted her dress as green, much like the one Keira Knightley's character wears in Atonement
But I feel less sure the more I think about it. It's probably red. Eh, in any case, if I could get this dress I would want it in a rich plum color, but if it really is an emerald green I wouldn't mind.
I like to drink chai tea around this time of year. I'm a pro when it comes to losing things, and I have lost many a glove and mitten; hot beverages make nice replacements. I like the creamy, spicy taste, the warm I get from drinking it and holding it.
Chai tea without the chai is just black tea, maybe with a hint of some spices. Maybe. Or, it could taste like breast milk, and vice versa.
I understand Disney's intentions but really? Does a female have to be royalty in order to be taken seriously and given her own movie and TV show? I understand the need to teach kids good morals and the fun tie-ins with the adult Disney princesses dropping in for animated cameos, I get it. I get that it's the first time a kid is a princess and the audience will get to see her grow up in royalty. Can't we just have a fun, adventerous, sweet-type girl kid who isn't a habitual ball gown wearer?
And in the back of my mind, after this first knee-jerk reaction, I thought back to this clip from 30 Rock.
Well done Disney. This movie and TV series will affirm to little white girls that they really are pretty.
Performing on autopilot is both elating and disconcerting. I mean, the whole point of rehearsing is to completely know the lines or the music. One of the phrases that one of my favorite conductors used to say was that, "You should practice your music until you know it backwards, forwards, and upside-down while standing on your head in the corner." I know I've put in considerable practice hours when I don't have to look at the music and and it all becomes muscle memory so my fingers just go where they have to without my having to think too much about it. That's what it means to know something by heart.
But then that runs the danger of becoming perfunctory, a nearly mindless activity, a reflex incited by a single small but decisive whack in the right place. It runs the danger of not being music but notes-- ones that follow an aurally pleasing pattern, but notes nonetheless. My mind might start to wander to other, unrelated topics, then snap back to the music when I wonder whether or not I missed a repeat. Or I'll get cocky and randomly try a new fingering, which will mess up the whole rest of the sequence.
Bottom line: autopilot is dangerous? Or: Success can be dangerous because it can lead to smugness, cockiness, laziness...
Three books I read this year that tickled my brain, that were utterly delightful to read thanks to the way they were written. A lot of the charm comes from the magnetic narrator.
The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
The book is narrated by Death, perhaps the Ultimate Omnipresent Narrator. A bit fanciful, a lot poignant.
Lolita by Vladimir Nabakov
The very first paragraph got me hooked, and the writing style of the rest of the book is the same: luscious and linguistically delicious. The narrator is an admitted pedophile, and yet it's hard not to be drawn into his personality, worldview, and the unraveling of his plot.
The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao by Junot Diaz
The narrator, or the Watcher, as he refers to himself, is a friend of the titular character. He drops in f-bombs mixed with Spanglish mixed with Oscar's vernacular, which is nerdy and sesquipedalian. Also read a bit like a modern-day myth or tragedy or fable. You read and decide which one it is.
In Peter Pan, Wendy is highly regarded by everyone-- Peter, the Lost Boys, all the pirates-- for her storytelling abilities. In that sense she's reminiscent of Scheherazade, the woman who had to keep telling stories to entertain the king, lest he get bored and decide to kill her. In both cases, being a storyteller is related to being female; to me this is special/strange because most of the prominent storytellers I can think of are all male. When I think of the word griot, a storyteller who passes on oral traditions, I see an African male. I think of Hans Christian Anderson, the Brothers Grimm, Walt Disney...
Life is just a series of stories, some interesting and some not. In his appearance on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon actor Patton Oswalt explained his take on being an actor:
Basically, it's great to earn money, but it's great(er) to have a memorable experience that over time will become an anecdote to relate at a dinner party or some other social event. I feel the same way, and that sometimes it's worth some present-day discomfort that can be crafted to yield the laffs in the future.
I felt a bit like Allison Reynolds when making a sandwich today, because I put peanut butter and M&M's inside two slightly-burned pieces of English muffin. It's not a snack completely devoid of nutrients, as peanut butter has a considerable amount of protein, fat, and carbohydrates on its own. The chocolate within the M&M's melted slightly but the candy shell held up and gave a nice crunchy when I bit into it. Not as crunchy as Cap'n Crunch cereal, but twas a good and sweet substitute. Fear not, though, for I do not like Pixy (Pixi?) stix and will never add them to a sandwich.
Need I explain? Okay: these are some songs I play when I want to get motivated to do something that I either don't want to do and/or causes anxiety. Not necessarily the same as a work-out list, and not necessarily in this order:
- Lip Gloss by Lil Mama
- I'll Make a Man Out of You from the Mulan soundtrack
- Slaughter by Billy Preston, by way of the Inglourious Basterds soundtrack
Duh. Two things I love: the Harry Potter book series and wordplay/lexical fun. Why haven't I written a post like this before?
A selection (read: anything I can come up with right now) of puns or wordplay in the book series:
Remus Lupin
- in Roman mythology, Remus is the twin brother of Romulus, for whom the city of Rome was named. Both were orphaned and were raised by the she-wolf Lupa
- Lupine= wolf-like
- Remus Lupin, 3rd year professor of Defense Against the Dark Arts, is a werewolf
Knockturn Alley
- introduced in book 2, this is a seedy place and the prime location for finding anything or anyone related to dark magic
- say it all in one breath: "knockturnalley". It becomes "nocturnally".
- nocturnal= having to do with the night/the dark--> the time/place of dark magic
Professor Dolores Umbridge
- evil, evil lady and firm believer in eugenics and cruelly punishing those who she finds disagreeable
- dolor in Spanish (and in other Latin-based languages, I assume) means "pain"
- to take umbradge in something is to take offense or be insulted by something
Professor Minerva McGonagall
- the strict and wise Transfiguration professor
- Minerva is the Roman name for Athene/Athena, the goddess of wisdom and strategy
Sirius Black
- Harry's godfather, who is also an Animagus who can transform into a black dog at will
- Sirius is the dog constellation
- black--> duh, he can turn into a black dog; also, he is initially seen as an antagonist and misidentified as the one who betrayed Harry's parents to the Dark Lord
I finally saw a live-action non-musical movie version of J.M. Barrie's eternally youthful male Peter Pan. I was only slightly acquainted with this story as a child and until now only saw snippets of the Disney version, the famous live-action one with a woman in the titular role, and Hook, which is more of a contemporary modernization of the show than a proper movie adaptation.
I don't tend to sympathize with the villian, but in this case I feel bad for poor ol' Captain James Hook. His goal in life is to defeat a child-- a smug little boy-child!-- and he's lost his right hand to a ticking crocodile (symbolism of a biological clock or something?), and <SPOILER ALERT> he dies alone with no one (well, no female) to love or mourn him. This guy's got it rough, and I pity the fool. And there's some real Oedipal/Electraesque (Electracal? Electran?) about the fact that he and Mr. Darling, the father, are traditionally played by the same actor to better highlight the poignant struggle between children and parents when it comes to growing up. It's not hard to see why this is a children's classic, but it's also so very tragic and heartbreaking. It is true nostalgia, for algia is Latin for "pain", and nostalgia is to "remember with pain". That is what it means to realize that you're not a child any more, and it's rougher than realizing that you're too tall to enjoy the McDonald's or Burger King play time area.
Still, I enjoyed the movie and think it was artfully directed.
I'm at the beginning of my last four weeks of this year-long blog and recently looked back on some past posts and blog stats. I might've laughed out loud when I saw that one of my most viewed posts was the one labelled "What I wear in my dreams". The post was all about how I covet the entire (custom-tailored) wardrobe worn by the cast of the movie Inception and the title a reference to the fact that the movie is mostly set within a dream world (within a dream world, within a dream world...) I wonder how much of the web traffic was due to the links to images included in the post and how much of it was due to the accidentally misleading title. For the record, I rarely remember what I wear in my dreams because it's usually of no consequence to the plot.
Except that in a recent dream I was in a production of the classic Christmas ballet The Nutcracker, and I was playing the part of one of the mice. Hence, the rat/mouse costume.
I've seen several productions of this ballet (and been in one production several times), and my favorite just might be Matthew Bourne's production. It's more tragic and sinister, but more fun and bright. To me, Matthew Bourne is to dance what Tim Burton is to film-- in terms of the tone of the production. Here's one of my favorite scenes from his Nutcracker:
By the twelfth day of this month I will have played about 20 hours' worth of Christmas music, which includes having played "Jingle Bells" sixty times. This is not the first time this has happened, and I've already gone through enough Christmas shows to anticipate how I will feel about Christmas as a result of playing almost every song imaginable related to this most festive winter holiday:
1. Denial
At first I think, pfft I'll be alright, I've done this several times before. I'm immune to Christmas fatigue, ha ha ha!
2. Anger
I will start to fantasize about roasting Rudolph over an open fire and punching Jack Frost in the nose. The anger will translate into a brusque fortissimo on poor Julian Matthias, my violin.
3. Bargaining
I mark time with each piece and force myself to remember that I'm getting paid to play this music, and there are much worse ways to earn money.
4. Acceptance (I don't usually have enough energy to go through the real step 4 from the Kübler-Ross model)
Every song I play is so bad that it becomes good, and, ironically or not, I actually start to enjoy playing all that music and sing along when I can (despite my lack of singing voice).
Oh, if only these really existed and I could've received them as a child! Actually, I wouldn't mind receiving them now, as they'd make primo desk toys.
I know that there are various offbeat action figures available for purchase, ranging from the Mozart to Sherlock Holmes. Female action figures that are marketed toward females (girls) are called dolls, and female action figures marketed to males (usually men) are (usually) x-rated sculptures.
I would've loved "Jane Eyre" as a tween and I'm embarassed that I only read it for the first time this year. But better late than never, right?
I just checked back to the very first post, with all the rules guidelines I set for myself. So far I've kept up with all but one of them, which was the one where I would write a book or movie review a week. Oops. It's not as if I haven't had enough intake of books or movies this year but that I'm laaazzzy and don't want to write a measley review for an outstanding work of literature or film.
I've already made a list of the books I've read for the first time this year. This is the list of movies I have seen this year for the first time, and italicized titles signify that I saw the movie in a theater, boldfaced indicates that it was adapted from something else.
In the order that I wrote the list: 1. Rango
2. Dogtooth (2010) 3. The Fighter(2010) 4. Persepolis (2007) adapted from two graphic novels
5. Spellbound (2004) (documentary)
6. The Brothers Bloom (2009) 7. In the Loop (2010) not quite an adaptation but a spin-off of the tv show The Thick of It
8. Center Stage (2000)
9. Back to the Future, part III (1990) 10. No Strings Attached
11. Despicable Me (2010) 12. Toy Story 3 (2010)
13. Rudo Y Cursi (2009) 14. Easy A (2010) loosely adapted/modernized version of The Scarlet Letter 15. Bridesmaids 16. X-Men: First Class comic books
17. Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid 18. Kung Fu Panda 2 19. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 book
20. Never Say Never (2011)
21. Something New (2006)
22. The Hours book
23. The Secret of Kells (2009) 24. Stage Door play
25. Hanna (2011)
26. The Kids are All Right (2010) 27. Thor (2011) comic book 28. Hook (1991) inspired by the story of Peter Pan 29. Mrs. Pettigrew Lives for a Day (2009) book adaptation 30. Iron Jawed Angels inspired by a dissertation of the same name
I derived these definitions from scanning multiple definitions offered by the internet.
demi- vierge
Encountered in Fear of Flying by Erica Jong definition: a female (girl or woman) who acts in a sexually provocative way without giving up her virginity. A demi-virgin, if you will.
manumission
Encountered in some text I was reading
definition: a slaveowner freeing his slaves
palimpsest
Encountered in the documentary Spellbound!, about the Scripps National Spelling Bee definition: manuscript or writing material that has had its original writing erased so it can be used again
saccadic
Encountered in this article by noted film critic Roger Ebert. definition: something to do with eye movements compensating when it comes to evaluating the size of objects?
sesquipedalian
Encountered on some random site I forgot to write down definition: having many syllables
Batman/Bruce Wayne and Sherlock Holmes have much in common: they are both incredibly smart, athletic, and charming men who solve and fight crime. To me it's interesting to note that in the latest movie adaptations of these characters, the former is an American comic book character played by Britain-born Christian Bale, and the latter is the second-most famous male British character (after Harry Potter, duh*) and played by the American Robert Downey Jr. Both are my heroes, and I'm not the first person to compare and contrast them. The following is just my own take on the debate, based on several categories:
In terms of physicality the characters are very well matched. Had he so desired, Sherlock could've become a boxer and made a career out of it. He's 6' 0" and has the capacity to be very energetic and athletic, but he has the proclivity-- and capacity-- to solve crimes without ever leaving the comforts of home at 221B Baker Street. Batman, on the other hand, is always on call and, uh, gets into lots of fights with criminals. He actively fights them in addition to solving and preventing past and future crime. Due to the nature of Bruce Wayne's daily (or should I say nightly?) life, I think he'd be the one in better shape and more likely to win if pitted against Sherlock.
When it comes to a battle of wits: never bet against a Sicilian when death is on the line!
I kid. I think neither men are even remotely Sicilian anyway. But I'd put money on Sherlock winning this round. Batman is smart but he gets a lot of help thanks to the technology and information he has at his fingertips. But Sherlock's brain is like a computer, and there's no wasted space in there because every iota of information stored is useful and important. He's literally written the book on hundreds of types of cigar and pipe ash so that one may be able to figure out crucial information about the person who smoked and left the ash behind. Sherlock's mind is purely logical and sharp as a tack, capable of deducing in the blink of an eye what Bruce Wayne's computers would take a few seconds to figure out.
Okay, so both have brains-- good brains. But what good are brains if you can't get women? I kid. But that conveniently brings me to the matter of their skillz with the ladiez. In this category the win goes to Bruce Wayne. Sherlock is good looking and knows how to turn on the charm when it comes to women-- in The Adventure of Charles Augustus Milverton he woos a maid and proposes to her within a week of meeting each other and she accepts him. But he only wooed her in order to get information about the man she works for and the layout of his mansion. If he wanted to, he could get a wife, but women don't interest him. He's heterosexual, but only slight; he's mostly asexual and uninterested in the female sex and domestic life as it was in his time. He seems to have had a complicated relationship with Irene Adler, who is the one woman named as a former love interest, but she seems to be mentioned only to prove that Sherlock is human. Irene Adler was kind of like his Catwoman, except more mysterious and less tortured.
Batman/Bruce Wayne: 2
Sherlock Holmes: 1
But this is only beginning...
*I don't have any research to back this up, but I think that the boy wizard has eclipsed the singular detective.
I think I've said it before but I'll say it again: I'm against cupcakes. They're too cutesy and trendy.
Today I perfected a recipe for a single-serve cake in a cup-- NOT a cupcake. This was one of those microwave-in-a-mug cake recipes that are bountiful on the interweb, but it was the first time I made one that was satisfactory to me. The ones I made in the past were too spongy, not well-baked or well-mixed. I tweaked the recipe from Instructables.com to suit my taste and my microwave (1250W).
Ingredients: The dry
scant 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon of dark brown sugar
2.5 tablespoons granulated white sugar
1 heaping tablespoon of cocoa powder The wet
3 tablespoons milk (any kind)
3 tablespoons vegetable oil or melted unsalted butter(*preferrable)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract Optional, but highly encouraged
one heaping tablespoon of chocolate chips, preferrably the small kind for mixing in pancake/waffle batter
Directions:
1. In a big microwave-safe mug, combine dry ingredients until homogenous
2. Push the ingredients to the bottom and the sides to form a well
3. Pour the wet ingredients into the well
4. Stir a few times to get it mostly combined
5. Add chocolate chips and stir a little more until everything looks combined--don't overmix!
6. Place mug in the microwave, set it to medium-high heat for 132 seconds.
7. Wait 15 seconds to let it cool down, then dig in straight from the mug! If you so desire, you can gently go around the edge with a spoon to coax the cake out and then turn it over on a plate and drizzle some chocolate syrup or accompany the cakelet with some vanilla ice cream.
This will never taste like an ordinary cake, made the conventional way in a conventional oven. It will have a spongy texture. But by adding a combination of brown and white sugars and not adding an egg, the cake has a fudgier taste and texture, and therefore is much more satisfying for me.
To me this looks like a Seussian cane or a blue plastic tapeworm with goiters. It's received many positive reviews on Amazon and I hope the recipient of this gift will find it useful at working out knots and sore muscles. - Blue Man Group tickets
I've seen the show twice at the same location but I wouldn't mind going a third time if it's with someone who's never gone before. Even though they do the same things, it's a different audience every time and the experience can be enhanced depending on seating and the person(s) I'm with for the show.
- Scarves/pashminas
Can't go wrong with this gift. Scarves are practical, fashionable, and not terribly expensive-- especially if you knit one yourself. Ah, if only I could knit faster and more consistently.
I think that gifts should be useful and something that the recipient wouldn't think to buy for her/himself. A head lamp falls under this category: unless you're a hiker or a spelunker (God, I love that word!) you might not think to buy one of these. It's easier to just buy a plain ol' flashlight. A head lamp is just a nice thing to have, an unnecessarily convenience.
I'm going to try to make these green tea shortbread cookies this year. I've never made them but they look so nice and festive and the recipe isn't anything complicated or demanding.
Let's call her...Tabitha, because I don't personally know anyone by that name. I met Tabitha in the third grade, and she was my foil, my opposite. I am short, rather stocky, quiet and introverted but in classroom settings I am eager bordering on obsequious. Tabitha was always the tallest girl in the class, with the slender but powerful muscles of a basketball player. In class she was shy and always smiled and laughed nervously when called on to answer a question, save for (surprise!) gym class, in which she put down everyone with her athletic prowess. I danced for a while but when it came to sports I always seemed to have two left feet and little to no hand-eye coordination.
On one hand, this sounds like it could be the classic case of BFFs who are complete opposites in that Abbott and Costello opposites attract kind of way. But there was no way that we could ever be friends, as our interest were so completely divergent, and I was such a prime target for taunting. She could've easily hurt me physically but instead, as is common with females, she verbally berated me when the teacher's attention was elsewhere and I was too much of a coward to stand up for myself or tattle. And what would I be able to tattle her for? It wasn't what she said but the way she said stuff to me, the way she made me doubt myself even when I knew I was right. And that mocking tone she used when she'd ask, "Are you crying?"
It didn't take too long for me to understand why she acted this way. She was the youngest child of her family, with at least one older brother and sister, and her brother acted exactly the same way, with that pompous sneering attitude prevalent among tween boys. She wasn't that bright, nor pretty or sociable enough to charm her way through life, so instead she exploited the weak in various ways through the years. Although I understand on a very basic level why she acted out, I have to admit that I cannot entirely forgive her and let it go. In high school she seemed to have toned it down a lot but in the few instances I was in a class with her I could still see her viciousness surface--toward other people, lucky for me. I'd love to just forgive and forget, but I can still readily recall how hurt my little third grade self felt, and the face of the girl Tabitha who inflicted that hurt on me.
Children's/Young Adult books
Balliett, Blue Chasing Vermeer The Wright 3
Chbosky, Stephen The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Collins, Suzanne The Hunger Games trilogy
Creech, Sharon Replay
Lowry, Lois The Giver The Willoughbys
Riordan, Rick The Red Pyramid
Smith, Roland I, Q: Independence Hall
Zusak, Markus The Book Thief
(total: 12)
Graphic novels
Satrapi, Marjane Embroideries Persepolis 2
Mignola, Mike Hellboy series: Seed of Destruction, Wake the Devil, and Darkness Calls
Miller, Frank 300
Moore, Alan and Dave Gibbons Watchmen
(total: 7)
Plays
Auburn, David Proof
Henley, Beth Crimes of the Heart
Miller, Arthur Death of a Salesman
(total: 3)
Non-fiction
Sedaris, David Me Talk Pretty One Day
Prejean, Helen Dead Man Walking
Woolf, Virginia A Room of One's Own
(total: 3)
Fiction
Atwood, Margaret The Penelopiad
Brontë, Charlotte Jane Eyre
Brontë. Emily Wuthering Heights
Brown, Dan The Lost Symbol
Butler, Octavia Kindred
Christie, Agatha Evil Under the Sun Murder on the Orient Express
Dumas, Alexandre The Three Musketeers
Jong, Erica Fear of Flying
Larson, Stieg The Millenium Trilogy
LeCarre, John The Spy Who Came in from the Cold Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy
McCarthy, Cormac The Road Nabokov, Vladimir Lolita
Valdes-Rodriguez, Alisa The Dirty Girls Social Club Woodrell, Daniel Winter's Bone
Yamanaka, Lois-Ann Heads by Harry
(total: 19)
Total from this entire list that have been or will be made into films: 18
There are so many ways to read a sentence that sometimes it's nice to write select words in italics, just like this, to indicate what's important or what should be stressed. But sometimes I can't write in italics because that option is not available. The tacit understanding is to use asterisks to denote stress, but I dislike this pratice. I feel that it turns the word or words into overzealous, pom-pow wielding cheerleaders. Look at *this*. It looks ridiculous. It's not that I am against cheerleaders but rather that I resent making my words resemble them. Using italics makes me feel so much more refined and elegant. I'd rather use asterisks singly, as an alternative to using parenthesis*.
*except for when I would like to interrupt my writing with the neat curves of a parenthetical thought.
The film Once begins with the unnamed male lead busking, or playing an instrument in a public area for money. Like most buskers, he has his instrument case open to receive coins and bills from passersby, but in this scene someone picks it up and tries to make off with the money. All this was shot from far away, and I read somewhere (IMDb, probably) that on one of the takes someone actually tried to intercede and stop the supposed robber because they weren't aware that filming was taking place and that it wasn't real.
I think that the recollection of this scene, as sparked by my video hunt of the Academy Award acceptance speech given by its two main characters, and having seen a few buskers recently has motivated me to take it up myself. There are 40 days left in the year, and 40 posts left in this project/experiment and I am ready to be done with it. Next year, I've decided, I'll busk as my New Year's resolution. I've already looked up information regarding permits and performing in subway stations and used that as my benchmark. Where I live, I have to fill out a bunch of papers and write a check for $25 in order to secure a permit to play in designated areas in public transportation stations, so I'll stop making myself busk when I've made $25.01. I have no idea how long it'll take me to make that money playing my poor little violin, but I think 12 months should be enough time. I think.
I came across this acceptance speech when looking for some Ken Jeong stand up for yesterdays video:
This is one of my favorite award acceptance speeches because it suits the MTV movie awards: it's profane but turns out very serious in the end.. There's nothing like an honest, hilarious, and heartfelt display of emotion (bonus point to me for using three adjectives that start with the letter h!)
Another one I like: Lin Manuel Miranda's for the Tony Awards, for In the Heights.
My favorite part is when he flashes the Puerto Rican flag.
Aaaan lastly is the first bit that pops in my mind when I hear the phrase "classy, humble acceptance speech"
embed disabled. video available here: http://youtu.be/qx8yLvb0gZM
I can't say enough good things about this movie and its soundtrack. Listen to it. Love it. Share it. If anything, give it a try because the musicians who are behind it are so genuinely talented. Make art!
As I'm sure I've written before, Korean was probably the first language I learned growing up. I was born and raised here in the States, in Massachusetts, and watched a lot of PBS as a baby, but I also watched some Korean children's shows and my parents spoke to me in a pretty even combination of Korean and English. When someone asked what my name was I'd reply that I was 지원 (G1), which is actually my legal middle name; I didn't consistently identify myself with my first name until I started going to school. My mastery of Korean has stayed at about that level, so I sound like an Americanized five-year-old when I speak it.
The Korean language is mostly foreign to me, but at the same time it's comforting to hear it, to listen to it. It's music to my ears. I don't always know what is being said when it is spoken but I can identify the tone. To me its the prettiest sounding Asian language, but of course I'm completely biased. Then again, it can also be the scariest, because it's the language that's used on me and my siblings when we get in trouble...and Ken Jeong seems to agree at the intensity of the Korean language:
Still, I can't get out of my head this memory from childhood, of waking up on Sunday morning and just lying in bed, listening to my parents talk to each other in Korean, speaking very lovingly toward each other, undisturbed (for the time being) by us kids. I hope to have that kind of facility with the Korean language, but I'm closer to being fluent in Spanish; it'd be awesome to be able to say that I'm trilingual but for now I'm aiming to be bilingual in English and Spanish.
The musical adaptation of the movie-musical Newsies is coming to Broadway! Finally!
It premiered earlier this year in a theater in New Jersey and according to this article it'll be on Broadway starting in March. Newsies is one of my all-time favorite films, and the first that I ever went fan-crazy for. I watched it for the first time in the summer before my junior year of high school and I would watch this movie every day-- or, at least, watch all the musical numbers. For "fun" I wrote an essay on why this should be made into a live-action stage version, and it's almost as if all the chanting and spells worked! (Just kidding.) But seriously, this news is the best birthday/Christmas present I could get.
