Over the past few years I’ve read over several thousand books (I wish I was joking) and watched several hundred movies. A lot of these books and movies were new to me. Before you start talking about how much time I’ve wasted doing this, don’t. I’m sure that there are many things you’ve done in your spare time that you enjoyed that I could say was wasted time.
I talked earlier this week about trying new things and how it can be a really fun experience to get out of your comfort zone.
However there are also times when you like something a lot and you get comfort from rereading a book or rewatching a movie.
I know there are some folks who don’t like doing this. To them, once they finish something, it’s out of sight out of mind. It’s not a big deal to retain the knowledge so once it’s done, out the brain it goes. Whenever I talk about rewatching a movie multiple times in theaters, they don’t understand why I do this. I don’t understand why it’s so hard to understand to be honest. I like something a lot enough that I’m willing to pay to go do it again. I’ve explained this before: the first time I’m super excited so I’m just geeking out, the second time I’m trying to catch everything I missed the first time because I was geeking out to pay much attention, and any times after that is to just enjoy the movie.
When it comes to rereading books, usually it’s because the stories are comfort reads and bring back some form of nostalgia. I try to read the Harry Potter series and the Chronicles of Narnia series at least once a year. Every time I do so, I always seem to find new things. Sometimes it’s because I’m getting older and read it in a different light. Sometimes it’s because I’ve learned things along the way and become aware of new information that makes the reading experience different. Also it’s just because I enjoy it. It’s like revisiting an old friend and you’re catching up.
Right now I have an insanely high TBR pile. You really don’t want to know how many books I have to read. Plus I keep getting new books from the library all the time. But there are still times when I want to go back and rediscover books that I’ve read years ago. It’s especially tempting when I read/hear from other people discovering my favorite books for the first time. I want to go back and join them again. It’s easier rewatching movies than rereading books mainly because it takes a shorter amount of time to do the former. It gives the same feeling though.
Basically when it comes to repeating a book or movie, it has to be something that I highly enjoyed the first time around. While I can occasionally give something a second chance, it’s rare because I’d rather spend time on something I really enjoy or trying out something new.
What are some books or movies that you can watch a gazallion times and enjoy them? What makes something worthy of experiencing multiple times because you want to
I’ve been on a major reading kick lately. I know some of you still think that I read nonstop all the time like I used to but nope, that’s not true at all. I’ll do that thing where I read voraciously for a week and then I don’t want to read anything for two. I’m still trying to make my goal of 225 books for 2014 but I’ve only read 66 so I’m starting to think I might not make it.
I fully realize that reading is not about numbers or merely trying to get your TBR stack down. I’m reading books I actually do want to read. So right now that means a lot of Christian fiction, young adult fiction, and contemporary women’s fiction. I never feel the need anymore to defend what I read. I used to. Especially when I was book blogging because sometimes I felt like I wasn’t reading more heavy stuff like other bloggers. But I’ve since learned that it’s perfectly fine to read whatever I want to read. I’m still learning from my books and I don’t feel the need to try to impress anyone anymore. Not everyone will have my tastes and you know what? That’s perfectly ok. You can throw me all the dubious looks you want.
Speaking of young adult fiction, I saw The Fault In Our Stars last night at an advanced showing. I haven’t read the book but I sorta knew what was going to happen. I know shocking right? Normally, I never see a movie without reading the book first but I’ve actually never even read a single John Green book before either. *ducks from all the flying tomatoes*
I’m not going to spoil anything for those who haven’t read the book or still want to see the movie but I sobbed like a baby. If you’ve seen the trailer or even just the poster, I mean it’s story about teenagers in love and there’s cancer involved. I want to go back and read the book now because I thought the movie was really well done. It felt authentic and not trying to force feelings on you. Throughout the theater you kept hearing the sniffles. I do enjoy a good movie cry and this one was a good stupid cry. That is once I got over the fact that it wasn’t Tris and Caleb being incestuous with each other. Also, Shailene Woodley’s hair is incredible; when my hair was that short, it NEVER looked that good.
If you’ve read down this far, then congrats and you’re about to be rewarded with…. a book giveaway!
Do you like beach-y fiction? Do you like contemporary women’s fiction? Do you need a vacation read?
Thanks to the author, I’m able to giveaway an ARC (advanced reader’s copy) of The House on Mermaid Point by Wendy Wax. (Berkely Trade, July 2014)
Book synopsis: In this new novel from the author of Ten Beach Road and Ocean Beach, three unlikely friends who were thrown together by disaster get a do-over on life, love, and happiness . . .
Maddie, Avery, and Nikki first got to know one another—perhaps all too well—while desperately restoring a beachfront mansion to its former grandeur. Now they’re putting that experience to professional use. But their latest project has presented some challenges they couldn’t have dreamed up in their wildest fantasies—although the house does belong to a man who actually was Maddie’s wildest fantasy once . . .
Rock-and-roll legend “William the Wild” Hightower may be past his prime, estranged from his family, and creatively blocked, but he’s still worshiped by fans—which is why he guards his privacy on his own island in the Florida Keys. He’s not thrilled about letting this crew turn his piece of paradise into a bed-and-breakfast for a reality show . . . though he is intrigued by Maddie. Hard as that is for her to believe as a newly single woman who can barely manage a dog paddle in the dating pool.
But whether it’s an unexpected flirtation with a bona fide rock star, a strained mother-daughter relationship, or a sudden tragedy, these women are in it together. The only thing that might drive them apart is being trapped on a houseboat with one bathroom . . .
I’ve read all of Wendy’s books before and each one I’ve really enjoyed. They are perfect summertime reads!
To enter, fill out this form below and I’ll choose and email the winner next Friday. Good luck!
So more fun again with talking about faith and entertainment.
It’s a well known fact that when it comes to translating the Bible into works of art, there is always much debate over how it’s done. Whether it’s in books or movies, when you take the Bible and transfer it to a different medium there are always going to be people who find this offensive and sacrilegious no matter how well it’s done.
Me personally: unless something goes so far off the deep end that it really feels like the author/director is purposely mocking my faith with their work, then I really have no problems with creative license. My faith is strong enough that one movie or book isn’t going to shatter it.
I’ve been looking forward to seeing the movie Noah directed by Darron Aronofsky that’s coming out at the end of March. The story of Noah is well known to anyone and it hasn’t been done SO many times that it’s repetive. The cast list is fantastic (Russell Crowe, Jennifer Connelly, Anthony Hopkins, Emma Watson) and Aronofsky is an awesome award winning director. I’m really excited that this is being done as a Hollywood movie because that means that the special effects, acting, and directing will actually be GOOD. Because I’m sorry, 9 times out of a 10, a movie made by Christians just doesn’t have the same artistic value.
In an article posted in The Hollywood Reporter, Aronofsky was quoted as saying:
“We wanted to smash expectations of who Noah is. The first thing I told [star] Russell [Crowe] is, ‘I will never shoot you on a houseboat with two giraffes behind you.’ … You’re going to see Russell Crowe as a superhero, a guy who has this incredibly difficult challenge put in front of him and has to overcome it. … I had no problem completely honoring and respecting everything in the Bible and accepting it as truth. … For people who are very literal-minded, it would be great to communicate that the themes of the film are very much in line with the themes of the Bible—ideas about hope, second chances and family. If they allow that, they’re going to have an incredible experience with the movie. If they don’t allow it, it’s theirs to lose.”
Now for me personally, I’m perfectly fine with his explanation and I’m ready to see what he’ll bring to the table to the story. Because for me, even though the story of Noah is in the Bible, there’s still a whole bunch that’s missing. This is why I like Biblical fiction because you can expound on the lives of the characters that the Bible leaves out. And for me as long as accurate historical research is done (that’s the historian in me), I’m fine with creative licensing to flesh out the characters and make their stories come alive. My only quip would be if they got things historically accurate, and I’m a bit surprised that most of the cast is white, but as long as the story is good, I’m ok with that.
But not everyone agrees with me. I’ve been reading comments where people are already planning on boycotting because they feel that nothing should be added to the story. And how it’s sacrilegious to bring this on the screen. Many of these comments are from Christians, who from what I can tell seem to be VERY conservative in their thinking and to me seem a little close minded. They don’t want to give it a chance. The comments then becoming judgemental and honestly a little ignorant and the legalism in these folks makes me want to keep slamming my head on a desk.
Which then frustrates me because these are the same people that complain that Hollywood will not ever cater to those who are Christians. Yet here again is Hollywood putting out a movie by a well known and respected director who is saying that he DOES accept the Bible as truth, and Christians immediately want to boycott without seeing anything. And you wonder why Hollywood doesn’t put out faith based movies? Because when they test the waters, YOU RUN AWAY FROM IT.
Here’s the other thing. The story of Noah is from the Old Testament which is really the Torah which is of course the Jewish holy book. Aronofsky was raised Jewish so he knows the stories. I think some Christians tend to forget that what is in the Bible isn’t 100% just for Christians. While I’m not denying at all that what is in the Bible isn’t truth and God’s word, there’s also a lot more that happened in those stories that we just don’t know because we weren’t there. I don’t believe it’s “adding to the word of God” anymore than I felt The Da Vinci Code did. I’m strong enough in my faith to not believe that one movie or story is going to wreck it.
And that’s why I’m looking forward to this movie and any other Biblical adaption that’s coming out this year. For me personally, these things will always be a good discussion starter. I don’t come out of any movie automatically believing what I’ve seen is true. I am not the person that instantly believes everything I hear or see. And if this movie can bring this story to life and eventually change lives, I’m all for it. If it’s just entertainment to me, I’m still all for it. I’m just not going to immediately boycott something BEFORE it even comes out because it may or may not be what I want it to be.
So while there will probably be a lot of Christians that refuse to see this movie, you can count on this one Christian that’s going to be there. At the Alamo Drafthouse. Eating endless bowls of popcorn with butter. Anyone want to join me?
When my sisters and I go home for the holidays, it’s become a yearly tradition to take our parents out to the movies. This is actually a bigger deal than you might think because my parents rarely go to the movie theater. They don’t feel the need because they (finally!) have cable TV, Netflix, the library, and a ROKU so they can watch all the K-Dramas they want. Going to the movies cost a lot of money and the sound is too loud (or so says my mom). They don’t mind waiting until it comes out on DVD.
Even so, we still like to take them out when we’re all home just so they can experience the movie the way it was meant to be. Last year, as everyone in the family thoroughly enjoys James Bond, we took them to see Skyfall. This year, after a positive attitude towards seeing Tangled on DVD, we decided to go see Frozen. Animated movies can be hit or miss with my parents. We try to take them to see the Pixar movies because we think that’s the best animated movies out there (other than the Kung Fu Panda movies and How to Train Your Dragon which they surprisingly liked because they thought Toothless looked like our pug). We soon discovered that there are certain types of animated movies that they like and don’t. They will say yes to humans, talking animals, and objects that act like humans. They do not like movies with monsters or inanimate objects that don’t talk or cars that talk. Ratatouille, Toy Story 3, Brave, and Up were all huge hits while Cars and Wall-E tanked VERY badly. (To be fair, Cars is probably MY least favorite Pixar movie ever and I still haven’t seen Cars 2.)
So to test them out for this year’s movie, like I said we had them watch Tangled and they greatly enjoyed it. The story was a hit, good songs, there were humans, and Pascal the chameleon reminded them of our pug. We figured then if they like that movie, then they would greatly enjoy Frozen.
Now if you haven’t seen Frozen yet, I’m not going to spoil it for you but I’m going to tell you that you need to go see it. It’s one of the best movies Disney (not counting Pixar) has put out in a LONG time. I would rank it in the era with The Lion King. It’s wonderfully animated, memorable songs, and a very funny/emotional storyline. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting. Mainly because whoever did the marketing for the movie had no idea how to market it. My sister and I thought it was going to be about the stupid snowman but it ended up being a delightful surprise.
On our trip to the theater, we soon discovered that it was take your parent to the movies day and we were just like everyone else. Except for the fact that were 20 years older than all the other kids in the theater. Unfortunately for us, we had to sit near the front of the theater which is not really fun. But this was a new theater back home that had seats that reclined so it wasn’t really that bad. The parents seemed pretty excited about the Disney short that was shown in front of the movie. If you have seen it then you will chuckle that my mom thought that they had actually come out into our actual theater.
Watching the movie again was a delight for me. But it was really good for my parents as well. They seemed enthralled throughout the entire movie. No one fell asleep! Nor was it too loud for them either. They enjoyed Olaf, laughed appropriately (sometimes they don’t catch the jokes, plus there is no closed captioning in theaters), got scared/nervous during certain scenes, and gasped at the twist. It was a delightful time for everyone. It’s a good sister movie so seeing it with my sisters again was like “Oh hey, I appreciate you a little more, *nods politely at each other”. It was a good family bonding time. Also I might add that even though the theater was packed with kiddies, they were all quite well-behaved. No one shouted or cried. Well done, parents. We all walked out saying everyone enjoyed it, which is when you know the film is well done.
So that was our family’s annual trip to the movies. Because we as a whole group don’t do it that often, it makes it more special for us. Sometimes we even buy popcorn (GASP, no really this is a big deal, though our family LOVES popcorn). No idea what will be out next year for us to enjoy, but whatever it is, I’m sure it’ll be a good time.
2013, despite everything else that was going on in my life, was a very geeky year for me. While I didn’t get to go to any cons this year (mainly due to not having a job), I still got to experience a ton of geeky things that I thoroughly enjoyed.
One of my New Year’s Resolutions was to read 200 books in 2013. Now to most of you, that sounds like A LOT of books. But if you used to read my old blog, then you’d think 200 is a small number for me. I mean, I used to crank out 400-500 books a year, and one year I read 624 books. Then life got in the way, and my reading decreased dramatically. I think in 2012 I read maybe 50 books? So I knew for 2013, that I wanted to get back to reading and I set a goal. There were A LOT of times throughout the year that I thought I wasn’t going to make it. But I also realized that without the pressure of book blogging and review deadlines, reading became pleasurable again. And it was just nice to read stories and information for fun. My final numbers for 2013 were 217 books. I will admit that I reread the entire Harry Potter series and the Alice McKinley series but you know a book is a book. My goal for 2014 is 225 books .We’ll see what happens. Oh and don’t ask me what my favorite book was. Unless you have more than a few minutes.
I found new favorite TV shows this year. And I’m sure by now you’re tired of hearing me talk about them. But I’m going to. AGAIN. That’s right. 2013 was the year of Deborah discovers Doctor Who and Breaking Bad. I binged watch BB like WHOA. So good. When I finally caught up with the live episodes, it was torture seeing them and not knowing what was going to happen. There were many times I screamed at the TV.
And now everyone knows that I’m a Whovian. Yes, I started watching Doctor Who because it seemed like the thing to do only to find myself slightly obsessed. So. Many. Feels. I really love this show. It’s so British and geeky and meta. And so many other things. I binged watched throughout the year so that I could catch up in time to watch the 50th Anniversary special with everyone else. That’s A LOT of episodes mind you. And along the way, I also learned a lot of about the history of the show and the impact it’s had on pop and geek culture. It got to the point that I became a bigger fan than all my other friends who had tried to get me into the show previously. I will say though, I wasn’t a big fan of the Christmas episode. The 50th anniversary special was SO awesome. The Christmas one bored me. But that’s ok. We’ll just see what next year brings when we get to see what Peter Capaldi will bring to the table. Also my friends and family have realized that I love the show so much that I received quite a number of Doctor Who Items for Christmas including TARDIS knee socks, TARDIS fleece blanket, and a TARDIS journal. When I find a new geek fandom, I tend to become quite easy to shop for during holidays and birthdays.
If you know me very well then you know I love movies and seeing them in the theater is quite awesome. In 2012, one of my best friends and I were always going to see movies. It became our thing Plus I did this thing where I saw The Avengers six times in the theater *cough*. In 2013, we still did that, but not as much. However I did get to see some awesome movies this year. Everything from sequels such as The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, Catching Fire, Loki 2 (I mean Thor 2) and Star Trek 2 to extremely funny comedies like The World’s End and This is the End to just awesomesauce like Gravity and Frozen. 2013 wasn’t the best year for movies IMHO but it was still a pretty good year. I have a feeling my movie going will cut back a little but I’m still looking forward to seeing my upcoming favorites on the big screen.
Tabletop gaming became a THING as game nights became popular among my group of friends. I will just say that expansion packs are like the gifts that just keep giving.
And finally, the geekiest thing I probably did all year was become all Nick Fury like and assemble an Avengers worthy team to participate in a geek trivia contest sponsored by ThinkGeek. I rounded up seven of my best geekiest friends and we became “The Darkest Timeline” and our evil selves took over (kudos if you know the reference). We trained in advance and realized that between the eight of us, our skills and knowledge were vast in all forms of geekness.
When we got there, we donned our beards and soon became immersed in a very intense and fast paced contest testing our geeky limits. We actually did quite well answering the most obscure of questions of geek trivia. There was even a bacon eating contest where contestants from each team had to eat what was a pound of bacon when uncooked the fastest. And this guy, became our hero, when he won. It was our team’s shining moment as we got a huge amount of bonus points for that round. When the final round came up, we were in second place. It was a Final Jeopardy question. The topic was literature. I got sent up because I read the most, though I argued this fact that as this was a geek trivia night, sci fi/fantasy would be more prevalent and we should send up Bacon Master instead. No one listened to me and so I was sent up on stage and risked away all our points. The question ended up being “What two authors wrote Good Omens?” Heck if I know??? And I see Bacon Master slump his head as he DID know the answer. I randomly picked two authors in the genre, Terry Brooks and RA Salvatore while every other person on stage knew it was Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett. I still get teased about it to this day.
But it was ok. Because we still had a blast. And it was the geekiest thing any of us had ever done and everyone loved us and our beards. And we even returned months later for our revenge though sadly the same thing happened again when we lost it in the final round again. But still, it’s one of my most favorite times of 2013 as several of my closest friends and I were able to be our true selves for a few hours and have a blast doing it. We were loved so much that ThinkGeek made us their cover image for the next event.
The Darkest Timeline posting with Steve and Timmy the ThinkGeek Monkey of Think Geek. We made Timmy a tiny beard during the next trivia night as well as one for OUR mascot, Tommy (Timmy’s Evil Twin)
And yes, in this group, I’m the only girl who is a geek.
So that’s just some highlights of my geeky year of 2013. Oh! I didn’t even mention I got to see and meet Chris Hardwick aka Nerdist or host of Talking Dead, in person! I would say it was a pretty nerdy year. I hope that this year continues to be so. At the very least I’ll make it as geeky as I want it to be. Maybe I’ll finally get to learn how to REALLY be Katniss this year! (Subtlety should be on my New Years Resolution list…but it’s not. Not this year.)
“Some people are meant to fall in love with each other but not meant to be together.”
Boy meets girl. Boy falls for girl. Girl tells boy she doesn’t want a relationship. Boy says it’s ok, he can handle it. Boy and girl become this weird kinda sorta no one is not sure what to make of it relationship that’s not an official relationship. Boy falls in love with girl. Girl decides she wants to back away because to her it was never a relationship, needs space, and disappears. Boy gets confused. Boy seeks advice. Time passes. Boy meets up with girl again. Boy thinks he has a chance. Boy finds out girl is engaged. Boy goes into depression. Time passes. Boy refinds his passion and himself. Boy starts to move on in his life. Boy sees girl one last time. Girl tells boy she found love, just not with him. Boy hurts one last time. Boy realizes she’s right and he will be ok. Boy leaves older, wiser, and smarter about relationships. Boy then meets new girl…
No I did not just tell you about myself and genderswapped all the characters. (Though it’s a familiar story…) What you just read is a very simplistic plot of one of my favorite movies (500) Days of Summer. (Props again to @theharmonyguy for making me watch this.) Why is it one of my favorites? Because as I just said, it’s horribly relatable. Almost everyone can usually identify with the two main characters, Tom (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) and Summer (Zooey Deschenel).
The movie is told in a nonlinear format, which initially can be confusing and if you are the type of person who needs to have their story told in order, well you’re not going to like it. I personally really like it here because it gives the viewer a chance to view the rise and fall of a relationship perhaps in the way you wish you could have viewed yours.
“Did you ever do this, you think back on all the times you’ve had with someone and you just replay it in your head over and over again and you look for those first signs of trouble?”
When I first saw the movie, I was wearing my JGL glasses and was like poor Tom! Summer is a horrible person! Who wouldn’t want him? Then after multiple rewatchings, I soon realized that while I am still a Tom, he’s not perfect and he has MANY flaws. I think the problem stems because he is played by JGL who is insanely likeable is so many ways that I will not go into right now. And I think the audience is focused more on that vs the character itself.
These are my thoughts. Tom is a romantic who is so intent on finding the myth of “the one”. Why shouldn’t he be, when in all aspects of our society and culture we’ve made finding our soul mate the holy grail of everything? When he finds Summer, he falls head over heels in love with her, and just disregards everything else, including the fact that she says that she does not want to be in a relationship now. I kinda now feel like he set himself up for it. He probably should have asked himself “Am I in love with this person or am I in love with the idea of this person?”
It probably didn’t help that they ended up sleeping together which most likely made Tom feel even more connected with Summer. This is why it’s good to learn to be intentional up front and realize that if the person doesn’t want what you want, it probably won’t work. At the same time, sometimes you can’t help who you have feelings for no matter how much you guard your heart. And sometimes you really care about someone and when you realize that the other person doesn’t want you, it is painful. The reality vs expectations montage is exactly what I think everyone goes through.
The funny thing is I’ve had discussions with friends over who’s at fault for what happened in the movie. Like I said, it mostly comes from people relating to either character. The Toms will say Summer because she kept leading him on, mainly due to the scene at the wedding when she doesn’t tell Tom she’s engaged. The Summers say it’s Tom because he knew what he was getting into after she told him. Personally I do think both are at fault. Summer could have been more insistent from the beginning and I know she tried to make it work with Tom and she couldn’t. There’s no really right or wrong answer. Because this happens so many time in real life, it’s a painful way to visually see how a relationship doesn’t go the way it was hopefully supposed to.
There are so many freaking wonderful quotes in the movie (as I have sprinkled throughout this post) that make me feel that the script just needs to “STOP. JUST STOP TALKING ABOUT ME.”
“A girl and a guy can be friends, but maybe at one point or another they will fall for each other. Maybe temporarily, maybe at the wrong time, maybe too late, or maybe forever.”
“Just because she likes the same bizarre crap you do doesn’t mean she’s your soul mate.”
“Look, I know you think she was the one but I didn’t. Now I think you just remember the good stuff. Next time you look back, I really think you should look again.”
The final scene with Tom and Summer on the bench kinda kills me a little every time I watch it. When Summer tells him that she could have never really loved him and he looks away and you see the pain in his face, it’s like a stab to my heart every time. The whole bench scene can be uncomfortable to watch if you’ve been there (“You don’t want to be named as someone’s girlfriend but now you’re someone’s wife?”) but at the same time, it’s rather reassuring to know that you are NOT the only one that’s been in that situation. (Quality is kinda bad on the video below)
“I just…I just woke up one day and I knew.
Knew what?
“….What I was never sure of with you.”
Let’s put it this way. This is not a movie with a happy ending for this couple. They didn’t end up together the way they thought they were going to. There is a solid chance that Tom didn’t learn a lesson at all and will go about with the new girl in the same way that he and Summer acted. And I’m also hoping that the movie makers aren’t saying that Tom can’t be fully happy unless he has someone else in his life. But at the same time, this movie is a really good example of how you can get really swept up in a relationship, put your heart and soul into something that you really want, only to fall down HARD when it doesn’t turn out the way you want.
This can be one of the most uncomfortable movies to watch and at the same time, it’s therapeutic as well. You realize that the hurt will go away, you will have learned lessons from that relationship, and you can have the beauty of hope in a new one. All part of growing up and living life.
I think it would be interesting to watch this movie from the Summer perspective but it’s not worth having to go through the personal experience for it. I also wonder how it would be if the roles were reversed and Tom’s character was a girl and Summer’s the guy. Would the audience still relate to the “Tom character” as well? Or would they think because it was a female, she was just too emotional and all that? And if the male “Summer character” is more of a jerk for stringing “Tom along? Interesting points to ponder.
The other thing I love about this movie is the so excellent soundtrack. I borrow this CD from the library all the time (yes I know I could just buy or rip the songs but I don’t) and it’s constantly playing in the car because of how good it is. While every song is good, the two that stand out the most for me are “There is a Light That Never Goes Out” by The Smiths and “She’s Got You High” by Mumm-ra. Just go listen to it. I can’t fully describe the awesomeness of those songs
If you have known me for at least 3 months, then you know I love going to the movies. It’s one of the things my friends associate me with when they try to describe me. To some folks, going to the movies is time for socializing with friends (which I don’t really understand since you can’t talk to them). For me though, I go for the movie. And in the past few years I’ve seen a lot of movies.
It’s funny though growing up I barely went to the theater at all. The very first time I went was when I was for my second birthday to see Follow That Bird. It was a Sesame Street movie about Big Bird being forced to be adopted by birds and he ran away. What I remember most about that experience was eating popcorn, spilling grape soda, and a My Little Pony (old school, not this Friendship is Magic stuff) ad in the beginning of the show. Then there was a very long gap and I didn’t return to theaters until I was ten and that was to see The Beverly Hillbillies remake. I know. My return was neither glamorous nor very interesting. And in fact for the next few years it took me a while to realize what I wanted in a movie viewing experience.
These days, my first rule is that I want to see big epic blockbusters of a geeky nature in theaters. Mainly because of the sound quality and the screen size. Also if a movie was filmed with IMAX characters, I want to go see that in an actual IMAX theater like the ones at science museums and not that “Real IMAX stuff”. Also, since I actually wear glasses and because I think it’s a waste of money, I won’t go see a movie in 3D. Exceptions are movies that were actually filmed IN 3D (Hugo) or a movie set in space (Gravity).
I don’t normally go see comedies or dramas in theaters because I usually can’t justify the cost to see it unless I’m going to a matinee show. There are exceptions of course. Example when a movie is nominated for an Oscar. That’s another post for another day of my love for the Academy Awards. But I’ll just talk about the time that I went to a ten movie marathon of all the movies nominated for the Best Picture Oscar in 2010 because I had won tickets from Entertainment Weekly. And it was the best experience ever! I could only stay for 6 movies but it helped to introduce me to movies I wouldn’t have normally seen in theaters. Though one really good comedy I saw in theaters this year was At The World’s End. SO SO SO funny. And British.
The price of movies is going up. And the cost of concessions is outrageous. But I’ve found that there are still some really good theaters out there. And one of my favorites is the Alamo Drafthouse where you’re not allowed to talk/text (or you’ll get kicked out), they serve awesome food (including popcorn served in a metal bowl with REAL butter and endless refills!) and craft beers, reserved seating, excellent preshows and lots of really cool events. This is exactly the type of movie experience I want. It makes going to see movies more enjoyable (even when you go to a movie yourself which is another topic for another day).
One more thing. I also will go and see a movie twice if I really like it. Or six times if I REALLY LOVE it *cough Avengers cough*.
I love movies. *two thumbs up* Finding friends who love movies as much as I do? *ALL the thumbs up*
I have a weird superhero interest…semi-obsession. Not weird as in strange. But weird as in very random.
I am a fan of Clint Barton aka Hawkeye, the S.H.I.E.L.D. agent from the Marvel comics that is very skilled with a bow and arrow. Now before you start thinking “Oh, she only likes Jeremy Renner” that is not true. I have read several comic books with Hawkeye and I’ve also watched the Avengers cartoon.
I will admit that my interest did start because of the movie. I’m actually not quite sure how I became a fan though. I’ve gone back and looked at Facebook posts and tweets and there’s no evidence to showing how it began. The earliest thing I found was back in February of 2012 where I reference my excitement at seeing a trailer and then used a Hawkeye hashtag.
Now to be fair, I am a big fan of characters that are archers. Legolas, Katniss, Merida, Robin Hood. Heck I even got excited during the beginning of The Dark Knight Rises and Bruce Wayne pulls out a bow and arrow for a brief shot. Because I’d like to do that myself one day. With the archery lessons I am supposed to have. You know. One day.
With that in mind, when the trailers for the Avengers movie came out I had NOT yet seen Thor at the time. And while I do enjoy a good Renner flick, he’s not my main reason for watching a movie. Therefore there isn’t really a logical explanation as to why I was so excited to see him in the movie. Perhaps maybe because he was a smaller character and I was happy for that?
Anyways my fandom grew and after watching his cameo in Thor, I was very excited at seeing him in the movie. When he makes his first appearance in the Avengers, I audibly cheered in the theater. Then to my horror, they made him into a bad guy almost immediately. Though now when I think about it, Hawkeye and Loki together is the ultimate dream team. And did you know that Hawkeye’s total screen time only equals to about 12 minutes? And that they had a girl beat him up? Regardless of all that, I very much enjoyed Renner’s performance in the movie. He has a few good lines and some really excellent archery action scenes. The one where he shoots the arrow perfectly WITHOUT LOOKING is a favorite. So much that I would actually be ok with a Black Widow/Hawkeye movie to explore their backstory because there really should be one to explain their characters’ chemistry. This is important because I’m not a Scarlet fan but I am willing to put that aside if this movie ever got made.
The thing with Hawkeye is that he’s not a superhero because of magical powers or super serum or freak accidents or high tech machinery. He’s just extremely skilled in prime peak condition and is REALLY good at what he does. So that actually makes him more dangerous, at least in my opinion.
I’m excited because Joss Whedon has confirmed that there will be more Hawkeye in the upcoming Avengers sequel. I’m a little disappointed because he’s not showing up in any other movie before then (as far as I know). I hope that Barton gets more mention the Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. tv show because he actually IS a S.H.I.E.L.D agent and even if Renner doesn’t actually show up, the character should be mentioned more.
Now for the record, I do not have the same affections for Green Arrow from DC Comics. I have not watched the show and I am mostly unfamiliar with his story. Though I will say he does intrigue me with the archery and I will probably want to learn more in the future.
I get a lot of good natured teasing from my friends. All the jokes about him, I’ve heard. I’ve been sent things from the Hawkeye Initiative so many times. (Google it) I’ve had comics pasted on Facebook wall. I just shake my head.
But I know they love me because my Christmas and birthday presents have shown my friends going out of their way to get me things that feature Hawkeye. And it really is quite hard to find Avengers things with him in it as a lot of the marketing focuses on The Big Four (sometimes they even leave Hulk out). So when I receive something that has him in it, I know the time and energy spent trying to find it and it makes me love my friends even more as they help to enable the fangirl. It’s been joked that whoever I end up dating is going to be called Hawkeye for a while. Well, hope whoever that will be is ok with that….
A few weeks ago Blockbuster announced that they were shutting down for good. And thus marks the end of the last big movie rental chain. Now I never had the experience of working for Blockbuster but I did work for several years at Movie Gallery. And it was quite an adventure working there. In memory of Blockbuster, here are some tales of my days as your friendly movie rental clerk.
Highlights:
Free movie rentals – I got to watch all the newest releases before they were released for free and then I could watch all the back listed titles as well. As a movie lover, this was a HUGE bonus and helped to increase my movie knowledge. I discovered lots of little indie gems along the way that I would have never found otherwise. I also got a bunch of a movie posters that still grace my bedroom back in my parents’ house.
Buying discounts – We ran several used DVD sales (buy 2 get 2 free) and since I worked there, I could take advantage of seeing which DVDs had been rented and which copies had never been touched. Therefore I got several brand new DVDs for very discounted prices. And since we got discounts on food/drink, I will admit there was a time when Sprite Remix (remember that!) ran a promotion and the prize was on their bottle cap. So as it’s a clear liquid, I spent an afternoon and looked through the bottom of the bottle to find what the prizes were so I could buy the bottle. And the prize was..free movie rentals at Blockbuster!
I got to meet Marion Jones, the well… disgraced Olympian. She came into the store and set up and account and everything with me.
Giving recommendations – There were times when customers were actually receptive to listening to what I suggested. And it was fun to get to know regulars who trusted my movie advice and trivia.
Being good at this. It was a VERY minimum wage job and I knew I definitely wasn’t going to do it forever but it was helping me through undergrad and I enjoyed it. I got paid to watch movies and for the most part it wasn’t horrible. I was the top seller and I got to be a manager and it was fine for what it was.
Lowlights:
Now there were several differences between Movie Gallery and Blockbuster. I mean first off, the name. Movie Gallery and Blockbuster are obviously two different names. And yet, we would get people dropping off Blockbuster movies all the time. It’s one thing to stick it in the slot after hours. But to walk INTO the store?
Movie Gallery also had a back room for …well we’ll call them grown up movies to not attract the spam bots. Yep. That was a thing. I did not like going back there to reshelve and I always used hand sanitizer after checking in/out movies. The most awkward moments happened when people would hand me Asian grown up movies to check out. And I’m like, well let’s make this transaction happen very quickly.
Late movies – People will come up with all sorts of excuses as to why they haven’t returned a movie yet. Also awkward was when someone had a grown up movie that was late and the spouse didn’t realize they had checked it out. Just a note: if you’re going to do that, don’t check these out on the family account.
Apparently there are hundreds if not thousands of people who drive around without their license. How do I know this? By the MANY people who tried to open up accounts and when I asked for identification, they didn’t have any picture IDs on them (yet everyone seems to carry around a Social Security card). Yet all those people drove to the store. It was severely tempting to call the cops on them after they left.
Now Movie Gallery didn’t have those programs where you could rent all you want or no late fees. No, we had a stupid discount rental card where for $19 you got $27 worth of rentals. And we had to sell those. I somehow managed to be the top seller but do you know how hard it is to promote something that is essentially not really a good deal? I think I conned a lot of people.
Getting asked out by customers – I got asked out over the phone by a customer and then another left me a note on the car. Neither were ones I would have considered going out with (and not to worry, they were not one of those who checked out the Asian grown up movies) plus the fact that they do it in person was also a strike in their favor. The ones I actually wanted to, never did though.
Trying to explain why widescreen was better than full screen was a failure. This was back when DVDs were still offering both versions and customers would always complain about the black bars. Also trying to recommend a foreign film was like offering poison, no one will take it because they don’t want to “read a movie”.
Getting yelled at by customers. I got yelled at lot because customers had late fees or didn’t return movies on time or because we didn’t have the movie they wanted. My absolute favorite was calling the late list and there was a lady who was insistent that she had returned the movie, started yelling at me, told me I was worthless because I was working in a movie rental store and she was a successful business woman etc. Then lo and behold two hours later, her husband comes into the store with the movie and apologized for her as it had been on his side of the nightstand. That’s right lady, don’t show your face.
Being held up at gunpoint. Yeah you read that right. It was a Friday night (April Fool’s day, no less) and I was shift manager and I was prepping the new releases for the upcoming week, and I clearly remember one of those movies being Sideways. The door rang, I said my spiel of “Hello, welcome to Movie Gallery”, I look up and there’s a gun being pointed at me. I remember time slowing down and everything freezing. My insides immediately stopped working and I went on auto pilot. The guy (turned out to be a teenager) was wearing a hood and covered his face and told me to give him the money in the drawer. I went over the cashier, tried to catch the eye of my coworker and he told me to stop. I took out the money, luckily I had just done a cash drop so there was maybe like $150 in there. I asked him if he wanted the change as well. Then he ran out the store. It wasn’t until about 2 hours later that I started shaking. And that was the last night I worked at Movie Gallery. What a way to go out! For the record, they did catch the guys, they were robbing a bunch of movie stores all over the area.
And that’s just some of my adventures working at the video rental store. It’s sad to think that my kids will never be able to experience that and it will just be a legend when I tell them these stories. RIP movie rental stores.
Unless you live under a rock or just frankly don’t care, there’s a movie that comes out today that is insanely popular. The second movie in The Hunger Games series, Catching Fire has arrived. I, personally, will be seeing it very soon. And yes, I HAVE read the books.
I actually didn’t become a fan of the books until after Catching Fire came out. I wasn’t into dystopian stories at the time and I will admit that the book probably flew under my radar because of the cover. Yes, I totally did judge a book by its cover but in my defense, again I wasn’t reading the genre nor does the cover of the book tell you anything about the story. But thanks to book bloggers who had been talking the book up a storm, I finally gave in and loved it. The first person narrative totally had me wrapped in the storyline.
Why do I like these stories so much? Maybe there have been other strong young female heroines before her, but I really loved Katniss. The way Suzanne Collins wrote her made me connect with her right from the start. She’s strong and independent but not so much that she rejects help all together. It was very easy in the beginning to compare these books to the Twilight series, especially with the love triangle thing going. I personally find these books to be so on the complete opposite side of spectrum. Katniss > Bella like whoa. Also after this series came out, there were so many copycats, some good, some bad, but this one is still tops.
Are the books violent? Sure, I guess. *shrugs* I personally don’t find them extremely violent. Same goes with the movies. I don’t know what that says about me. But I don’t find them disturbing. And had I read these when I was a teenager, I doubt I would have been horrified by what I read.
Jennifer Lawrence has done a wonderful job at bringing Katniss to life in the movies. I really love her performance (well I love her in general) and even though she wasn’t originally my first pick, she’s been magnificent. In case anyone is wondering my original choices for the trio was Hailee Steinfeld as Katniss, Hunter Parrish as Peeta and Josh Hutcherson as Gale (is it bad that I had thought he was taller than what he really is?). I can’t say yet if Catching Fire will be as good as the book, but the first movie was one of the more faithful movie adaptations that I’ve seen though I wasn’t a big fan of the changes in the muttation scene. So I’m looking forward to seeing it and the goal is to see it in IMAX because a lot of scenes were shot with IMAX cameras. And we all SHOULD know that seeing a movie shot with IMAX characters in an actual IMAX theater is the best way to see a movie.
And in case you’re wondering about the picture in this post? Yes that’s me cosplaying as Katniss. Last year I went to Dragon Con and I wanted to cosplay. As it was my first con and I didn’t want to go all out, I was having trouble coming up with a character until it was finally suggested that I go as Katniss. And I did. It’s not entirely authentic (there are some excellent and authentic Katniss’s out there) but I felt I did a pretty good job. I ordered a bow (which I later spray painted black to give it a more camouflage feel), arrows, quiver, shooting gloves (which I wore incorrectly in this pic so you can’t see it), and a Mockingjay pin. I bought boots that looked somewhat like Katniss’s, borrowed the jacket from a friend, dressed somewhat similar to the opening woods scene, and then did my hair in a braid as best as I could. Obviously as I am Asian, wore glasses, and had braces at the time, I’m not entirely authentic but you know what? I had a ton of fun. Many people knew who I was, called me Katniss, and wanted to take my picture. And there were a lot of young girls who were big fans of my costume. To this day, I loved that costume and among my friends, I may refer to myself as Katniss in third person (you’re judging, I know it).
Oh and for the record, I don’t actually know how to use the bow and arrows. One day, hopefully. As promised.
If you haven’t already seen it by the time you read this post, to get you in the mood for Catching Fire is a wonderful parody:
A Girl Who Is a Geek 