My Year in Lists, Part 3: TV, Movies, and "Be Seeing You"

"My Year in Lists" by Los Campesinos!

This is the first New Year's Eve in years that I've actually been a functioning person and not just a depressed blob. Yay me! Although that "functioning" part only goes so far: despite my obvious love for television, I cannot for the life of me make a coherent list of what I liked watching this year. I can try, but it's really difficult. Behold, the fruits of my effort:

FAVORITE SHOW OF 2010

 30 Rock

Obviously. The latter half of Season 4 and everything shown of Season 5 so far has been wonderful. From the introduction of CAROL, to the rapid-fire and insane jokes, 30 Rock this year was pretty consistently perfect. Sure, there were definitely some clunkers (I for one would prefer to never see that episode guest-starring John Slattery ever again), but I don't think I'm exaggerating when I say this was the funniest show on TV in 2010.

Best episodes: Season 4's "Don Geiss, America and Hope" and "I Do Do," Season 5's "When It Rains, It Pours," "Live Show," "Reaganing," and "College"

Honorable Mentions: Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Flapjack on Cartoon Network. The latter had a really terrible series finale though. Why did it even have to end?! Regardless, Cartoon Network is in the middle of a mini-Renaissance here with its new cartoon block. Adventure Time, Regular Show, and Robotomy (NOT MAD, bleck) made for a solid hour of Monday night TV this year. It was the most consistently entertaining slew of shows this side of Thursday Nights on NBC. Check out these episodes: "The Duke" (Adventure Time), "The Unicorns Have Got to Go," (Regular Show), "All Hands on Deck" (Flapjack)

The Fonzie For TV's Most Improved: Parks and Recreation; Community. I went from cringing every time these shows were on to laughing at them much more than I was laughing at The Office, which I was watching voluntarily. Okay, that isn't hard, but Parks and Recreation and Community both had great seasons this year. While Parks and Rec was relegated to a mid-season replacement (Thanks Outsourced...) Community has been rocking it all Fall long. I recommend marathoning it on Hulu as I did recently. 

Stupidest Reality Show That I Actually Watched Weekly: Pathetically I basically watch NBC comedies, cartoons, and MTV docu-reality shows and that's kind of it. The worst of the latter was easily Teen Mom. I don't think I need to even explain this choice. It's obvious. Even I got tired of it and I don't think I'll be watching it again next year. Runner-up is this season's Project Runway, which gets the title solely because GRETCHEN DID NOT DESERVE TO WIN AND I WILL NEVER BE ABLE TO STRESS THIS ENOUGH. TEAM MONDO FOREVER.

Most Surprisingly Great Reality Show: Tie between Work of Art and Top Chef: Just Desserts. Why don't you read my posts about them and find out for yourself how entertaining they were? Those Magical Elves really know their stuff and had a really strong year, and with the repeatedly awesome Top Chef: All Stars continuing its season into the New Year it's looking like 2011 will be great for them, too. 

Obviously, I need to start watching Mad Men, Breaking Bad, The Walking Dead, and every other show you like. I will!

THE MOVIES I SAW THIS YEAR*

*The reviews are ones I published on my Flixster. Yep.

How to Train Your Dragon

AWW. IT WAS SO GOOD. It was really adorable and well-done in just about every way. The celebrity voice acting was actually quite good and I didn't even realize that it was all done by celebrities until the credits at the end. The story of Hiccup and Toothless was really sweet. I thought it was kind of annoying that all of the other kids started to like Hiccup when he showed dragon taming prowess, seemingly ONLY because of this talent, but by the end I barely minded. Also, the animation was of a very high quality; I think it was Dreamworks' best looking film to date. Highly recommended!

Also had the most surprising yet perfect ending to any movie I saw this year. I have to watch this again (on my Blu-ray :]) soon.

 Exit Through the Gift Shop

Movies like this are the kinds of documentaries that I like. Cool and interesting.

 Since that review is utter nonsense, read my post about the movie instead.

Please Give

The acting was good, but the story was meandering and ultimately pointless.

I think this was my least favorite of all of the movies I saw this year. I'm surprised that it got so many good reviews. This movie was largely forgettable; if it weren't for the excellent Rebecca Hall (who is on her way to making it really big; see: The Town), then I think I would have liked this movie even less. Rebecca Hall made it worth watching, even though I feel like her character became less and less interesting as the movie went on. Oh, and the girl playing Catherine Keener and Oliver Platt's daughter was great, too.

Toy Story 3

This was THE single most perfect ending I've ever seen to a trilogy in my life. The Toy Story series is my favorite of all time, the first one being my favorite movie ever, and this one is now most likely my second favorite. Definitely in my Top 5. I'm not that much of an emotional person but I was sobbing while watching it. It was EXCELLENT. Hilarious AND beautiful. You need to see this. Now. NOW. GO NOW.

 Yes, this is one of my favorite movies of all-time, and easily of the entire year. Really just perfect.  I need to watch my fancy Blu-ray of it soon...

Inception

Okay, I'll be honest - the last 1/3 of the movie was a little weak. I'll try to avoid spoilers but it just was confusing and went on too long. That aside, this movie was a perfect action movie - exciting, fun, smart, and keeps you on the edge of your seat. It seems complicated - it is. But it all starts to make a ton of sense until you start worrying that your life may be but a dream, too. (Well, the last part's confusing, but ignore that for now.) The acting was awesome and the story was the bomb. SEE IT.

 Also see my mini-review here.

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World

I liked it a LOT more than I thought I would. It was by no means perfect, but it was FUN, and that's what it needed to be. It wasn't a completely faithful adaptation, and there were definite problems, but the sum of its parts were wholly satisfying. WHOLLY. SATISFYING.

 CAPITAL LETTERS. Read my mini-review here.

Summer Wars

It was quite good. It reminded me a lot of Digimon: The Movie -- in a good way! It was very hardcore and sometimes unbelievable but still a lot of fun. Great characters. I must say though, overall I liked The Girl Who Leapt Through Time better. But this was still great.

 This movie is now out in select theaters in English, so go see it if you can! (Not that it wasn't great in Japanese. Subtitles, though, aren't for everyone.)

The Social Network

I enjoyed the dialogue. Aaron Sorkin's a master. I also liked Andrew Garfield and Armie Hammer (great name) as the Winklevi, tee-hee. Jesse Eisenberg made Mark Zuckerberg into this disturbing, depressed, awkward, uncomfortable to watch tragic (tragicomic?) figure, and I think his performance was so subtle that I didn't realize how good it was until the last scene. The last scene really brought it all together for me. That's when I knew that Mark was indeed our hero, or anti-hero. I had thought it was Eduardo all along. While Eduardo wasn't a villain perse, it's clear that Mark is our poor unfortunate soul of a very, very rich main character. Man, that guy's rich. But, um, yeah, do believe the hype, because this movie is very good.

I look forward to hearing this film's name called for nearly every category at next year's Oscars. I look even more forward to it winning several awards (maybe even Best Picture?).

Catfish

I got a very cool opportunity to watch this movie at a screening that had a Q&A afterwards with the directors + Nev. VERY cool. And since I'm a kid and there were other kids there and kids are just awesome, Nev and Rel stuck around for an hour (maybe even more; they were still talking to other people 20 minutes after I left!) and took more questions and talked to us. Very cool. All of the other girls were fawning over Nev but my friends and I talked to Rel, who was similarly very nice (but not as...not charming, but obsessed with the ladies). So, very cool. Although Henry disappeared. I wanted to talk to him, too. Oh well. It was cool talking to/shaking the hand of a filmmaker.

 Ah yes, my non-review. This movie was almost as much of a thriller as Inception was, and in that regard, it succeeded. Sure, it may be a bit dubious morally, but it was a heck of a ride.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part I

I think I may be closer to a 4.5 on this one, but I really did love it, and would rank it up there with 1 and 3. It did feel like there was more "exposition" (even though these movies abandoned trying to re-familiarize audiences with the overarching plot about 3/4 movies ago, which is both good and bad) than actual action but I enjoyed it as a more character-driven story than other movies were. I really love the interaction between our main gang, especially Harry and Hermione and Ron and Hermione (I just love Hermione), and it was nice seeing pretty much all of our favorite characters again, even briefly (LUPIN HI LUPIN...WAIT WHERE ARE YOU GOING COME BACK AND BE IN THE WHOLE MOVIE PLEASE he looked really good in this movie, I feel like he's decreasing in age or something). This movie was SO BEAUTIFUL, I really felt like saying "wow" the whole time. The colors and the locations were great. Those HP kids better be grateful that they got to see all of these amazing places. The ending felt a bit odd; "No, Harry, I can't help Dobby, we haven't reached our death quota yet! And also it would be a perfectly sad way to end this movie! So let's end it now! Predictably! But let's also remind people that this is TBC by showing Voldemort! Yay!" Also I haven't read the book since it came out so the movie was a bit hard to follow at times, but even so this felt like one of the most succinct (despite its running time) films in the series, as well as the most engaging, and I'm SO READY for Part 2!

Stealth-edit. (how could I forget this movie?!?!)

BOOM. MOVIES OF THE YEAR. RIGHT THERE. Sort of.

Movies I wanted to see but didn't but will see soon: Black Swan; The King's Speech; 127 Hours; True Grit; Greenberg; The Kids Are All Right; Easy A; Winter's Bone; Waiting for "Superman"; Somewhere; Tangled; The Illusionist; Blue Valentine. Yeah, I don't get out much.

Alrighty then. There you have it. 2010 was a pretty decent year for me in many ways. 2011's going to be extremely scary, but I'm going to be cautiously optimistic. Optimism! That's new for me.

So, be seeing you in 2011, then!

I liked it a LOT more than I thought I would. It was by no means perfect, but it was FUN, and that's what it needed to be. It wasn't a completely faithful adaptation, and there were definite problems, but the sum of its parts were wholly satisfying. WHOLLY. SATISFYING.
clear rating

The acting was good, but the story was meandering and ultimately pointless.
clear rating

My Year in Lists, Part 2: La Musica

"My Year in Lists" by Los Campesinos!

Yesterday I said I was going to write about TV. I had the full intention of doing that as I powered on my laptop this morning. However, I soon realized: crud. When am I supposed to talk about music, then? Tomorrow is not only the last day of the year but my last blog post of the month/year/whatever, so I thought it would be best to write about movies then. There was no room in the schedule for music if I did TV today. So instead I'm combining TV and movies (since I was having trouble coming up with TV ideas anyway) and I'm going to rattle off names of songs and albums that I liked to you incoherently.

  6 GREAT ALBUMS FROM 2010*

*I'm not really an album person, at all, so there will be a lot of glaring omissions here. Don't worry! I'll get to the stuff people actually liked soon enough!

Assailants by Lydia

  

Lydia's final album not only wins a place on my list, but also a Fonzie for Ugliest Cover of 2010 (tied with Sleigh Bells' Treats). Lydia was never very well-known, despite releasing 2 albums, the second being 2008's Illuminate, a beautiful and heartbreaking album that should have cemented them as an up-and-comer on the "indie" scene. The problem was that there was a lot of problems within the band itself, causing them to change their line-up multiple times. This truncated EP-length album is the product of the band's most conflicted time, albeit not together, considering that most of them had left by the time this album came to fruition. Lydia was really lead singer Leighton Antelman's baby, and Assailants shows us that we should look forward to whatever solo project he has planned for the future. Like Illuminate, Assailants features a strong collection of songs with almost no clunkers. (Well, the two songs that are under 2 minutes are not really worth your time, unlike "...Ha Yeah It Got Pretty Bad" from the previous album.) In fact, the 5 "real" songs on here may be amongst the band's strongest, with great production and ambiance. Listen to "I've Never Seen a Witch" or "Empty Out Your Stomach" and try to tell me otherwise. Those two songs stand up with the best of the band's catalog, and in the case of the former, may even rank as one of their very best songs. They're tightly, and lovingly, made. Lydia died young, but now is as good a time as any to check them out. Buy Assailants here.

Best songs: "We Clean Up So Well," "I've Never Seen a Witch" (click to download)

Come On Kid by Josiah Leming

Maybe you remember Josiah Leming as the crybaby with the weird pseudo-British accent from American Idol? Yes, well, that was him. Don't let that deter you, because the kid is actually extremely talented! Before and after Idol Leming self-produced and released a ton of his original material, including my absolute favorite "Her," and the publicity he got from the show led to him inking a contract with Warner Brothers. Unfortunately, Come On Kid, originally slated to come at nearly 2 years ago, was stuck in development turmoil (for reasons unknown to me), and Josiah instead released 2 (excellent) EPs a year apart. However, this album finally released this year and it did not disappoint. While Come On Kid features newer versions of two old songs, fan favorite "To Run" and MY favorite "Arctic Outcry Wind" (such a great song, ugh), the brand new songs are what is most interesting here. Title track "Come On Kid" and "Maybe" are poppy and radio-ready, but have a lyrical edge over their more popular counterparts; "Song Without a Reason," about Josiah's recently deceased mother, and "Joy and Happiness" hearken back to his roots as a singer-songwriter at the piano. This mix between the new and old styles gives the impression that Josiah has grown as a songwriter and also lends to a very listenable slew of songs. Come On Kid may not be perfect, but if this is any indication of where Josiah Leming is going then I'm ready for the ride. (Similarly, if this is the last album he ever releases, then at least I'm satisfied.) Buy Come On Kid here. 

Best songs: "Maybe," "Song Without a Reason," "Day and Night," "Body and Mind"

Crazy For You by Best Coast

I only acquired this album recently, but it quite easily earns a place on this list. (Well, considering I only listened to 5 other albums from this year...) Best Coast sounds like a band of time travelers from the California surf pop era of the 50s/60s, with the simple lyrics, harmonies, and jangly guitars. Crazy For You is a perfect album for the summer, but manages to heat up your day whichever month it may be. A lot of the album may be about cats and drugs, sure, but the songs aren't really carried by their lyrics; instead, frontwoman Bethany Cosentino sells them by singing sincerely. Also, it sort of helps that she has a great voice. I'd say that songs like "Goodbye" and the title track carry the message that's trying to be conveyed here, and that message is: love sucks. And if that's not a message to get behind then I don't know what is. This album is just fun, pure and simple. Buy Crazy For You here.

Best songs: "Boyfriend," "Bratty B," "Each and Everyday," "Our Deal"

Champ by Tokyo Police Club

Like Best Coast, Tokyo Police Club is more known for its catchy songs than its lyrics. Thankfully, Champ is chock full of catchy songs, while also giving us some clever lines, my favorite being the "Wait Up (Boots of Danger)" line "You never wear shoes without your socks." Okay, maybe that's just because that perfectly describes me, but whatever! Debut Elephant Shell didn't have a single song over 3 minutes long, so Champ shows that the band can sustain a song for this length of time with an even mix of 2 and 3 minute songs. They also slow down the pace a bit; even a song called "Breakneck Speed" is slower than TPC standards, and it doesn't suffer for it. Dave Monks' unique voice stretches all over the place here, from the lows of "Favourite Food" to the highs of "Gone," and it works every time. This is a strong list of songs here, with only the closer, "Frankenstein," failing to leave an impact on me. Champ shows a lot of growth for the young crew here, and I'm proud of them, as if I was there mother or something. Maybe this isn't as immediately wonderful as Elephant Shell, but it's definitely a charmer all the same. Buy Champ here.

Best songs: "Favourite Food," "Favourite Colour," "Hands Reversed," "Not Sick"

Contra by Vampire Weekend

I'll be upfront: Contra was a disappointment. Vampire Weekend's debut was immensely enjoyable, and I got a lot of mileage out of that record. Contra, on the other hand, was something I tired of rather quickly. At least, this was how I felt at first. However, since the album's release in January, it's grown on me. The crop of songs may not be a strong as the ones on the first album, but the best ones are really, really excellent. Vampire Weekend, like all bands making their sophomore album (see Champ above), toyed with their formula, experimenting with their signature Afrobeat pop and coming up with songs like the amazing "Diplomat's Son," which is not only the band's longest song at nearly 6 minutes long but also one of their greatest. Lyrically, this song is based on a short story lead singer Ezra Koenig wrote, and it provides for a really interesting theme and story. "Diplomat's Son" doesn't sound like anything else the band has ever done, throwing together a bunch of styles and genres, but this new direction is one I embrace and hope they go for again in the future. Old style tunes like lead single "Cousins" and "Holiday" may not be as interesting but they are just as good (especially in the case of the excellent "Cousins"). Overall Contra represents evolution for the band, and it has definitely grown on me. Also, with the title referencing the classic game, how could I not like this? Buy Contra here.

Best songs: "Diplomat's Son," "Cousins," "California English," "I Think Ur a Contra"

Gorilla Manor by Local Natives

That picture is super-big because this is my favorite album of the year by far. I mean, I know that that's a small list, but I think that even if I had listened to three times as many records I would still love this one the most. Gorilla Manor is just near-perfect in every way; it's full of great melodies, beautiful lyrics, wonderful vocals and harmonies, and it sounds like pure fun. The songs range from the sad and beautiful ("Airplanes," "Cards and Quarters") to the toe-tappingly great (all-star "Sun Hands" and "Camera Talk"); Local Natives are able to cultivate every emotion in the book for this debut and they hit home runs every time. They even tackle a cover with the Talking Heads' "Warning Sign" and that may just be my favorite track on the album. There is not a single bad song on Gorilla Manor; there are only perfect songs and ones that are slightly less perfect but great all the same. Some critics have complained that the album does not distinguish itself well enough from the "Fleet Foxes/Grizzly Bear" school of music but I disagree completely. Local Natives have established a style that combines Afropop, great guitar, wonderful harmonizing, and deep lyrics, and I can't get enough of them. Do yourself a favor and buy Gorilla Manor today, right here. (The CD comes with a poster and is pretty cool looking, if I do say so myself.)

Best songs: "Warning Sign," "Sun Hands," "Airplanes," "World News," "Stranger Things"

20 OF THE BEST SONGS OF 2010*

*I listened to 131 2010 songs this year, according to iTunes, but realize that I didn't cover a ton of bases or anything.

I'm feeling lazy so this will mostly be a bulleted list. Sorry.

• "Nothin' On You" by B.o.B. featuring Bruno Mars: I've talked about this song before but let me once again shill the music video. It's a great watch.
• "I Want to Be Well" by Sufjan Stevens
• "Tightrope" by Janelle Monae
• "Becoming a Jackal" by Villagers
• "Ghost Town" by First Aid Kit
• "Daisy" by Fang Island: Apparently available on the Rock Band Network. Awesome!
• "The Mermaid Parade" by Phosphorescent  
• "I Can See Your Tracks" by Laura Veirs
• "On Melancholy Hill" by Gorillaz: From Plastic Beach. Let me know how it is if you've listened to it. I quite like Gorillaz.
• "We Used to Wait" by Arcade Fire: I'll get around to listening to The Suburbs in its entirety one of these days. I mean, I only pretty much completed Funeral this year! I'm slow when it comes to these things. (I've heard most of Suburbs though and it's great. I love the lyrics. Being a suburbanite I can relate.)
• "I'm in Love" by Antony and the Johnsons
• "Change" by the Young Veins: This band is fronted by Ryan from Panic at the Disco. Please don't let this turn you off.
• "Location" by Freelance Whales
• "Windstorm" by School of Seven Bells
• "Rill Rill" by Sleigh Bells
• "Undertow" by Warpaint: I love these girls. Even though their album The Fool, which came out this year, was apparently not the greatest, I'm glad that they're now on my, and other people's, radar.
• "In the Dirt" by S. Carey
• "Jennasea" by The Morning Of
• "Dog in a Burning Building" by Miles Kurosky
• "EXCUSES" BY THE MORNING BENDERS!: How did I forget this song?! Easily my favorite song of the year. Easily. No contest!  Download "Excuses" right now!

Hooray! That took forever. Tomorrow on My Year in Lists, Part 3: The Final Part, I will somehow manage to talk about both TV and movies. It will be a disaster, and like Spider Man: Turn Off the Dark, that should make you all the more excited to see it. 

My Year in Lists, Part 1: Games and Books and Junk

"My Year in Lists" by Los Campesinos!

So as I said before, despite running this SUPER MEGA SUGOI-NYA blog about entertainment, I'm actually not that culturally relevant. Okay, I'M not culturally ANYTHING, but neither are my interests! Tomorrow I'm going to attempt to write about TV and it's going to be hard picking a numero uno considering the best show I watched this year is 10 years old. But that's what the word "try" exists for! For me to use it! (And fail!)

5 AWESOME GAMES FROM 2010*

*I didn't really play that many new games this year so honestly these are just the games I played. I'm sure that if I had played them, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Mass Effect 2, and whatever other games you liked would be on here. But games are expensive.

Final Fantasy XIII (PS3)

Okay! I know you hate this game! Everyone does! ...Except me. Final Fantasy XIII might not have lived up to the hype - but that would have been impossible. It may not be one of the better Final Fantasies - I, for one, cannot stand how the shopping system works, and despise how hard it is to make any money. The game is literally linear, as well, but I don't mind some hand-holding. What I do mind is a terrible battle system, and thankfully this game has perfected the FF ATB system and created one that is extremely fun, even addicting, to use. I loved the Paradigm Shift idea as well as staggering your opponent for massive damage. FF13 is a game where you basically run from one monster to the next, so it's great that fighting them is so enjoyable.

P.S. I LIKED HOPE. Sorry. And Lightning is awesome, but everyone knows that. (I also love Sazh. And the music in this game! And, GASP, I like the cut scenes!)

Scott Pilgrim vs. the World: The Movie: The Game (PS3)

This PSN timed-exclusive provided me with many, many hours of fun multiplayer entertainment. I do think my friends would agree with me that this was the best multiplayer experience of our year (resurgence of Super Smash Bros. Brawl love aside). Is the game better than the movie? In some ways, yes. Look at that character design! Paul Robertson's sprite work was great; it had me longing for some kind of 8-bit Scott animated show. Also, the music in this game, by Anamanaguchi (did I spell that right? I did? YES), is phenomenal. I can hear it in my head right now, actually. That's what playing this game for about 6 hours straight will do to your brain, man. It screws with your mind. 

Super Scribblenauts (DS)

Yes, there was a sequel to Scribblenauts. Yes, it came out this year. Yes, I only just got it for Christmas. But it was AWESOME. AndoneoftheonlygamesIbeatthisyear. While I never got around to playing the original game, it sounds like this sequel took all of the criticisms (can only move with the stylus, too repetitive) and corrected them. The addition of adjectives means that there are so many possibilities in this game that it's impossible to just give it one playthrough. The game is definitely short; I beat it in about 6 hours! But this replayability and just the overall lighthearted tone of the game makes me want to go play it right now. Be right back.

Robot Unicorn Attack (Browser)

Okay! This game is a flash game by Adult Swim! It's pretty stupid! SUE ME BECAUSE I LOVE IT. Yes, this is how pathetic my crop was if this is on my list, but it's actually the most fun I've had with a game all year. Seriously. I played this game for hours straight and never got bored. This also wins my esteemed Fonzie Award for Best Music, with "Always" by Erasure. If you don't have that song stuck in your head within seconds you don't have ears. Or a heart. Why don't you go play the game right now? Take a little break?

Pokemon HeartGold/SoulSilver (DS)

If you didn't see this coming then you don't know me at all. AT ALL. -sob- Pokemon Silver for the GameBoy Color is my favorite game of all-time, so there's no way I could NOT love this game. I think SoulSilver is the reason I didn't really get any games this year; it just took up all of my time. I ended up getting a little bit burned out on it when I started Kanto, but I'm feeling the Pokemon fever again. There are just so many things to do in this game: the Pokeathalon, Gym Leader Rematches, KANTO as I mentioned, the Pokewalker (which I actually haven't used at all), etc. Pokemon is really one of the reasons that I love being a product of the early 90s. I LOVE YOU POKEMON HUGS AND KISSES XOXO

Honorable Mention: Dragon Quest IX (DS), which I just got for Christmas and thus haven't played too much of. I'm loving it so far, though.

Games that I wanted to play but didn't but will, definitely will: Kirby's Epic Yarn (Wii), Trauma Team (Wii) (I got it for Christmas so I'll get around to it!), Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii), Costume Quest (PS3), Red Dead Redemption (PS3), Professor Layton and the Unwound Future (DS)

Games to Look Forward to in 2011!: Catherine (PS3), LittleBigPlanet 2 (PS3) which I am so excited for I can't even describe it, Pokemon Black and White (DS) surely to be my Game of Forever, The Last Story (Wii), Ninokuni (DS and PS3), and most of all the 3DS! which is not a game but a console, a console that will bring me so many games that I want to play that all I'll be able to do is play games all the stinking time.

THE 1 BOOK I READ FROM 2010*

*According to my Goodreads account, I've read 18 books this year. This is 7 less than last year but still a pretty solid number. However, only this book was released this year. Stuck in the past, I tell you! (Oh, although I did read this awful kid's book, Jack Blank and the Imagine Nation, which I got for free. Despite the "love interest" of sorts being named Allegra, it was terrible.)

Freedom by Jonathan Franzen

I guess it wasn't really necessary for me to mention this, but I liked it a lot and Jonathan Franzen (plus Jonathan Safran Foer; more on that later maybe) basically made my year with this and The Corrections. I LOVED The Corrections; it's easily one of my favorite books. Almost immediately after finishing that one I began this one. Freedom touches upon similar themes, which is both good and bad. However, in the end it just did not hold a candle to Franzen's last book. 

Freedom made me physically ill at times, between the "turd excavation" scene and the sheer awfulness of lead female Patty Berglund, but I think for a book to elicit such a strong emotional response from me means that it must be doing something right. I think I would love this book if it weren't for the fact that I now have to write an essay about it. That's proving to be impossible. Oprah's Book Club! Help me! 

Books I read and loved this year that were from last year or earlier: Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer, which I still think about often; Let the Right One In by John Lindqvist; Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut; A Gate at the Stairs by Lorrie Moore even though most people hated it. And I already mentioned The Corrections. Also I totally feel like I read Atonement this year but I guess I didn't but I loved it so read it. Yay.

TOMORROW, on My Year in Lists: The Best TV That I Actually Watched This Year, Plus Some Other Stuff! Vague, I know! Excitement! 

Random Christmas Whining

Right now I'm watching an awesome episode of Spongebob -- but it's not the Christmas episode. No, Nickelodeon for some reason thinks people would prefer to watch the random season 4/5/6/7 episodes tomorrow instead of the stinking amazing CHRISTMAS SPECIAL, which not only is one of my favorite episodes but also one of my favorite Christmas specials.

They're showing it, sure, but at 8:30 in the morning. Who's going to be awake to watch it? And the Fairly OddParents Christmas special, which is also great, is being shown at 11:30, slightly more manageable but still obnoxious since it's sandwiched between some show I'd never watch and iCarly. WHY YOU DO THIS NICKELODEON

At least Cartoon Network has my back. For the first time in YEARS, they're showing my favorite: Olive the Other Reindeer. It's SO GOOD and I LOVE IT and I haven't seen it in such a long time. I'M SO HAPPY. I gasped when I saw it was going to be on.

It's actually going to be on in less than 20 minutes so, um, yeah, I know what I'll be spending the next hour doing. And then I'm going to read! Or play video games! I love Christmas Eve!

Have a decent holiday (or if you celebrate Chanukah, as I do, but only Chanukah, as I don't, then, well, enjoy doing whatever you do on Christmas. Get up at 8:30 and watch the SpongeBob special?)

I have 3 posts left so I think I'm going to do one of those generic Best-Of things, despite the fact that much of my year every year is lived in the past, culturally. But I'll try.

Moody Dudes

I've been saving that name for FOREVER. Isn't that just a perfect band/album/song name? Yes. It is.

Anyway, I'm tired/annoyed so here are just some songs to listen to and think about:

"You Love Me" by DeVotchKa



"When you said you loved me, I thought you loved me." Included on the soundtrack to Little Miss Sunshine, one of my favorite cinematic worlds to get lost in.

"I Can See Your Tracks" by Laura Veirs



"Oh, I can see your tracks, but I won't follow them. I'll just hope for rain, or some kind of crazy wind, to erase them, and chase them into oblivion." It's on a cell phone commercial of some kind, but don't let that deter you from listening to this beautiful song...It's currently the most-played track on my new computer, an easy feat when every other song has been listened to a grand total of zero times.

"Between the Bars" by Elliott Smith



"I'll kiss you again, between the bars." Well, this is perfect.

"Go On, Say It" by Blind Pilot



"A hitchhiker once told me I don't talk a lot. Made me feel fine, made me quiet." That line is one of my favorites out of any song that I've heard. I wish I had written that. I wish I was talented enough to write anything half this great.

"Ghost Town" by First Aid Kit



"If you've got visions of the past, let them follow you down. They'll come back to you, some day." I've been singing this line a lot lately. (I am by no stretch of the imagination a "good" singer so I probably am doing a disservice to the song by singing it.) Just wonderful.

"So Nice So Smart" by Kimya Dawson



"You're so nice and you're so smart." For some reason I started thinking about this song a lot lately, despite not having heard it since whenever the last time I watched Juno was (at least a year ago). Something about it just really stuck with me. It's very simple, very listenable. (Not to mention the silly "I like my new bunny suit, when I wear it I look cute" line that I also like a lot.)

Guess I could have made a much easier to listen to playlist but I'm feeling difficult. Good night.

Caution: Disturbing Golden Globes Nominations Rant/"Analysis" As Maddeningly Typed Out by Newly 17-Year-Old Below

I'm an awards show junkie. I believe I've established this?

Yeah. Unfortunately the Golden Globes are widely regarded ("widely" = by me, and maybe only me) as the worst of the big shows, but they are the most perfect fodder for my constant girlish rage at all things movie/TV-related so by gum, I shall watch them! And I shall obsess over the freak show nominations that the HFPA makes! And I shall force you to endure this obsession via posting about it in capital letters! AHA! Also I'm obligated to watch the Golden Globes and all of the above and everything because Ricky Gervais is hosting (again) and that man deserves my constant attention. (I'm of the teeny tiny camp that believes that Extras is better than The Office, but I hold this view only because I find the former funnier. The Office is more significant and I will never deny that. 'Cuz I know you care so much?)

So, let's start with the Big Ones:
Best Motion Picture: Drama

• Black Swan
• The Fighter
• Inception
• The King's Speech
• The Social Network

Okay, actually, there isn't much to rant about here. This list seems to be pretty standard as far as this awards season is going, although the inclusion of Inception really does sort of confuse me. I REALLY liked the movie, but I don't know. It had problems. Maybe they're nominating it because, like me, the HFPA loves Leo and JGL? Hmm? Maybe? Yes? But other than that, actually, this category is alright. I'm betting on Social Network, which was great, although I haven't compared the reviews between it and Black Swan, The Fighter, and The King's Speech enough to be sure. (Although I think Speech is really its only true competition.)

Best Motion Picture - Comedy

• Alice in Wonderland
• Burlesque
• The Kids Are All Right
• Red
• The Tourist

This. Category. Is. A. Load. of. AWFUL HORRIBLE TERRIBLE-NESS-NESS-NESS I MEAN AAAGH WHAT? WHAT? WHAAAAAT? (Here be the Caps Lock abuse.) HOW IS ALICE IN WONDERLAND A COMEDY OR WORTHY OF ANY SORT OF "MAIN" AWARD? BURLESQUE GOT MIDDLING REVIEWS SO HUH? WHAT? SINCE WHEN WAS THE TOURIST A COMEDY? AND RED OVER SOMETHING WITH MORE CONSISTENTLY POSITIVE REVIEWS LIKE SCOTT PILGRIM? Okay, Scott Pilgrim was divisive and those foreigners at the HFPA, I could see them not "getting" it. BUT STILL. I think it was the funniest movie I saw this year SO OBVIOUSLY THAT SHOULD MEAN SOMETHING CONSIDERING THIS IS "BEST COMEDY" RIGHT? AAAAAH. This is the WORST slate of noms in ANY category that I've seen since maybe the 2008 Oscars when Ben Button was considered a serious contender despite the fact that it wasn't that great and Slumdog Millionaire won over Milk which, in my opinion, was MUCH better. UGH. I HATE THIS.

Best Television Series - Drama

• Boardwalk Empire
• Dexter
• The Good Wife
• Mad Men
• The Walking Dead

This category irks me. I'll get to Comedy in a second (or minute or ten minutes) but why does that have 6 nominees and this 5? Asymmetrical! Asymmetrical! Why Boardwalk Empire and not Breaking Stinkin' Bad, man? When everyone who knows anything in TV knows that this season was one of its best? For that matter, which seasons of these shows are the nominations based on, considering that seasons end in May and start in September? Are they based on last season? End of last and beginning of the current season? It's extremely non-sensical. Thankfully, I don't really care too much about drama other than a couple of things so this looks otherwise normal. I believe that this will become the standard and we'll see Walking Dead nom'd at the Emmys next year. But we're not seeing Boardwalk Empire, I know that's for sure... Who knows though?

Best Television Series - Comedy (and Musical)

• The Big Bang Theory
• The Big C
• Glee
• Modern Family
• Nurse Jackie
• 30 Rock

I still don't get it. Nurse Jackie is a comedy? Huh? I really need to get Showtime. I thought The Big C wasn't supposed to be very good? And again: six nominees? Really? Was that necessary? Glee won last year and if it wins again I don't think I'll ever watch the Globes ever again. Really. That's just wrong. Glee is a fun guilty pleasure, not a serious awards contender. As always I'm rooting for 30 Rock, which has been consistently wonderful all season-long. Plus I bet the HFPA is in love with Matt Damon (Carol! CAROL!) so come on, guys! Do it for Matt!

Best Animated Film

• Despicable Me
• How to Train Your Dragon
• The Illusionist
• Tangled
• Toy Story 3

Toy Story 3. Easily. I LOVED How to Train Your Dragon but Toy Story 3 was one of the best movies I've ever seen. It really was. I am madly in love with that movie. I felt like this was an especially strong year for animation, so I'm sad that the Oscars are going to only nominate three films. I think this is a great list, covering all of the bases.

So the big categories are sort of lopsided, obviously...Motion Picture Comedy is so wretched, and TV Drama is weird...but other than that, these noms are safe and as expected.

Acting is a whole other story.

DRAMATIC PAUSE.

That's an overstatement. It's really not that bad. It's just the Motion Picture Comedy category again...

Best Actor in a Motion Picture - Comedy

• Johnny Depp for The Tourist
• Johnny Depp for Alice in Wonderland
• Paul Giamatti for Barney's Version
• Jake Gyllenhaal (TWO A'S) for Love and Other Drugs
• Kevin Spacey for Casino Jack

Okay. Okay. WHAT. IS. THIS. OHOHO JOHNNY DEPP VS. JOHNNY DEPP HOW FUNNY. I assume that's where the "Comedy" in the title comes from, yes? Because THESE MOVIES ARE NOT COMEDIES. MY GOD. Okay, well, perhaps Barney's Version and Casino Jack are, but considering that NEITHER ARE OUT IN THEATRES YET, it's hard to tell. I'm getting a feeling that the HFPA gives preference to movies that premiered at foreign film festivals or something because that's the only way this can work. I mean. Dayum. And what the freak, isn't Love and Other Drugs about how Anne Hathaway has Parkinson's Disease or something? Huh? Jake Gyll! Explain this to me! BLAAARGLE.

Yes, I know this blog is well-written/articulate, never resorting to childish nonsense words. Thank you for noticing.

Some other things of note because I'm getting tired of re-typing the ENITRE list for each category again:

• Piper Perabo for TV Supporting in Covert Affairs: what the crud is this doing here?
• Katey Segal for Sons of Anarchy in TV Supporting: very nicely done, HFPA, very nicely done.
• Scott Caan for Hawaii Five-O in TV Supporting: ...um
• Julia Stiles for Dexter in TV Supporting: Julia Stiles is awful. Awful.
• No Armie Hammer for The Social Network in Motion Picture Supporting: what the what? He was so good though! (At least we've got Andrew Garfield.)
• Halle Berry for Frankie and Alice in Best Actress in a Motion Picture - Drama: I consider myself reasonably aware of what's going on in the industry but I can't say I've ever heard of this movie, so obviously I'm confused. 

You know what's annoying? This post isn't even that long but it took me an hour and a half to write. I'm sure that "half" comes from just trying to find the list in a properly formatted way, so thanks to IMDb for being the only place that organizes the nominations properly.

Also, I'm really upset about the lack of Yogi Bear, The Nutcracker 3D, and Marmaduke nominations. I was so sure that those three were going to sweep the categories! 

p.s. misleading title is misleading? discuss

I Hate Computers (Or, Allegra's Favorite Time "Wasters" That are Actually Great Uses of Your Time Assuming You Have Nothing Important to Do)

Because MY computer crashed I now have a vendetta against all computers. This is how a rational person...rationalizes?

Mehhhh.

If my computer was working I'd be finishing my college applications. Actually, I'd be procrastinating on finishing them. Now I can't even do that! Well, technically I AM procrastinating, sort of, just now I have a valid excuse.

Here are my invalid excuses:

Style Rookie: At the risk of sounding creepy I've been reading this girl's (Tavi, age FOURTEEN) blog for almost 2 years now. It's about fashion, which, if you know me in person (I bet you do, too) is like the antithesis of my being. That's actually extremely hyperbolic (as is the use of "extremely"!), I think fashion is great, especially Tavi's fashion sense considering she's barely a teenager. I'm just really lazy (not a stretch of the truth in any sense) and self-conscious and cheap and lazy and repetitive.

The thing about fashion bloggers is that their blogs are always very accessible and fun to read, even for people like me whose pictures show up in the thesaurus as the antonym of fashionable. Tavi likes Freaks and Geeks and that's good enough for me. (Seeing her in all of these magazines is a strange experience for me, just like how every time I walk past Forever 21 and see the girl from The Stylish Wanderer, another blog I read, I freak out. I remember reading these blogs when they would get at most 60 comments! Which is still a lot but now they get so many more and are on advertisements and it's insane! And recently I was reading some magazine and they had Keiko Lynn and Jane from Sea of Shoes and Arabelle of Fashion Pirates and I was just like, WOW, this is nuts. Yes, I read way too many fashion blogs. I know. You can stop laughing at me. Really. Please. Thanks.)

Oh No They Didn't!: I always get randomly obsessed with this site. Once a month or so I'll go on here because I'm bored and have an essay due the next day and then I'll just go on it every day for the rest of the week. The thing is, I consider myself somewhat culturally aware and yet I don't understand half of the posts on here. But the posts I do understand are great. And I like the comments section, if mostly for people's icons. The terminology they force themselves to use can be grating ("I agree" = "ia," "My thoughts exactly" = "mte," etc. which seems obvious but totally isn't so urgh go away) but so can I! Also their layout is purple, and purple is a nice color, so I am obligated to enjoy this site. See: red, yellow, light brown.

NeoGAF: I've mentioned this site before. The number one video gaming forum/news aggregate on the Internet, NeoGAF also has an entertaining Off-Topic section. Okay, so half of the jokes are just stolen from the site that rhymes with More-Can, but at least GAFfers don't sic their hounds on people and there's no porn or anything. Although my NeoGAF primer consists of: 1. Do NOT join the website 2. Do NOT read Girl-Age threads for fear of being sucked in 3. Do NOT read OTs for a popular game you like but know is divisive because you WILL get mad. (P.S. I break rule number 2 all the time. Girl-Age threads can be hilarious.)

Sporcle: So fun. Usually I resist phenomena like I resist laughing in classrooms (I said I was self-conscious bruh) but this is the one thing the people I have had the "fortune" to attend school with for the last 13 years got right. Sporcle is full of "fun stimulating mental diversions," AKA "Games that Allegra Must Play, Preferably Late at Night, Preferably with Her Sister." And she does! I recommend games that involve video clips or naming as many episodes of a show as you can. I also like the ones where you have to write out all of the lyrics to a theme song in a minute or so. SO fun.

IMDb forums (fora?): Only if you feel like dropping your IQ a couple hundred points. Yes, IMDb forums will knock your IQ into the negatives. I recommend going on the Jon and Kate Plus 8 forum because it is the most hilarious forum in the WORLD. An alternative to this for the people who are fond of their brain cells would be TWOP (aka, Television Without Pity for those averse to cutesy acronyms). TWOP has some really bad threads, too, but overall it's a better moderated and thus better reading. Check out the America's Next Top Model and Teen Mom threads/boards for all of the LULZ and insight you can handle. TWOP-ites are nasty, and I love 'em for it.

I think you've got enough fodder for preventing you from getting anything done for weeks now. Yeah, you're welcome.

The Problem with iPods

OKAY. SO. ALL CAPS TIME, PEOPLE:

My BLEEDING iPod, whom I named Floyd after Jason Sudeikis' wonderful character on 30 Rock, has decided to stop scrobbling my play counts WHICH I AM QUITE OBSESSED WITH MAINTAINING. OKAY, FLOYD, BE A JERK. THAT'S TOTALLY COOL. REALLY.

I'm going to murder this iPod one day. If only it wasn't so shiny and red and otherwise quite competent. BLARGH.

Since listening to my iPod is a worrisome process now, since Floyd is apparently extremely finicky and I guess only likes me listening to, like, "Move Your Feet" by Junior Senior as opposed to the album In the Aeroplane Over the Sea by Neutral Milk Hotel like I'd RATHER be listening to (even though "Move Your Feet" is a really awesome song, it's probably one of the only songs my iPod will actually properly sync these days and it's frustrating, urgh), here's a little playlist of the songs I'd actually be "jamming" to, once again, if Floyd WASN'T SUCH A BRAT. Yeah, Floyd. You stay in Cleveland. YOU STAY IN CLEVELAND UNTIL YOU UNDERSTAND HOW TO LOVE A WOMAN. ;_;



Create a playlist at MixPod.com

1. "Ghost" by Neutral Milk Hotel
From Aeroplane Over the Sea, this song is my latest favorite. Jeff Mangum, who if his last name was a Latin neuter singular noun as it looks to be would be called Jeff Manga in the plural, is/was a talented songwriter, even though his lyrics are quite out there sometimes (see: "The King of Carrot Flowers," Pts. 1, 2, and 3, the second of which features the repetition of "I love you, Jesus Christ/Jesus Christ, I love you, yes, I do"). This song can be a bit odd in parts but overall I think it's coherent. Either way it's wonderful. And the transition from this to the next song on the album, "Untitled," is perfect. Favorite line: "One day in New York City, baby/a girl fell from the sky/from the top of a burning building/fourteen stories high."

2. "Becoming a Jackal" by Villagers
Hopefully you remember this brother from a post I created a week ago by literally banging around violently on the keyboard until something made sense. Not to discredit this guy or that song ("That Day") but that post was extremely lazy. I'll make up for it by waxing philosophical about this song! Hahaha, just kidding. I do love this song, though. It's just very sweet and a little idealistic, maybe, and it just sounds like the musings of a dreamer. That's why my favorite line is: "I was a dreamer/staring out windows/out onto the main street/'cause that's where the dream goes."

3. "The Transfiguration" by Sufjan Stevens
This song is great, but something about it puts me off. The whole "Lost in a cloud/a voice/Have no fear!/We draw near!," although my favorite part of the song, sounds really familiar: it sounds like Stevens' "Chicago!" Apparently I'm not the only one to think so, either. The comments there say that they hear "The Predatory Wasp of the Palisades is Out to Get Us!" as well but I haven't noticed that yet. Let's listen to it again...together. It's interesting how this song is SO EXPLICITLY about God and yet no one would consider Soof a Christian artist...at least, not in the same way as, like, Relient K (whose song "Sadie Hawkins Dance" I just listened to, haha) are. It's also interesting that much of his fanbase is made up of completely non-religious people. Favorite line: "Lost in the cloud/a sign/Son of man!Son of God!"

4. "Firework" by Katy Perry
Wow, this is a fantastically weird transition. I personally think "Firework" is an awful song; so then, why is it on my list of songs I wanna listen to? (Please note, this song is not on my iPod.) It's because it's in that Just Dance 2 commercial! The version in that commercial is a much catchier remix of the boring and conventional original, so I like that one better. "Firework" is probably the most boring Katy Perry song I've heard, honestly, but it is also one of the catchiest. It's ALWAYS stuck in my head. Always! Favorite line: "Baby, you're a firework/Come on let your colors burst/Make 'em scream/"Aah, aah, aah!"/You're gonna leave 'em all in/awe, awe, awe!"

5. "Each and Every Day" by Best Coast
I think a lot of people find this band to be overrated, but I really like them! They just make simple "surf pop." All of their songs are about wanting people to be their boyfriends, or being hopelessly in love with people, and their lyrics are just simple and cutesy; the music itself is catchy and fun. What's to dislike? I think this is my favorite song by them (not that I know that many, I only know 3), and you know, now that I think about it, it's the saddest one of theirs that I know. Actually, no, that's "Boyfriend." But with lines like "You will never fall in love" this comes close. Also I like this song because it mentions being seventeen and I'M seventeen so obviously we are perfect for each other and are going to get married. Favorite line: "Everything I said to you last night might have been crazy/but I want you to know that I meant it/I meant it/I meant it/Oh, baby!"

6. "My Night With the Prostitute from Marseille" by Beirut
I love dramatic singers. Zach Condon, which is an unfortunate last name I'd think, is one such dramatic guy. "And weeeee/belieeeeeeeved/her thennnn/oh, ohhhhh" is the line that justified my purchase of this song. Even though I bought it for $0 from Amazon. But still! I don't know a ton of Beirut songs, just this and "Scenic World" and something else, but I should check them out, I guess. (I really like this song despite this seemingly apathetic review!) Favorite line: "And now/outside/I see your eyes meet the sky/and I/I won't lie/I kept you hear tonight." Subtly sad.

7. "I'm in Love" by Antony and the Johnsons
My favorite drama king! Just a great voice. This new album of his seems to be his happiest ever, if this song is any indication. It's definitely the least depressing thing I've ever heard him sing, and I've heard him cover "Crazy in Love." I read a review that said that in this song Antony sounds like he's about to "pass out" from his delirious, mad loving and I think that's apt. Favorite line: "I've been touched/oh, I've been touched/It means too much/it means too much!"

8. "Black Sheep" by Metric
From Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, this was the song by The Clash at Demonhead. The music was one of the best parts of this movie, and this song was my favorite! It's just a great song to listen to; a sing-along, I promise you, you will want to sing along to constantly. It's just plain addicting. Try not singing the chorus!: "Send you my love/on a wire/Lifts you up/every time/Everyone/ooh, pulls away/Ooh, from you!" Love it. Favorite line: "Hello/again/friend of a friend/I knew you when/our common goal/was waiting for/the world to end."

9. "Holiday" by Vampire Weekend
You may recognize this song from one of the 12,000 commercials it features on at the moment, most notably a car commercial and a preppy clothing commercial. Floyd and I, we get it. This is the perfect time for this song to get popular; it's holiday season! It's about a holiday! Although I always perceived it to be about a vacation type of holiday, not a Christmas one, kind of like "Holiday" by Weezer (similarly great, featured on my last playlist), but it still works, right? New York called Contra the best album of the year and while I liked it, I definitely disagree. The album was kind of boring, this, "Cousins," "I Think Ur a Contra," and my personal favorite "Diplomat's Son" aside. My album of the year personally is Gorilla Manor by Local Natives, and I even liked the mildly-received Champ by Tokyo Police Club more than this. But "Holiday" is still a catchy tune. Favorite line: "To go away/on a summer's day/never seemed so clear."

10."Rill Rill" by Sleigh Bells
This song makes me nostalgic for sixteen. How I miss it! This song is like a slow jam that I'd play at the prom I'm DJing in my head. Guest list: 1. Floyd. Floyd, I'm trying to win you back, you see? Stupid iPod. But can't you see people slow-dancing to this song, sort of? Maybe slowly dancing? I don't know. I tried. This song is pretty adorable and inoffensive but the album cover for this album is so darn ugly, I hate it, it detracts from the song even, so that's the one good thing about not listening to this on my iPod, because it means I don't have to look at the stupid album cover (which I theoretically could delete but what's the fun in that, man?). Favorite line: "Wonder what your boyfriend thinks about your braces/What about them/I'm all about them!" I find that so funny!

Now, back to whispering sweet nothin's to Floyd the iPod so that he will work properly the next time I sync him to my computer.(If anyone else is having the problem of their iPod Nano 5G not counting their plays after syncing to iTunes, please let me know! Let's find a solution, darn it!)

R.I.P., Elizabeth Edwards

This is not exactly a popular culture subject, but it's important nonetheless:

Elizabeth Edwards died Tuesday after a six-year battle with breast cancer, The Associated Press and ABC News reported. She was 61.

On Monday her family announced that Edwards, who was briefly hospitalized over the Thanksgiving holiday, had stopped all cancer treatment.

She had been resting at home surrounded by family and friends.

Edwards, the estranged wife of John Edwards, the former North Carolina senator and one-time presidential candidate, was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004.
She recently wrote a message on her Facebook page that would end up being a farewell.

"You all know that I have been sustained throughout my life by three saving graces – my family, my friends, and a faith in the power of resilience and hope," she wrote. "These graces have carried me through difficult times and they have brought more joy to the good times than I ever could have imagined."

"Today we have lost the comfort of Elizabeth's presence but she remains the heart of this family," her family said in a statement. "We love her and will never know anyone more inspiring or full of life. On behalf of Elizabeth we want to express our gratitude to the thousands of kindred spirits who moved and inspired her along the way. Your support and prayers touched our entire family."

Her story was a deeply sad one, especially in her last few years; needless to say, we will not forget this strong and inspiring person for quite some time.

Article credit here. Picture here.

Lesson in Latin

Today is (was?) my 17th birthday. Yay me!

I'm tired and unfortunately have a Latin SAT 2 to  study for. Blargh. Thankfully IFC read my mind (as TV just loves me in general) and decided to play Life of Brian, which has a truly hilarious -- and helpful! -- scene in which Brian's Latin is corrected by a Roman official...



This scene is funny but especially so when you've experienced this for yourself. Latin is awesome but when you're a first year student who never was properly taught the mechanics of ENGLISH, let alone some archaic dead language, it's a pain. Imperatives and locatives and indicatives and datives...blah.

Sed iam, eo facere meum laborem. (But now, I am going to do my work.) Lame that I have to work on my birthday.

I think I'm just going to read my brand spanking new copy of Freedom by Jonathan Franzen instead. Tee-hee. :P

Not for the Faint of Heart: Quickies, Liars, and the Hilariously Cruel

You may have noticed that a lot of my mini movie reviews are called "quickies." Unfortunately as a teenager who spends most of her time reading Internet forums, I am exposed to terminologies such as that.

Don't know what a "quickie" is? Let Urban Dictionary define it for you, here.

I forgot about that, so naming my mini reviews that was unintentional. I think it was an unconscious thing. Like the girl in the video I'll be getting to in a second, I internalized that term sometime ago and it all just came out one day. Curse you, Toy Story 3 and my subsequent non-review! (jay kay love you baby)

And now the video I am getting to in a second. I love reading about random things. I think I just wrote an essay about that recently for some college. It was a terrible essay. But that aside, reading about random things = check plus.

I have different obsessions that I go through. A couple of years ago I was obsessed with author scandals, like the whole James Frey-exaggeration-Oprah deal, as well as the outcry against Jonathan Franzen after spurning Oprah's approval of (his absolutely amazing) The Corrections. The one that I always thought was most pathetic was the story of How Opal Mehta Got Kissed, Got Wild, and Got a Life by 19-year-old (at the time) Kaavya Viswanathan (spelled that right on my second try, whoo!).

Kaavya V. was the victim of a high pressure Indian household who was convinced that she must attend Harvard for her life to have any meaning. So she did the requisite extracurricular activities and extreme studying; eventually, she got in. Thankfully, unlike many children born from these kinds of stifling environments, she liked to read and was a decent-enough writer. (Apparently she wrote an extremely long novel about Irish history in high school? I mean, wow.)

So Kaavya got a book deal and got to Harvard. She released the young adult sounding Opal Mehta, which personally sounds extremely generic and frivolous to me (it's practically an autobiography, except starring Opal and not Kaavya, and Opal did NOT get into Harvard because she was too boring), and it sold well. That is, until she was hit with accusations of plagiarism.

Here is the by now-infamous video, where Katie Couric grills Kaavya on this in a totally-not-biased-at-all way (oh, Katie, how we all wish you were still on the Today show):

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

In the end, Kaavya (who I did feel sort of bad for by the end of that clip) got her book pulled of the shelves and never wrote another word. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but her dreams of being a famous author were dashed. That's what you get for plagiarizing other generic teen girl novels, sister! And she plagiarized a lot of them, too: the Princess Diaries, some books by some Megan McCafferty woman, another book about an Indian-American girl...it's sad.

She got to stay in Harvard, though. I find that to be an ethical issue. I'm sure they have an upstanding rule about plagiarism (didn't The Social Network talk about this? Oh wait, no, that was different because their conflict was internal within Harvard. This was the case of a Harvard woman stealing from non-Harvard women, so I guess Harvard didn't care as much? Although even in the movie they didn't care!) so wouldn't it make sense for her to be reprimanded by them in some way? I guess her public humiliation was punishment enough.

Read more about the scandal here.

And now for our hilariously cruel portion: this is utterly unrelated to neither quickies nor plagiarism but it's a Roger Ebert review and he demands our constant attention!

Surely you've seen those terrible commercials for the fittingly awful-looking The Nutcracker 3D? Yeah, well, guess what? It's AWESOME! No, wait, sorry. It's not. At all. In fact, it currently has the dreaded 0% on RottenTomatoes, a badge of horribleness that not even The Room can boast to have. (The Room is probably way better though, and it's one of the worst movies I've ever seen. And I've seen Manos: The Hands of Fire! Which was worse yet. But still, okay?)

While most reviews of Nutcracker are side-splitting, Ebert's is my favorite. I read it to my sister and we both laughed mightily. (Random: anyone remember that movie Mighty Joe Young? Ugh. Awful.) Here it is, with the best parts in bold!

From what dark night of the soul emerged the wretched idea for “The Nutcracker in 3D”? Who considered it even remotely a plausible idea for a movie? It begins with an awkward approximation of the story behind the Tchaikovsky ballet, and then turns it into a war by the Nutcracker Prince against the Holocaust.
Am I exaggerating? At one point, the evil Rat King (John Turturro) has his troopers snatch toys from the hands of children so they can be tossed into furnaces, and the smoke will emerge from high chimneys to blot out the sun.

Yes. And the rats are dressed in fascistic uniforms. Against them stand our heroine Mary (Elle Fanning) and her Christmas present, a nutcracker (voice of Shirley Henderson) that has imprisoned a handsome prince (Charlie Rowe). And two-legged helicopters swoop low over screaming children, and the city is laid waste, and the rats dream of world domination.

You may be in disbelief. I was. “The Nutcracker in 3D” is one of those rare holiday movies that may send children screaming under their seats. Their parents, naively hoping to see a sweet version of “The Nutcracker,” will be appalled or angry, take your choice.

Yes, the film uses melodies that began with Tchaikovsky at one point, but now they have — are you sitting down? — lyrics by Tim Rice (“Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Evita” and “The Lion King”).
“The Nutcracker in 3D” easily qualifies as one of the most preposterous ideas in the history of the movies. It isn't a story, it's a gag line for one of David Letterman's “Top 10 Lists” (No. 9, “It's a Horrible Life”; No. 8, “A Christmas Carol in Hell”).

Andrei Konchalovsky, who wrote and directed this live-action CGI movie, says this “Nutcracker” has been a dream project for 20 years. That is tragic. Konchalovsky made the great films “Shy People” (1987) and “Runaway Train” (1985), and perhaps he became obsessed with this folly.

But what did others think? What about Nathan Lane, who plays a character not previously associated with the Nutcracker tale, Albert Einstein? Yes, Lane gets to sing a song about the Theory of Relativity, but not since he played Jacqueline Susann's adoring husband in “Isn't She Great” (2000) has a role been more thankless.

Only one thing could have made this film worse, and they haven't neglected it. That would be to present it in 3-D. They have. The movie was filmed in Hungary in 2007, and perhaps those studio execs screening it sensed a certain lack of enthusiasm. Maybe they thought that by retroactively “adapting” it to 3-D, it would play better. No luck. I've seen bad retro 3-D, but I've never seen 3-D as bad as this. The film is so dim and dingy, you almost wonder if the smoke from those burning toys is drifting between you and the screen. 

 Funny stuff. Gotta love that guy.

This post was exquisitely long. No more posts until next week, I think. My birthday's on Friday so I'm going to be busy! Wish me happy birthday in the comments?