New Hobby

I have taken up a new hobby these last few months and have kept it kind of on the down low.

I am now the host of podcast:

 I only told two people outside of Rob, Sue and B (each for various reasons) until I could tell how it was going to go. Well, after 3 episodes I can say it's going pretty well and I'm ready to let the cat out of the bag.  We have a facebook page, we have some fans (around 75 downloading each episode every week at this point (3 episodes in), we are getting feedback, and we have a host site hosting us.

Our podcast if you can't tell from the picture is a podcast devoted to the TV Show "Freaks and Geeks".  There is a family of podcasts known as "Introcasts" (more on that in a minute), and I am known to comment on the Buffy The Vampire Slayer one now and then, and that's how this all came about.  A group of us thought Freaks and Geeks deserved an Introcast and next thing I knew, I was a host of it.  I thought, "why not?  I like podcasts and a new hobby sounds like just the thing".

Ok Introcasts is a format of podcast where you have one or two hosts that are big fans of the show you are reviewing, they love it and they know lots about it (that's what I do along with my cohost Rich), then you find a few people whom have never seen the show ever and know very, very little about it.  Then, on each episode of the podcast, you go over one of the episodes of the show and talk about it.  You ask the new people what they thought of it, you ask them what they think is going to happen next, and just do stuff like that.  The vets, since they love the show so much usually add little tidbits and fun facts about the making of, behind the scenes, etc.  You keep the new people spoiler free, and they don't explore the internet about the show to learn what happens next and all that kind of stuff.  The beauty of this format is, is that long time lovers of the show enjoy watching along and hearing what new people to the show have to say about it, they get kicks out of hearing their predictions, be them right or wrong, and just have that feeling of introducing a friend to a beloved show of theirs.  AND any new people listening can watch along and not be spoiled, and they can learn information about the new show they are watching.  It's really fun if you're into that sort of thing.

Ok, that is it.  Except if you're interested in listening and friends and family-- I will not be hurt if you don't listen!  I swear!  It's all kind of embarrassing if you'd really like to know.  You can call me a nerd if you want, it's ok.  You probably wouldn't be too far off either, but like I said-- new, interesting hobby I am having a good time doing. So, you know, whatever. 

Oh yeah- so if you are interested in listening you can find it on itunes here, or go to our host site Quadruple Z and you can download/listen to it directly from there.

Elinor!

In case you're not on facebook and mostly are my mother in law (whom has been complaining about my dead blog- and rightfully so) I thought I'd share this ad.  It came out yesterday and features our own little Elinor.  It's been shared by over 150 people in 24 hours, that means it's been seen by thousands of people on facebook.  I'm proud of my little girl doing her cutest to raise awareness for Rett Syndrome, made possible by our good friends across the pond at curerett.org.uk


Also- I've really been wanting to get back into blogging and have some great blogs in my head I could write, so stay tuned, I just might.

What Emily's Been Watching, January '13

Here is January finally.  I am doing it separate from February or I'll never do it, and I want to do it, so I am.  Not sure anyone still cares, since I all but abandoned my blog for like half a year.  No matter-  I am forging on and hopefully there is still a smidgen of interest out there.

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD (2012) PG-13 drama/fantasy.  I had been waiting to see this movie for a long time and was expecting to be blown away- perhaps this was it's downfall.  I am not saying that I didn't like it, but I was definitely disappointed.  I could see what it wanted to do and what it almost did, but in the end it just didn't quite make it on all accounts.  Everything was just slightly a miss.  The only thing that didn't disappoint me was the little girl.  I thought she was great.  I am just going to call her the little girl too cause I'm a little too lazy to look up how to spell her first name.  Anyway, it's the story of a little girl and her father who live on the other side of the levy in New Orleans called "The Bathtub".  It is basically all houseboats and wet shanties, etc., because of the water line.  The father is sick and you can tell he is dying and the mom is just gone.  It showed a little niche of life that is someone else's reality and that is always something I am interested in, but there was a fantasy sort of element to it that DIDN'T work for me whatsoever.  It had one or two really impactful scenes to me though.  All in all, I wished I'd have liked it better.   Emily thinks you should see it if you have been wanting to- a lot of people really love it so maybe you will too.  I'm glad I saw it.


 

CLEANFLIX (2009) NR  documentary.  I heard about this on Filmspotting SVU and since it was a documentary set in Utah based on that weird boom of businesses around here "cleaning up movies", I had to check it out.  I remember watching that whole phenomenon unfold, starting with Titanic when movie shops started cutting out the Kate Winslet nude scene to make it family friendly and then they figured they might as well clean up other movies as well and BOOM!  You have yourself a successful Utah Valley business. It really made me think a lot about the whole concept of movies, right and wrong, movie ratings, art, etc.  It sucessfully did what I love in a movie:  made me evaluate a bunch of stuff in my head and cause me to think a lot after it's done.  PLUS the main guy in the movie was a guy I actually knew fairly well in high school and that was a surprise.  I don't think I paid much attention while it was happening (or if I did, I totally forgot).  Emily recommends this one.  It was pretty entertaining and interesting and thought provoking.  Those are three good things.



QUEEN OF VERSAILLES (2012) PG  documentary.  Another very entertaining documentary.  Man I love documentaries! This movie was great!  There is something so horrifying about seeing the lives of the utterly classless and tasteless rich.  It was a documentary someone decided to make, documenting this couple in Florida building the biggest house in America (single residence).  He is a time share mogul and she was an ex beauty queen.  Neither of them have an ounce of taste.  None.  I am talking he has a tacky gold THRONE he sits in, they have paintings on their wall they had commissioned of them dressed as gods and kings and queens, they have her old dogs that have died stuffed in the hallway, I am talking a freak show of horrid taste.  The house they were building was being modeled after the Palace of Versailles.  Yep.  The thing is, mid way through building and (mid way through the documentary), the real estate market collapsed and they lost all their money.  So the doc takes a turn and they allowed them to continue filming.  It's quite the story.  Emily totally recommends this little number.  Good stuff.  It's streaming on Netflix right now.  Do it.





YOUR SISTER'S SISTER (2011) R  comedy/drama.  This movie gets a giant MEH.  I didn't dislike it, I wasn't crazy about it, it is just meh.  I don't like it when independent movies have a really heavy independent movie vibe and this one screams it.  The story is of a guy that has a girl for a best friend and he goes to her family's cabin at her urging to get over his brother's death by being alone.  Little did she or he know that her sister was there.  It goes on from there.  It isn't awful, it isn't wonderful, it's meh.



RUBY SPARKS (2012) R  comedy/romance.  This one faired better then the above movie.  This one had Paul Dano whom I really like.  The trailer will explain the concept of the movie very nicely.  But here is what it really is:  The whole manic pixie dream girl thing imploded on itself in one movie.  Is that good or bad?  You decide I suppose, but I liked it alright.  Was the implosion ironic?  I am not sure, but I lean towards not.  Emily can recommend this movie.  It is good for a light, in the mood for a fairly well done romantic comedy kind of night.  Fun enough.





SAFETY NOT GUARANTEED (2012) R  comedy/romance.  This movie completes my independent, romantic comedy trilogy I didn't plan.  It ended up the winner.  I really, really liked this one. Maybe I was just in a good mood that night and in the perfect mood for it- but I really enjoyed this movie.  It was based on an ad placed in a magazine (as a joke by the editor) that read: "Wanted: Somebody to go back in time with me. This is not a joke. P.O. Box 91 Ocean View, WA 99393. You'll get paid after we get back. Must bring your own weapons. Safety not guaranteed. I have only done this once before.  The movie is about a 3 person team of journalists that read this ad and decided to find the guy that placed it and do an undercover story on him.  It was really fun and I loved the ending.  Good times.  Recommend.  I had to get it from Redbox, but I've now noticed it streaming on Netflix.



OSLO, AUGUST 31ST (2011) NR   drama.  This movie got a lot of buzz for a while, so when I saw it streaming, I checked it out.  It was really good and depressing.  I am ashamed to say that I don't remember the details all that well.  I don't even remember if it was subtitled or not, but I am almost sure it was.  It is one day in the life of a guy that is living his first day in almost a year out of rehab.  Guess what day and guess where?  Anyway, it was a sad little reality and a bleak look at what it's like after rehab.  Emily recommends this movie even though it's details are sketchy- I remember it being good.  Cut me some slack, it's late, I'm sick and have taken Sudafed.



Yep- Subtitles

GIRL WALK // ALL DAY (2011) NR   hmmm...dancy dance?  THIS MOVIE.  This movie is perhaps my favorite movie I have seen in years.  I'm serious.  It is far and away the most rewatchable movie I've seen since in recent memory since I've rewatched it I don't know how many times.  It is the story of a girl that dances through New York City, there is a love triangle and there is also zero dialogue.  (That isn't true, three lines are subtitled in, but they are incidental to the plot.)  You may not think that such a movie could be so joyful or fun, but I assure you it is.  It brings me so much joy.  If you are having a bad day, you watch this for 15 minutes and you will turn that mood around.  Give this a shot!  Especially if you like to watch dancing and like joy and you have to like hip hop and a little hard core rap.  The rap isn't radio friendly if you know what I mean. Best of all, this movie is available free to anyone who has internet access.  Instead of linking the title to IMDB like usual, I linked it to the website where you can watch it. At least give it 15 minutes.  I bet you have a hard time turning it off.  (I even bought it on DVD, and I am willing to loan it out if you'd like.)


Wow- that was my first time watching the trailer- it made me smile.

BEAUTY IS EMBARRASSING (2012) NR  documentary. I watched this movie as part of PBS's Independent Lens thing.  It focuses on an artist named Wayne White.  He is interesting and unique and was the creative force behind most of Pee Wee's Playhouse.  That's about all to say really except his art is cool and that I enjoyed it, but wasn't blown away.



SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (2012) PG-13  documentary.  THIS one totally blew me away.  This is a truly, awesome story.  It is about a singer/songwriter from the 60's named Rodriguez.  He signed with a record label and made an album and...it totally bombed.  A bootleg copy entered South Africa during Apartheid and long story short- Rodriguez is like South Africa's Elvis.  And he never knew.  I am going to remain sketchy and that's all you get of the story.  It's just too good to watch for yourself.   And it gets a huge congratulations from me for winning the best documentary Oscar.  Totally deserved.  Emily recommends this movie to everybody but especially to Matt who I ordered to see this and I am pretty sure he has not yet *stink eye*.  I watched it thinking it was a story he would really, really appreciate and coincidentally, it raised many of the same questions he was pondering about art over Christmas and I thought that was neat (as long as you include music in your definition of art).  I haven't seen the trailer yet for it, and if I feel it gives too much away, then that is why you don't see it listed.  In that case, just go watch it, you'll thank me I think.

February is coming soon...I SWEAR!

2013 Oscar Confidence List

 

It's that time once again folks and I'm getting my picks listed just under the wire.  I did surprisingly well last year therefore I have nowhere to go but down (I scored a 238 getting my entire top ten right).  I've missed seeing a lot of the top contenders this year, but did manage to watch all but one of the documentaries up (didn't see The Gatekeepers) and I watched all of the animated shorts for the first time ever, so I was able to make an intelligent decision on that category for once.  Not convinced it will help.  
Ah well, cheers and happy Oscars.

Oh- this year I decided to make my official pick and score it in order, but also next to it will be my personal pick, but I am not doing the 300 score thing for my personal picks.  So this year my heart and my head are going to duke it out.  Should be interesting.  (for two categories when it came to my personal choice, I had a tie between two movies, so if either happens to be the winner, I will score myself 1/2 a point).

This is how scoring works:(I'm doing the Movie BS scoring again this year- lots of fun)

1) you decide who you think is going to win in each category

2) you put them in order of how confident you are of your picks in each category.

There are 24 categories, so for example, if I get my first one right (or the one I feel most confident I will get right-) I get 24 points for that one. For the second on my list, I would get 23 points and so on. If you get them all right, it will add up to exactly 300 points. 

LIGHT GREEN: THE ONES I GOT RIGHT (HEAD)
DARK GREEN: THE ONES I MISSED (HEAD)
LIGHT PINK: THE ONES I GOT RIGHT (HEART)
DARK PINK: THE ONES I MISSED (HEART)
   

1.  FOREIGN LANGUAGE ... Amour (24pts.) - Amour

2.  BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS ... Anne Hathaway (23) - Anne Hathaway

3.  BEST ACTRESS ... Jennifer Lawrence (22) - Quvenzhané Wallis

4.  ORIGINAL SONG ... Skyfall (21) - Pi's Lullaby

5.  DOCUMENTARY ... How to Survive a Plague (20) - 5 Broken Cameras/Searching for Sugar Man

6.  BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR ... Robert De Niro (19) - Philip Seymour Hoffman

7.  BEST ACTOR ... Daniel Day Lewis (18) - Daniel Day Lewis

8.  ANIMATED SHORT ... Adam and Dog (17) - Paperman

9.  VISUAL EFFECTS ... Life of Pi (16) - Life of Pi

10. ADAPTED SCREENPLAY ... Argo (15) - Beasts of the Southern Wild

11. MAKE UP AND HAIRSTYLE ... Les Miserables (14) - Les Miserables

12. BEST DIRECTING ... Lincoln: Steven Spielberg (13) - Life of Pi: Ang Lee (I'm a fan)

13. BEST PICTURE ... Argo (12) - Django Unchained 

14. LIVE ACTION SHORT ... Buzkashi Boys (11) - Curfew

15. ORIGINAL SCREENPLAY ... Amour (10) - Django Unchained/Moonrise Kingdom

16. COSTUME DESIGN ... Anna Karenina (9) - Anna Karinina

17. CINEMATOGRAPHY ... Life of Pi (8) - Skyfall

18. ANIMATED FILM ... Brave (7) - I don't care AT ALL- didn't see any so.... Wreck it Ralph?

19. EDITING ... Argo (6) - Zero Dark Thirty

20. ORIGINAL SCORE ... John Williams: Lincoln (5) - I AM PROTESTING THIS CATEGORY FOR JONNY

21. SOUND MIXING ... Les Miserables (4) - Life of Pi

22. SOUND EDITING ... Argo (3) - Django Unchained

23. DOCUMENTARY SHORT ... Open Heart (2) - Open Heart (the only one I've heard of)

24. PRODUCTION DESIGN ... Lincoln (1) - Lincoln

FINAL SCORE: 213 (much better then I anticipated! *patting self on back*)

And my winner of heart vs. head is: my head (as is the way of the world)
17/24- HEAD
11/24- HEART (I got my two 1/2 points)

Funny calling this a confidence list- I feel decidedly unconfident about the lot.  Unusually so.

What Emily watched the last half of 2012

I may have taken a blog break, but I didn't stop watching.  I did stop writing them down though.  I wrote a few down and will try to remember as much as possible.  What I am not going to do is review them save for a one word sum up of each movie (which the exception of 2 mea culpas). It's been since June people!  I will also link to IMDB in case you're curious.

Night Wolf - bad bad, not good bad (I already broke my rule)
Amelie - lovely
The Woman in Black - freaky
The Double Life of Veronique - good (and over my head)
The 400 Blows - amazing
The Innkeepers - worth seeing
Bernie - Loved
Gosford Park - alright
A Separation - outstanding
Sleepwalk With Me - FUNNY
Cloud Atlas - zzzzzzzzzz

I also started watching or caught up on:

Breaking Bad -outstanding
The Walking Dead - awesome
Dexter season 6 - kicked (my butt)
Supernatural - meh
How I Met Your Mother - funny

Added late:
Django Unchained - most excellent

My mea culpas:

Run Lola Run - It has been a while since I saw this because I moved this and the other movie to the top of my dvd queue the hour I got called out, which must have been sometime last June- so excuse my memory.
 It was really good.  The whole movie is basically rehashing the same period of the day for Lola except little things change every time and this makes for drastically different outcomes.  Think Groundhog Day meshed with The Butterfly Effect made by Germans (if you've never seen a German movie, you'll just have to see what I mean).  I really enjoyed it Ami- thanks for recommending it to me.  I fully recommend it to anyone.


The Triplettes of Bellevue - First of all this is a cartoon, which I wasn't expecting.  A really strange, French cartoon.  I spend most of this movie going "what the crap?"  I enjoyed myself for the most part, but really spent a lot of time wondering what the deal was.  What is the deal Aim?  Explain your relationship with this movie.  Oh- it's about a little boy that lives with his grandma and grows up to be a cyclist, gets kidnapped during the Tour de France.  The grandma and her dog go to find him and end up in Bellevue where they are befriended by 3 old ladies that sing and eat frog stew.  They somehow help her find her grandson in a movie theater.  I think I got that right.  I can recommend this movie to all who like weird French cartoons.  I didn't know that I did, but I think I do alright.  I remember being quite fascinated with the animation throughout.



Well- that's what I've got.  If you saw a movie with me that I forgot, kindly bring it to my attention and I'll add it. Also, if you'd like me to expound on any of these titles, I'd be happy to chat them up.

I've got January and February's movies written down and will try to get January's post out tomorrow.  I'm always sorry when I say that....

Fuzzy Chick Head

I want to get back to blogging, but I don't know where to start, so here is me without pomade. I walked around like this all morning and then looked in a mirror and had a good laugh. I don't think the picture does it justice. That is some crazy fuzzy baby chick thing happening. Not anymore though. I applied some pomade. 

By the way-- MUSIC IS BACK!!! Let's rejoice.