Hiatus

As you may (although likely have not) noticed, I've been slacking on the blog post from here. Between school ending, getting some more reading in, spending more time with friends, and (if I'm being totally honest here) my tumblr/reddit habits, I've been neglecting this blog. So I'm retiring/taking a hiatus from this blog for now. I'm still active on my tumblr, even if it is mostly (we're talking 99% of the time here) reblogs. I hope to get some more original content on there, but like I said in my very first post... I'm not going to promise consistency.

Farewell for now!

P.S. This post is just a few days shy of this blog's 2 year anniversary (and is my 236th post)! I never thought I would keep it up this long. Hmmm.

101 Places

Yesterday, having finished exams and sold back some old textbooks for a decent price, I found myself in the revamped UVic bookstore, aimlessly wandering through the aisles. I ended up getting this book:

For the last year or so I've been feeling gradually more and more guilty that, having lived here almost two years and passed through it basically every summer of my life, I have experienced very little of Vancouver Island. There's no arguing- Vancouver Island is beautiful, and I don't appreciate or experience it as much as I should. So, as someone who has never had a bucket list, and has a fairly poor record of following through with my goals, I've decided to give this a try: by the time I graduate (that'll be in another 2-3 years), I want to see at least 80 of these places, with photographic proof. So far, I've got two: Ford's Cove at Hornby Island, and the steps of the BC Parliament buildings. Some of the ones in the book are easy, like Chinatown and the Blue Bridge in downtown Victoria. With these ones, I could knock a few off my list in a day. Some of them, like the Sooke potholes, are a little further, but could be done in a day trip. The list goes all across the island (which I learned, on the first page, is about 454x80 km), and some of these are definitely going to require some serious planning. But the way I see it, I could have worse goals to aim for. Most importantly though, I'll need people to do these things with. So, if you are ever interested in doing some island exploring, whether it be a few hours or a few days, let me know! I promise, I'll be interested.

Frightened Rabbit

Who are these guys? Well, they're what makes me able to say, if I'm feeling particularly pretentious, "Yeah, I listen to some Scottish indie rock. You probably haven't heard of them." These guys are a band called Frightened Rabbit, a band which I know very little about, but which I have educated myself about in the last 5 minutes (thanks wikipedia!), and have been listening to ever since my cousin included one of their songs on her wedding invitation/cd combo (which, by the way, is an awesome way to make invitations memorable) a few years ago. I suggest you give them a listen, particularly "Modern Leper," "Nothing Like You," and "Floating in the Forth." Ahh, Scotsmen.

That Weird Part of YouTube

There are certain phrases in this world that make me smile. For example, whenever someone says "be still my beating heart," it inexplicably makes me smile, and usually suppress a giggle. Every. Time. I don't know if it's the fact that I momentarily picture them as a love-struck cartoon while saying this, or the fact that it seems so out of place in today's world, but I always get a kick out of people saying it. There's another phrase though, that pleases me even more:

"I'm in that weird part of YouTube again."

Oh yes, you know what I mean. It pops up most commonly as the most-liked comment on certain videos, and it makes me laugh every time. It's funnier than "that weird part of the Internet" because, well, most of the internet is weird. Usually boring weird. But to be weird on YouTube is an entirely different thing. There is perhaps no feeling more universal than that of being caught in what my brother and I refer to as "the YouTube vortex." One minute, you're watching a video of a girl covering "Rolling In The Deep." Next thing you know, minutes have turned into hours, Charlie is biting his brother's finger while auto-tuned, you've watched that damn Christian the lion video three times, you've seen things you didn't even know were physically possible and bam- you're in that weird part of YouTube. Again. Thought Catalog describes it nicely in this article: 

"True, you start off looking at clips which make you feel good, i.e. “cute kittens,” “fat people falling,” “girlfriend pranks,” but two and a half hours later you’re looking at an 11-year-old kid with a gravely undiagnosed personality disorder from Germany looking into the webcam at you for 6:52 minutes with 37 views from 2006, and you looking at him in a k-hole’d haze, your respective gazes forever six years apart, trying to find something in each other, the retina and video cam merging into the same point of isolation, but nothing."

 I think it can be best surmised with this:

So, what do you think about that weird part of YouTube? Where's the weirdest place the "related videos" bar has taken you? Post a link in the comment section, and be rewarded with high fives.

I Will Follow You Into The Dark

"I Will Follow You Into The Dark" has been one of my favorite songs for years. The album that is first appeared on, Plans, was released in August 2005. I bought it for my dad the following Christmas, and my family still listens to it (I guess this means that I've been listening to this song since grade 8, wow). It still kind of echos the "slightly-emo-but-nothing-too-hardcore" music phase of '04-'06(ish) that I went through, but I honestly love this song. I have 4 versions of it on my iTunes, and I've long stood by the fact that it could make almost any "Top 5 Songs for _____" list I could make. I've blogged about it before, and I'll blog about it again. But just to get it all out of my system, I'll try to end it here, with 5 Situations to Play "I'll Follow You Into The Dark."

#1. Weddings
Okay, so this isn't exactly a "first dance" type of song. However, when the night is coming to an end, and people are exhausted from dancing so hard, tired from dancing for so long, and almost ready to go home, I think this would be a nice song to put on. As the night winds down, people can grab the person they love and dance slowly for a few minutes, to this calming song about forever.


#2. Funerals
 On the opposite end of the spectrum, this song is also funeral appropriate. To be fair, I will put it out there that I've never actually been to a funeral. However, I assume/hear that, at some point, when people have said what's to be said, a song is played to convey what people couldn't. At a wedding, this song is about the love. At a funeral, it's about the concept of forever. Does that make sense? Even if it doesn't, this song makes the concept of forever seem a lot more comforting.

#3. Campfires
 My family gets together for sing-a-longs a lot. Each time, if some one suggests this song before the end of the night, they are greeted with several glares and scoldings that "no, that song is for the end the night." Almost without fail, this is our closing song. My dad plays it on guitar and sings, and this is our sign that the night is coming to an end. When we sing this at campfires, this is the cue for people to start extinguishing the fire (so it gets dark. Get it?). Despite the fact that, after all these years, we still stumble of the line "In the blackest of rooms" (future reference for family: apparently it's rooms. Not blues. Take note), this is one of my favorite campfire songs. It's become habit, and it has a comforting sound when sung by my (admittedly vastly more talented than me) family.

#4. Post-Breakup
 That phase after a break up. You know, when all you want to do is blast sad songs and feel bad about yourself and cry and eat tubs of ice cream and all the chocolate, ever? Yeah, that phase. Crank this baby up and feel the sad, sad wave of despair and pity wash over you.
(*I don't recommend this or anything. I'm just saying, it's an option.)

#5. Awkward Power Outages
The lights go off. People are stumbling around. Start singing the chorus softly, and you'll be surprised how quickly people suddenly find their flashlights. Or matches. Or how flammable that house plant really is.
(*Works best with strangers)

You see what I'm saying? This song is versatile, and I love it to bits. I've also listened to it 7 times while writing this post.  

*BONUS USE: One time, in grade 10 planning, we had this assignment (during the "healthy relationships" unit) where we had to pick a song that depicted some sort of relationship, play if for the class, and talk about it for a minute or so. I picked this song. My planning teacher cried. It was awkward.

My Drunk Kitchen

Have you ever seen My Drunk Kitchen on YouTube? If not, you probably want to check it out.  Hannah Hart (aka MyHarto) posted the first episode of MDK almost one year ago, on March 16th 2011. Since then, she's made almost 20 more episodes. Each episode is about 5 minutes long, consisting of the host getting progressively more drunk while cooking food. While this shouldn't work as a regular YouTube series, it does. She fills each video with hilarious quips, food-related puns and metaphors, and general hilarity. I try to avoid watching them in public, as most episodes I end up laughing out loud embarrassingly to myself. Check out her Canada-inspired episode below:

My Drunk Kitchen, Ep. 10: Poutine


Also, she raps.

Cereal Killer.

5 Songs You Probably Don't Actually Want Sung To You

An often idealized and/or romanticized thought is that of being serenaded by someone who loves you and, hopefully, you love in return. It happens in movies, books, and approximately 14.2% of daydreams (although this number increases dramatically in the few days immediately following the attendance of most live music shows). Obviously, in these situations, song choice is key. Having someone rap "Baby Got Back," while I'm sure is thoughtful, is not really what most people picture when they imagine being serenaded. Some songs however, sneakily hide behind their lovely sounding melody and tune, trying to sneak themselves into some poor serenader's repertoire. And so I present to you, in no particular order, 5 Songs You Probably Don't Actually Want Sung To You.

#1. Landslide (Stevie Knicks/Fleetwood Mac, The Dixie Chicks)

Well, I've been afraid of changing
'Cause I've built my life around you
But time makes you bolder
Even children get older and I'm getting older too
Oh, I'm getting older too

I love this song. God, I love this song. But this song is actually kinda sad. Sometimes things don't work out, time passes, and you need to move on. A lovely song with heartfelt meaning, but not exactly the kind you'd like sung to you.


#2. I Don't Want To Miss A Thing (Aerosmith)

I could stay awake just to hear you breathing
Watch you smile while you are sleeping
While you're far away and dreaming
I could spend my life in this sweet surrender
I could stay lost in this moment forever
Where every moment spent with you is a moment I treasure

This is a not-too-subtle love song, crooned by Steven Tyler and his huge mouth. While at first you might think "Awww, that's so sweet," if you actually listen to the lyrics, this is one creepy-ass song. Despite what Twilight wants you to think, people watching you sleep is not romantic. It's uncomfortable. And if you miss someone while they sleep, maybe you should talk about boundaries. And their clinginess. Just maybe.

#3. I Can't Make You Love Me (Bonnie Rait, Bon Iver)

'Cause I can't make you love me, darling
If you don't
You can't make your heart feel
Something it won't

Obviously, I would let Justin Vernon sing this song to me anytime, anywhere. In fact, I would pay many dollars for him to sing this to me. I've accepted the fact that we'll never be together, so I think I could handle it. However, if anyone else sang this to me, I'd feel a little different. This is probably the most beautiful sounding song I know, but it's not exactly a predicting a happy ending. Also, guilt trip much?

#4. Baby (Justin Bieber)

(I'm pretty sure this was in the midst of his voice breaking. Hehehe.)

Baby, baby, baby oooh
Like baby, baby, baby nooo
Like baby, baby, baby oooh
I thought you'd always be mine (mine)

I'm not gunna lie... I like this song. It has more than 130 plays on my iTunes. But the reasons that this is not a good song to serenade someone with are threefold:
1) The lyrics. If someone is going to serenade you, it'd be nice if they put the effort into a song with slightly more advanced lyrics.
2) If someone thinks that singing a song that was put out by a 15 year old is a good idea, maybe you should rethink your whole "dating a high school kid" thing. Unless you are in high school. Still, maybe reconsider.
3) If you actually pay attention to the lyrics, it's about how the Biebs' "first love broke [his] heart for the first time." So yeah, this is secretly a break-up song, hidden behind catchy choruses and happy sounding instrumentals. (Now if someone sings it to you after you dumped them.... no. Still no.)

#5. It Ain't Me Babe (Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, Johnny Cash and June Carter)

You say you’re lookin’ for someone
Who will promise never to part
Someone to close his eyes for you
Someone to close his heart
Someone who will die for you an’ more
But it ain’t me, babe
No, no, no, it ain’t me, babe
It ain’t me you’re lookin’ for, babe

I freaking love this song, but if someone sings this to you, I'm 90% sure you are in the process of being dumped. Sorry bro.

Do you have any other not-so-nice serenade songs? Any really good songs to have sung to you? Does anyone actually still serenade people in this day and age? Let me know it the comments!

Web comics

I'm a big fan of web comics. In the past years, they've gained popularity, growing larger and larger fan bases, all over the internet. What I think makes web comics different than, say, the comics you read in the newspaper, is that (at least to begin with) they are made completely independently of editors, publishers, etc. Pretty much any web comic was started because the author(s) wanted to share their work, not because they were looking to make money. Sure, some web comics evolve into full time jobs, but it's a slow process, something that comes after a lot of hard work, effort, and patience. The beauty of the internet, however, makes it possible for anyone to publish their work, by themselves, for free, and share it with the world. This gives the creator a certain type of freedom and anonymity that just doesn't exist in print media. There are literally countless different web comics out there, but here are a few of my favorites:

XKCD
Stick figure + nerdy jokes = lulz. My all time favorite xkcd strip? This one right here:

-If you've ever taken a physics class, you'll understand why.

Cyanide and Happiness
Where no subject is taboo, no offensive act left untouched, and no crude act left behind.... there is Cyanide and Happiness. As Wikipedia says, "Frequent topics of humor include disabilities, terrorism, rape, cancer, murder, necrophilia, pedophilia, sexual deviancy, sexually transmitted diseases, suicide, eating disorders, abortion and vehicular manslaughter." You feel kinda bad laughing, but usually it's just weirdly funny. Here's a not-so-crude one:

Poorly Drawn Lines
I just found out about this one a few days ago. Here's the comic that introduced me:

Ain't. No. One.

Three Word Phrase
When this one is funny, it's really funny. When it's not... it's okay.

Psychology jokes, hehehe.

And finally...
Hyperbole and a Half
This is more of a blog-web comic type thing, with illustrated stories and things. The first comic/story (at this time) is not the happiest one, but it still manages to tell a solid story, while illustrating it awesomely, with essentially microsoft paint. Last year, I plowed through every single post in the span of a few days, and probably at least 50% of them made me laugh out loud. While she hasn't been posting much lately, I highly suggest checking this blog out. It is hilarious. Here's one of her older ones, which tells the tale of how she accidentally poisoned herself while running:
http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2009/07/i-finally-got-to-call-poison-control.html 
 

Johnny Cash, etc

The first time I ever heard Johnny Cash's music (I think) was in 2005, when the movie about his life, "Walk The Line," came out. I guess I would have been about 12? I liked his music then, but I've grown more and more fond of it as time goes by. "Ring of Fire" is one of the main songs in Tony Hawk Underground 2, which I used to play (a lot), and "A Boy Named Sue," was written by Shel Silverstein, a poet whose book "Where The Sidewalk Ends," I read many many times when I was little. Also, my friend Jacob's version of "Hurt" has become a staple song at my family campfires at Hornby Island every summer. Recently though, I've found that there is no better way to start your day than some good ol' Johnny Cash singing "Get Rhythm." Seriously.
Johnny Cash- Get Rhythm


And here are two other folksy-ish music I've been listening to lately:
Joy Kills Sorrow (I've mentioned these guys before, after I saw them at the Vancouver Folk Fest this summer. I can't help but bring them up again- their lead singer's voice is ridiculous)
Lauren Mann and the Fairly Odd Folk (These guys played at student dinner last week- I quite enjoyed them)

I Am Seuss

 According to my sister, I sometimes look like a Dr. Seuss character. This comment made me weirdly happy.

I think I have my next Halloween costume.

Walk Off The Earth

YouTube is a really great thing. It shares things across the world, creates communities, and provides endless hours of entertainment. It's also a great place to discover new music. Recently a group called Walk Off The Earth did a cover of Goyte's song "Somebody That I Used To Know." It went viral, and it's not hard to see why. After seeing this video, I checked out some of their other songs. They do both covers and original songs, and they're awesome. As of today, the "Somebody That I Used To Know" video has 34.5 million views. It was posted less than 3 weeks ago. Check it out:


Some of my other favorite's by these guys are a kick-ass version of Adele's "Someone Like You," and Lady Gaga's "Edge of Glory."

Snow in North Van

This last weekend, I made the trek back to North Van. The trip was mainly to meet my new kitty (see my previous post), but it was a particularly nice visit in all other aspects as well. It's always nice to see my friends and family back in North Van, and I had a lovely weekend of hanging out and watching movies and chatting with them in the comfort of the man-cave that is my basement in North Van. I also brought one of my roommates along with me, which was nice. She's from Saskatchewan, and had never been to North Van before. She loved it. Not only was she pleasantly surprised to see how warm, nice, and welcoming everyone was, but she was amazing by the mountains and big trees and overall prettiness of my home city. I'll be the first to admit it, sometimes I take North Van for granted. Although we were only there for a short time, seeing it with someone who was experiencing it for the first time gave me a warm fuzzy feeling of appreciation for the place I've lived basically my whole life. We even had a little bit of snow! Here are a few photos of a walk we took down to Twin Bridges (all photo cred goes to Laura!):

View down my street

End of Hyannis

Me and Chels. I look like a bear/boy because all my clothes were in the wash.

BESTIE.

No doubt about it, I love BC.

Kitty

I met my new kitty Charlie Rosie last weekend. She's adorable as all hell, and I miss her already lots now that I'm back in Victoria. Here are a bunch of pictures for people who like cute things (hi mom!)

D'AWWW ISN'T SHE PRECIOUS

Childish Gambino

Is there anything Donald Glover can't do?

"Donald McKinley Glover^[1] (born September 25, 1983) is an American actor, writer, comedian, and musician. Glover first came to attention for his work in the sketch group Derrick Comedy, and is best known for his role as community college student Troy Barnes on the NBC comedy series Community. In 2011, Glover signed to Glassnote Records under his stage name Childish Gambino, with whom he released his first studio album entitled Camp on November 15, 2011." -from his wikipedia page

Not only does he write, act, tell jokes, and rap, but he's fucking good at all of it.

This last Christmas, I got my sister his newest album, Camp (she loved it- for a real writer's take on Donald Glover, check out her post about him here). Not even two hours after she'd unwrapped it, once she'd stepped out to do some Christmas day yoga, I snagged it and transferred all the songs onto my laptop. Since then, I've listened to it many times. He's crude, egotistical, and often superficial. However, he's also funny, sometimes thoughtful, and damn good. I think the main thing that sets him apart from many other actors is that he doesn't take his rapping too seriously; he does it because he likes to, and sometimes it seems like he just does it for laughs.

In his lyrics, he constantly uses pop-culture references to his non-rapper self ("Baby, I'm your hero, Donald for Spiderman," "When I wrote for 30 Rock, I was under 25") and to others, oftentimes in the form of a pun ("All I wanted was some more like Ashton," "I'm headin' west like I'm fuckin' blowin' Kanye"). Sometimes, his lyrics are just straight up stupid ("An elephant never forgets, so my dick remembers everythin'"). It's almost like he knows he can get away with saying ridiculous things, just because of who he is.

To be honest, it took a while to be able to listen to his songs without picturing Troy from Community (like, longer than I'd care to admit) rapping. But I've finally (and slightly sadly) separated the two in my head, and continue to listen to Camp, at least in part, almost everyday. The best part of the entire album, for sure, is that after 12 songs of crude language and angry/egotistical sounding rapping, three minutes into the very last song (That Power), it slips into 4 1/2 minute monologue that closes the album. OH MY. Surprise surprise, Donald Glover has a bad-ass, strangely gentle, speaking voice and, as he talks about his ride back from summer camp with the girl he likes at age thirteen, my heart melts a little each time I hear it.  You can listen to it/read this blog post about it here.

"This is on a bus back from camp. I’m thirteen and so are you. Before I left for camp I imagined it would be me and three or four other dudes I hadn’t met yet, running around all summer, getting into trouble. It turned out it would be me and just one girl. That’s you. And we’re still at camp as long as we’re on the bus and not at the pickup point where our parents would be waiting for us. We’re still wearing our orange camp t-shirts. We still smell like pine needles. I like you and you like me and I more-than-like you, but I don’t know if you do or don’t more-than-like me. You’ve never said, so I haven’t been saying anything all summer, content to enjoy the small miracle of a girl choosing to talk to me and choosing to do so again the next day and so on. A girl who’s smart and funny and who, if I say something dumb for a laugh, is willing to say something two or three times as dumb to make me laugh, but who also gets weird and wise sometimes in a way I could never be. A girl who reads books that no one’s assigned to her, whose curly brown hair has a line running through it from where she put a tie to hold it up while it was still wet

Back in the real world we don’t go to the same school, and unless one of our families moves to a dramatically different neighborhood, we won’t go to the same high school. So, this is kind of it for us. Unless I say something. And it might especially be it for us if I actually do say something. The sun’s gone down and the bus is quiet. A lot of kids are asleep. We’re talking in whispers about a tree we saw at a rest stop that looks like a kid we know. And then I’m like, “Can I tell you something?” And all of a sudden I’m telling you. And I keep telling you and it all comes out of me and it keeps coming and your face is there and gone and there and gone as we pass underneath the orange lamps that line the sides of the highway. And there’s no expression on it. And I think just after a point I’m just talking to lengthen the time where we live in a world where you haven’t said “yes” or “no” yet. And regrettably I end up using the word “destiny.” I don’t remember in what context. Doesn’t matter. Before long I’m out of stuff to say and you smile and say, “okay.” I don’t know exactly what you mean by it, but it seems vaguely positive and I would leave in order not to spoil the moment, but there’s nowhere to go because we’re are on a bus. So I pretend like I’m asleep and before long, I really am

I wake up, the bus isn’t moving anymore. The domed lights that line the center aisle are all on. I turn and you’re not there. Then again a lot of kids aren’t in their seats anymore. We’re parked at the pick-up point, which is in the parking lot of a Methodist church. The bus is half empty. You might be in your dad’s car by now, your bags and things piled high in the trunk. The girls in the back of the bus are shrieking and laughing and taking their sweet time disembarking as I swing my legs out into the aisle to get up off the bus, just as one of them reaches my row. It used to be our row, on our way off. It’s Michelle, a girl who got suspended from third grade for a week after throwing rocks at my head. Adolescence is doing her a ton of favors body-wise. She stops and looks down at me. And her head is blasted from behind by the dome light, so I can’t really see her face, but I can see her smile. And she says one word: “destiny.” Then her and the girls clogging the aisles behind her all laugh and then she turns and leads them off the bus. I didn’t know you were friends with them

I find my dad in the parking lot. He drives me back to our house and camp is over. So is summer, even though there’s two weeks until school starts. This isn’t a story about how girls are evil or how love is bad, this is a story about how I learned something and I’m not saying this thing is true or not, I’m just saying it’s what I learned. I told you something. It was just for you and you told everybody. So I learned cut out the middle man, make it all for everybody, always. Everybody can’t turn around and tell everybody, everybody already knows, I told them. But this means there isn’t a place in my life for you or someone like you. Is it sad? Sure. But it’s a sadness I chose. I wish I could say this was a story about how I got on the bus a boy and got off a man more cynical, hardened, and mature and shit. But that’s not true. The truth is I got on the bus a boy. And I never got off the bus. I still haven’t  ."

Books and the like

I'll be the first one to (sadly) admit it: I do not read very much. You could almost definitely count the number of books I read last year on your two hands, with the majority of the books read being devoured in two very short time spans: the two weeks after Christmas, and the week I spend on Hornby Island every summer.

This year, my goal (I'm steering clear of the word "resolution," although my resolution-success is about 50-50 the last few years) is to simply read more. The trouble is, I have very few problems with wasting hours on the internet, catching up on TV shows (or rewatching every single HIMYM episode... for the second time), but oftentimes when I'm reading, I feel guilty. Like, if I'm reading this book, couldn't I be reading a textbook instead? WRONG. I should probably read more books for pleasure, both fiction and non-fiction.

I just finished A Visit From The Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan. I got it from my sister for Christmas after hearing her talk about it for months, and I loved it. Probably the most common thing I've heard people/the internet say? If an author can make a chapter consist entirely of powerpoint slides, and make it one of the best chapters in the book, it's probably worth the read. And they're right! The PowerPoint slide chapter is just.... good. It's simple, intriguing, and (obviously) unique. This novel/collection of short stories (some debate here) intertwines a bunch of different characters, from the past, present, and future, in an awesome 340 page read. I recommend checking it out.

Also, because I'm a nerd and was having some serious insomnia type sleep issues last night, I drew this up after I finished the book. Nerdy, but oddly satisfying to have it all in front of me.

It's not the best quality, and I'm not sure if it's 100% accurate, but I think it's pretty close. Here's a full one I found.

Anyways, this is what I ask of you: I need some book suggestions to read. Fiction, non-fiction, short stories, whatever. I seriously need some ideas, so do me a favor and suggest me some books in the comments!

Clue & Bobby

Alright, so this is the first post of my "Movies of 2012" series. I'm not going to post about every single movie I see, but I'll post about the ones I especially like, and maybe just list the other ones I see at the end of each post. We'll see how it works out.

Disclaimer: For some reason I had a lot of trouble sleeping last night. I didn't feel stressed, or excited, or anything. I just felt a complete absence of anything resembling sleepiness. Therefore, I've been up since 3am, and am currently running on about 2-3 hours of sleep, and a free Red Bull that was given to me at the SUB today (FYI: Red Bull at 9 in the morning is neither pleasant nor recommended). Anyways, my apologies if this post lacks coherency. My heads a bit foggy right now.

#1. Clue

  Yeah, you know that board game, clue? I always hated that game, but I never knew they had made a movie in 1985 based off of it, the first movie ever to be based off of a board game (and now, they're making movies based off of the game Battleship. Battleship.). Once I heard about it, I was curious. Isn't the whole point of the game that it's a mystery every time? YES. This movie actually has three different endings. While the version I watched shows all three, when this movie came out in theaters, only one ending would be played, and it varied from theater to theater. Pretty cool, right?
I actually quite enjoyed this movie. It's a lot more interesting than the game, and probably about the same length. (Is Clue a long game? I haven't played it in ages, but for some reason I picture it being akin to Monopoly, in that it never fucking ended). Tim Curry is awesome as Wadsworth the butler, and each of the other characters are as unique and different from each other as they are in the game. It's also set during the 50's, so there's some anti-Communism/McCarthyism slipped in there, which I found interesting, and beefed up the plot a little. Overall, I really enjoyed this movie. It had the simplicity that old movies tend to have, yet pulled off the murder mystery nicely. If you have time, this is a fun one to check out.

#2. Bobby

 Again, Netflix suggested this one to me. I don't know how I hadn't heard about this movie, because it has, easily, at least a dozen big name actors in it. Like, of the first 15 listen on the IMDb page, there were only 2 I didn't recognize (You can check out the full cast list here).
I was  blown away by this movie. Not only was the cast great, but I really enjoyed the structure of the plot, and the fact that it was based around a real-life event (the assassination of Robert F Kennedy). It follows the stories of about 20 different people in the day leading up to the assassination at the Ambassador Hotel. The actually assassination doesn't happen until the last ten or fifteen minutes, and by that point I was strangely anxious, what with all the expectation leading up to it. This film also uses real clips of Kennedy to portray him almost entirely throughout, which gives it a bit more authenticity. I'm sure some people wouldn't enjoy it being done this way, but I liked it. Also, Emilio Estevez both directed and acted in this movie. It's weird; he's actually getting a bit old, but I always picture him as looking the exact same as he did in The Breakfast Club. Really, he doesn't look too different.
I really like this movie. I was pleasantly impressed with my first two movies of 2012.

Other movies I saw: I re-watched Your Highness with my friend. It's still funny, in a I-don't-know-if-this-is-stupid-or-hilarious kind of way.

Netflix

(Alright, so it's been a while. I'm going to try to post a little more often during this semester, but- like always- I can't promise anything.)

Just a few movie-type things
Over the Christmas break, I signed up for a free months trial on Netflix. I'm not going to lie, it's kind of awesome. Not only does it have a pretty solid collection of TV shows, but it's got a massive selection of movies that, while it doesn't include many big blockbuster type movies, by adjusting your (incredibly specific) taste profile, can find and suggest movies that you might enjoy. It's a great way to find new movies that you might not have heard of otherwise. An example of the type of movies that my taste profile suggests for me? Visually-Striking Quirky Independent Movies. So yeah, it gets pretty specific.

Also in my wildly productive Christmas break, I watched every single episode of Community (there are only 2 1/2 seasons, but still). I watched the first season on Netflix in 4 days, and was hooked. I burned through the next season and a half almost as quickly. Holy shit, that show is amazing. It's consistently funny (although the first season was definitely the best one overall), the cast is great, and the writing is smart, unique, and, like I said, hilarious (I'm kind of glad I got into the show after the mid-season hiatus was announced. Otherwise, I probably would have been a lot more upset). Abed quickly became one of my favorite TV show characters ever. Danny Pudi is a near genius.

Finally, in movie news, I actually completed my goal of keeping track of/doing a (admittedly, sometimes incredibly brief) review of every single movie I watched in 2011. You can check them all out in the upper left hand corner, under the "Pages" tab. In case you're wondering, I watched 107 movies in 2011. Hmmm. I'll probably be doing a post in the next week or so about my favorites, least favorites, funniest, etc. I actually quite enjoyed doing this. While I got lazier about it in the end, and a few times had movies backed up for almost a month before I got around to writing about them, it was kind of cool to have them all neatly listed, sort of like a weird time capsule of my 2011 (but then again, maybe that's just my OCD/nerd side coming out). I might do something similar for 2012, but in separate blog post forms, rather than having them in a list on different blog pages. So if you like watching movies, keep an eye out for movie posts (coming soon to a computer screen near you)! The first one should be coming soon. I watch a lot of movies.

Anyways, Happy New Years! I hope you all had a lovely one. I'm back to school tomorrow, and I've finally reached that point in my life where this is no longer a dreaded thing. Yay for being all mature and stuff.

Also, if you have any movies you would recommend to movie-type people in general, let me know in the comments. Thanks!