Archive for the ‘Movies’ Category

Magic stays where myth remains

Friday, November 7th, 2008
  
Feeling :  crazycrazy  Listening :  Me and My Imagination - Sophie Ellis-Bextor

I got a lot done today.

I got my car’s oil changed, I went to Michael’s for supplies, Wal-Mart for junk food, and then I spent the rest of the day shooting for my Outlaw Genres project. I still have a TON of photos to shoot, but the ones I did today look soo good. I’m dying to show them off, but I’m not gonna. You’ll just have to wait. :P

It was really fascinating to finally focus my photography on something like this. I kept snapping and adjusting the camera to get the right shot. My self-portraits today were so draining but there was a part of me that said “Keep going! You’ve almost got the right angle, the right lighting! Go!” Plus I got my nieces involved. I don’t think they’ve ever understood my madness, bless ‘em.

It’s Aviation Nation this weekend. Just saw a commercial on a break for NCIS. I haven’t gone for several years. I love air shows. I used to go to them all the time when I was a kid. I’m a military brat, through and through.

I also took the girls to see Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa, or as I like to call the series, Mada-gaskarth, rofl. It was a fun movie. The audience was a lot more interactive than previous family-friendly movies. I love going to movies where everyone’s clapping and laughing and having a good time. It was uber cold in the theater. I think we were sitting under the A/C vent. :(

The dramatic ending of “Static” behind the cut!
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I’m five-by-five here, B, living entirely large, actually wondering about your problem

Friday, July 25th, 2008
  
July/August Mixtape \'08

July/August Mixtape '08

5 Chicks
Sophie Ellis-Bextor: Murder on the Dancefloor
Corinne Bailey Rae: Breathless
Aaliyah: Are You That Somebody?
Siobhan Donaghy: Givin’ In
Britney Spears: Don’t Go Knockin’ On My Door

5 Dudes
will.i.am: Heartbreaker (f. Cheryl Cole)
Justin Timberlake: Rock Your Body
Will Smith: The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air
Sam Sparro: Sick
Butch Walker: Mixtape

5 Bands
UB40: Don’t Break My Heart
Basement Jaxx: Don’t Know Me
Kaiser Chiefs: Ruby
Duran Duran: The Chauffeur
The Cranberries: Linger

5 Classics (1950’s-1980’s)
Buddy Holly & The Crickets: That’ll Be the Day
Gerry and the Pacemakers: Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying
Creedence Clearwater Revival: Down on the Corner
The Animals: We Gotta Get Out of This Place
Booker T & The M.G’s: Green Onions

5 Covers
Klaxons: My Love
Mark Ronson & Amy Winehouse: Valerie
Kai: Suddenly
The Killers: Romeo & Juliet
Paramore: Love is Not a Competition (But I’m Winning)

5 Random
Kevin Kline: La Mer
Pharrell: Frontin’
Pinay: Dahil Sa Iyo
The Sounds: Tony the Beat
5ive: My Song

I tried to be as diplomatic as possible when deciding which songs I wanted to offer under each category (I found these categories on someone else’s mixtape on LJ).

As you can see, Muse and Girls Aloud - mixtape staples of mine - are notably missing from this mix. That’s not to say I didn’t think they belonged this time around (as the HAARP version of “Knights of Cydonia” and “I Say a Prayer For You” from “What Will the Neighbours Say?” are my current favourite jams). But I felt that with all the choices I had, I wanted to rotate in some tracks you might not normally see from me.

The songs on this tape are things I enjoy when they occur randomly. I currently have more songs than God in my iTunes library - 13,656 as of this entry - so quite a few randomly pop up because shuffling is my friend. And when they do, they make me happy. Life should be more random like that.

I know I sound like a total and complete hypocrite for saying that and then putting the Killers on this tape, but SERIOUSLY, have you heard their cover of “Romeo & Juliet?” It’s teh sex, plain and simple! I could not honestly “forget” to include them because of previous rule. And that’s why I hate rules.

I’m counting this as a July/August mixtape ’cause I didn’t want to wait until August to post it, haha.

Eliza Dushku rules as Faith and it only seemed right to have this mixtape called “five by five” because of her. :) I also made this mixtape to help me get over my late July blues. And it’s helping, as I’m listening to it as I assembled it and the songs that are coming up are making me smile.

I’m also going through this incredible pop phase, as I am listening to Kylie Minogue more, and have recently discovered Sophie Ellis-Bextor. last.fm recommended her and Monrose to me, and I’ve only been able to snag “Read My Lips” and “Shoot from the Hip.” I’ve got some tracks from “Trip the Light Fantastic” too. “Murder on the Dancefloor” is so pop, I can’t believe I didn’t discover her sooner! I’ve also got “Strike the Match” by Monrose, and I’m liking what I hear so far.

Oh, and I watched “The Dark Knight” for my Ate’s birthday last weekend. I thought it was brilliant. I posted my initial reaction on TKO in our Movie Thread: “I felt ‘TDK’ started off slow, but then by the end, I was like, ‘WTF? KEEP GOING! NOOO!’ I was just so emotionally wrapped up in it, and it’s not a typical ‘comic book’ movie either. Jonah and Chris Nolan put that intelligent spin on the dialogue. In movies like this, the dialogue plays second banana to the action, but in ‘TDK’, I felt they both went hand in hand. Which is a welcome relief.”

Click the individual songs for the songs from the mixtape, or the cover for the whole damn thing. :D

Can’t keep my hands, my hands, my hands out the cookie jar

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008
  
Feeling :  fullfull  Listening :  Cookie Jar - Gym Class Heroes  Reading :  Dawn and the Impossible Three by Ann M. Martin

So, if you haven’t been keeping up or don’t know, Travis McCoy of Gym Class Heroes got into a kerfuffle with a heckler at the St. Louis Warped Tour date. For the TL;DR crowd: racial slurs were spoken, Travis tried to handle it, heckler hit his bad knee as he was climbing up onstage, Travis cracked a mic over the dude’s head. Apparently, he’s been arrested for it. I’m in shock.

I wish he hadn’t let his temper get the best of him, because the kid who called him the n-word looked like he was biracial like Travie. I just hope it gets resolved where justice is served. I had such a badass time at the Joint last Friday, it would suck that the fans on the rest of Warped wouldn’t be able to enjoy the love that is Gym Class status. But I don’t think I would be able to think straight if 1) someone called me a racial slur, and 2) hit my bad knee. So I kinda see it from both sides.

I found a site that was streaming “Cookie Jar” through the GCH LJ. I’m obsessed with “Cookie Jar” and “Press 7″ by Tyga. They are on constant repeat right now.

I went to the used bookstore again this week! Only spent $10 now. Here is a list of my newest acquisitions…

(hardcover)
“Little Women” by Louisa May Alcott
“Jack and Jill” by Louisa May Alcott
“Little Men” by Louisa May Alcott
“Eight Cousins” by Louisa May Alcott
“Oliver Twist” by Charles Dickens

(paperback)
“Murder on the Orient Express” by Agatha Christie
“In Her Shoes” by Jennifer Weiner
“Girl With a Pearl Earring” by Tracy Chevalier
“The Talented Mr. Ripley” by Patricia Highsmith
“Dawn and Too Many Sitters” by Ann M. Martin
“The Open Boat and Other Stories” by Stephen Crane

I also downloaded Kai’s self-titled album, Malyssa’s “Reminisce,” and Hoku’s “Listen Up” EP from the iTunes store the other day. I had Kai and Malyssa, but I lost them.

As for Hoku, I have some ’splaining to do. At the bookstore, they also sell used CDs. One of them was Hoku’s self-titled CD. I had a copy of it, but I lost it somewhere between here and the three houses we’ve owned/rented here in Vegas. It was autographed too. Anyways, I wanted to know what Hoku was up to, and it turns out she’s still making music! “Listen Up” is definitely a fun EP. “Closer” is so sexy. I didn’t think she was like that, considering she was really into her faith. I had to put the song on my Moneymaker playlist, haha.

Also, I watched “The History Boys” the other day, and I just have to say, I less than three the movie. The film is based on the award winning play by Alan Bennett, which ran at the National Theatre in London from May 2004 until April 2005. The music they used drew me in, “Blue Monday” by New Order and “This Charming Man” by the Smiths in the first couple of scenes. But the script itself was so good, and the actors (who starred in the first staging of the play) completely sold me on their roles.

When a 1980s class achieves the best scores ever at Cutlers’ Grammar School for boys in Sheffield (Yorkshire, northern England), the petty headmaster, who craves the prestige like the parents, recruits a young Oxford graduate, Irwin, to prepare them for the general entry exams for the world class universities of Oxford and Cambridge. He stresses that takes not just delivering what all schools prepare for, but -if they even really want to go- standing out by a different approach and perspective: surprising quotations and associations, the other side of the coin, witty phrasing… Actually good foundations were laid by the current staff, less by history teacher Dorothy Lintott, a frustrated liberal feminist without actual impact, then by the enthusiasm-arousing ‘Hector’ in General Studies, who gets their attention and makes them think trough literature, open discussion, role-play and performing declamation and song, at both of which the only Jewish (like the Muslim, fully integrated) boy, sensitive gentle gay David, excels. Alas, when the headmaster learns that the caring, paternal Hector once innocently touched a boy’s privates, he insists on ‘graceful’ early retirement, a personal drama with surprising twists in the end. Meanwhile the irresistible class flirt, Dakin, skillfully tests all borders including his and Irwin’s sexual orientation, and all consider what they really aspire and care for, in studies and life.

It also doesn’t help that they cast such gorgeous specimens for the boys. Yum. I recognized Russell Tovey (Rudge) played Toby from Doctor Who’s Christmas special, “Voyage of the Damned.” Andrew Knott (Lockwood) played Dickon in “The Secret Garden” a million years ago. And Dominic Cooper (Dakin) is gonna be in “Mamma Mia!” and “The Duchess” with my girl Keira Knightley. And I’ve got a huge crush on Jamie Parker (Scripps).

Plus it was funny to see Richard Griffiths (who plays Harry’s uncle in the HP films) in his role. Frances de la Tour (who played Madame Maxime in GOF) played the only female lead. And Stephen Campbell Moore was so incredibly good. In the scene where Dakin propositions him, you can see it in his eyes how much he wants Dakin.

I highly recommend “The History Boys” if you haven’t seen it already. Obviously I’ve like a year too late, but that’s always how it happens for me. Either I get in on the ground floor for fangirling, or I’m light years behind everyone else!

?: “Best song that describes summer?

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