It's been a while...oops?

So I decided a while ago to switch this to a Tumblr, partly because I just really really wanted one, which in fact is a terrible reason. I thought, oh hey, we can publish the movie posters and it will be grand!

BUT I had forgotten that this blog was created to be about my working my way through the BBC meme and the AFI movie list. Of course, that implies that I will probably be then saying my thoughts about the subjects. In my wisdom, I thought that by switching medias (or rather, social media sites), I would better be able to organize and deal with the dissemination of this information.

What didn't occur to me is that Tumblr is less about written work (aka my thoughts on a film), and more about art...so basically I don't have a lot to contribute in that sense.

Regardless, since I'm switching back to blogger (sorry for leaving!) these are the links to what I've seen and read in my absents via my Tumblr account.


Lists are good right?
http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/31799163061/apparently-i-like-lists

Methods of book collecting:
http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/32053986697/collections-of-books

Books that I've read:
The Shadow of the Wind http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/33433106651/there-are-something-like-four-copies-of-this-book
Memoirs of a Geshia http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/33234794268/okay-so-this-book-drove-me-mental-i-had-been
The Remains of the Day http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/33088125222/i-described-this-book-to-someone-as-a-book-i
A Town like Alice http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/32875962291/a-town-like-alice-by-nevil-shute-this-actually
Lolita http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/32460677508/lolita-not-a-book-to-be-read-in-public-while-most

My Sherlock Shelf:
 http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/32332099724/sherlock-including-a-study-in-sherlock-which-is

Movies that I've seen:
2001: A Space Odyssey
Schindler's List
Gone With The Wind
http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/31591778213/three-in-one-watch-dates-5-16-5-17-5-18
Lawrence of Arabia
http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/31733115015/lawrence-of-arabia-watch-date-8-29
Vertigo
http://queue-up-the-film.tumblr.com/post/35083177412/vertigo

Anyway, this is all caught up now, so I promise to be better about this in the future! And better about my watching/reading in general!

Lacking Wisdom [Teeth], DC, Films and Randomness

This is rather terrible in that I haven't posted in a solid month, whereas last month I posted 6 times! Goodness gracious! But anyway, here is a brief update on the last month, plus some back tracking on my life.

To back track, I went and visited my friend Lily  in DC for the cherry blossom festival. I've wanted to go to the festival for YEARS, but I've never had the opportunity  Taking advantage of the fact that my roommate is living in DC, I finally made it out there! Amazingly, it was the 100th diversionary of the gift of the Cherry Trees to the US (though not of the festival of course.) Unfortunately, the weird weather which enabled me to escape the snow in Milwaukee caused the trees to bloom super early, so there weren't as many in bloom when I got to town, though we did find some.

On Friday, I pounded the pavement while Lily worked and explored a lot of the Georgetown area, and I got wayyyy to many books on Friday, and I picked up some super yummy Sprinkles cupcakes for Lily and I. 

We also finally saw the Hunger Games film, which was exciting. After that, we went to a coffeehouse called Tryst, (http://www.trystdc.com/) and met up with a friend of mine, Natalie, from Birthright. She's fairly awesome, and I'm happy we got to catch up, though I am unhappy to admit I forgot my camera so we have the following wonderful picture to show for it.

Particularly skillful, I know. I also twisted my ankle REALLY badly (still don't know how, I just suddenly couldn't put any weight on that foot.) But alas, DC is a walking city and I was still there for two more days, so there was no choice but to power through it. We spent Saturday exploring the art museums and a flea market of sorts in the Columbia circle area, which was fun, and again, I bought books that I didn't need, a pretty ring and some beautiful old Disney records that we came across. That night there were fireworks over the Potomac in celebration of the cherry blossom festival, and they were all choreographed by and imported from Japan. It was a really fun reminder of being an Asian Studies major and some of the super random things that we learned while in all of our classes at Vandy.

 This particularly was a favorite of mine, as it is by an artist I like and is a sculpture entitled "Monkeys Grasping for the Moon" which I had been told about while I was in undergrad. http://www.asia.si.edu/exhibitions/current/xuBing.asp

 Came across this book while we were at a used bookstore...yes, that was a required book at one point in undergrad, so it was super funny to be confronted with.

Anyway, Sunday was short with some walking around the city, brunch and then heading back to DC.

Then I went home, and I got all four of my wisdom teeth removed, (though hopefully I am still wise!) and I watched a ton of films while I was home.

The night before I went home, but after bowling, I saw Doom with Karl Urban. 

 http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0419706/

It was actually interesting because it was designed as a first person shooter film. I mean yeah, it was basically a giant video game, but I thought the concept/cinematography was interesting. It was a tinsy bit scary (there are monsters) but it didn't bother me until I got startled awake by my phone ringing at 430 in the morning about my 730 flight. Thanks Orbitz. Then I did have a brief moment as I was waking up that one of those creatures was after me, but hey, that is what happens when I get startled.

Once I got home, I saw the 2008 Hulk which was actually fairly decent (yes, I like superheroes, get over it, though I totally think DC>Marvel.) Then I saw Pathfinder, again, mostly because Karl Urban was in it. That is actually a somewhat terrible film, with no real plot or story line per say, but it still entertained me.

 imdb.com

Immediately following my tooth removal, I saw 2001: A Space Odyssey. It could be that made no sense due to the drugs in my system, but it is more likely that it made no sense because it made no sense. Also, all of the dialogue plot points could have easily been summed up into a much shorter film w/out the long ballet like musical sequence.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0062622/

But it was on the AFI list, so I saw it and disliked it. I suggest wiki-ing the plot because frankly, I don't think I understood any of it at all. I then saw Schindler's List, (also AFI) which I expected to make me cry, and though it didn't, it was brilliant. I think it was far and away one of the best films I have seen in a very long time. 

Screw it, all movie posters are being pulled from IMDB. There, disclaimered. I've done my legal copyright respecting duty.

I watched Gone with the Wind, and no, I had never seen it before. While I thought it was super long (I mean its JUST under 4 hours long) I actually really enjoyed it, which I wasn't really expecting too.

Then I finally got to see Avengers (YAY) which I enjoyed thoroughly and I would like to see again, but in quick succession with all of the other recent marvel films, as I know there are easter eggs involved that I've missed as well as cross references. I'm cool, I know. I also want to make these drinks.

http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2012/05/22/geek-news-avengers-cocktails-of-the-day/

I also also wished that they would make a movie of the Catvengers, but that is a bit too satisfying to my inner cat lady. http://icanhascheezburger.com/2012/05/18/funny-pictures-catvengers-assemble/?fb_ref=newpromocopy

World Book Night!

I write an awful lot about my love of books and my need for a bookish intervention. (See the following previous posts: http://ttemkin.blogspot.com/2012/02/books-books-books.html, http://ttemkin.blogspot.com/2012/03/intervention.html)


But I adore books. One of the jobs I wish I could get is the reviewer of the children's books for the New York times, or any genre of books really. I think that would be a wonderful job.

www.google.com/search?rlz=1C1CHPJ_enUS360US360&ix=acb&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=107%26
Sure, I'm sure that sometimes it would be stressful (you must finish the book, and it won't always be a book you want) but still, to be paid to read? And given books? My goodness, my heart is all aflutter. Or that could be the two cups of coffee I've already had this morning, but really, who is counting?

Anyway, coming up is World Book Night! (http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/) It is the first time in the US that this event will be taking place, but I am pleased to say I am participating by giving away 20 copies of The History of Love. (I keep thinking the word 'secret' is in there.)




World Book Night will be taking place on the 23rd of April, which is UNESCO's World Book day! It is also the anniversary of Cervante's death (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel_de_Cervantes) and Shakespeare's birth and death.

This is a map representing the distribution of book givers in Wisconsin, each dot somewhere representing anywhere between 1-250 givers!

This is the total distribution over the United States

Images via World Book Night's facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/worldbooknightusa.

I'm super excited for it, and I'm already working on finding homes for the books, as I will be distributing them in the Law School to all interested parties. Which is the point of this post. If you would like a copy of The History of Love for yourself or another, please let me know! I think I have about 20 copies to find homes for.

I will be picking up my books in the next few days and then I will be bringing them to school to distribute. I'm actually fairly excited because I will be attending a reception and book distribution at Boswell Book Company, which is a lovely little independent bookstore. http://boswell.indiebound.com/ I know my cool points are just piling up right now, so I will end with this:

And now for a really dorky book joke:

http://failbook.failblog.org/2012/04/12/funny-facebook-fails-baby-got-book/

Who doesn't love a good (FREE) book?

Titanic- 15 years after the movie premiere and 100 years after her sinking

As I mentioned in my previous post about Casablanca (http://ttemkin.blogspot.com/2012/02/casablanca-raging-bull-and-oscars.html), I've had the Titanic movie sitting on my DVR for months now. In fact, I think it has been there since about October. But as April 15th is the 100th Anniversary of the sinking of the RMS Titanic, I decided to bite the bullet and finally watch this ridiculous film.


To clarify, there are several reasons why I never saw the film. The first is because it was released in 1997, when I was 8 years old...and it was a PG-13 movie. In those days, my mom and her friends (the mothers of our friends) would be the ones to take us to the movies. But generally, we younger ones were either left out entirely or the adults would see the film and decide whether to take us. (That was my understanding anyway. They might have just read reviews, which, at the age of 8, I didn't exactly have a handle on.) Regardless, the ruling on Titanic was no for me, but my sister saw it.


I remember that I was the only one not to see it of all of my friends, so I knew the ending pretty quickly. When it came out on VHS, my friend Andrea's parents got it for her. I started to watch it at her house, but the only part I was interested was the historical aspect of it. Which she fast forwarded through to the love story...which of course I didn't care about. I do remember that Kate Winslet's character had a hat. And then I had to leave, but that was the extent of my watching this film. Otherwise, I really couldn't care less for a love story. I've gotten slightly better about that with age, but really, please give me plot. I could care less about love triangles unless they end up with someone dead or banished. (Thanks Lancelot and Guinevere!)


Regardless, in honor of the fact that it is the 100th Anniversary, and the fact that this is on my list of 100 films and the fact that I just love coincidences like that, I had to watch it now. Though to be fair, I know a number of people who dislike it, and I was actually told to just skip it all together by my friend Stephanie.


I actually ended up deleting it from my DVR and going to see it in glorious 3-D (which btw, I somewhat dislike) with my friend Kate. But before we get (finally) to what I actually thought about the film, a few interesting articles:


WHY THE TITANIC SANK-It wasn't the poor Captain's fault!
http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2012/03/06/geek-news-titanic-crash-explanation-of-the-day/


Wreckage site:
http://geeks.thedailywh.at/2012/03/08/geek-news-titanic-wreckage-site-image-of-the-day/


Almost-Passengers included a VANDERBILT!
http://listverse.com/2011/12/09/10-people-who-did-not-board-the-titanic/


Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RMS_Titanic


IMDB:
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120338/


One of the 50 Worst films ever?
http://www.totalfilm.com/features/50-most-hated-movies-ever-made/titanic-1997


One of my personal favorites-Real time twitter feed from the Titanic:
https://twitter.com/#!/TitanicRealTime


I was always fascinated by the subject though not of the film. I've seen Broadway shows of it and museum shows of wreckage...but now my thoughts on the film!


WARNING-TITANIC SPOILERS AHEAD
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/22/Titanic_poster.jpg/220px-Titanic_poster.jpg


I think if I hadn't known the ending for the last 15 years, I think I would have been upset over the film, and its star crossed lovers. Instead, the most upset I got was towards the beginning (with the realization that all of these people are about to die), and again when the priest was praying as the boat was going down. Even then, I barely teared up. Admittedly, that might have mostly been touching because I knew the prayer. Whenever that happens, I feel like a better person and more involved with whomever is actually praying. The funny thing is, I'm one of those people who normally balls at movies or touching moments. I still can't handle Bambi, and yet I was dry eyed through the film that many people told me I was going to sob through.


I teared up more in the "Voyage of the Damned" Christmas episode of Doctor Who, involving a spaceship named Titanic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TozoL_P0804

http://i13.photobucket.com/albums/a293/toolbox1234/voyage-of-the-damned.jpg


Regardless, I was somewhat "stonehearted" to use my friend's Kate's words. I found Rose to have some sort of chemical imbalance, and I felt Jack was a series of contrived archetypes. He was edgy (poor), an artist and charming, everything a girl like Rose shouldn't love. Boo hoo. 


The entire love story is apparently (not only the overall go to) James Cameron's only love story. Girl engaged to Boy, not fully happy. Girl meets strange Boy, who chance sent to whatever place. Girl engages in inappropriate act with said strange Boy, and fate trys to keep them apart, much as they want to be together. Is it Avatar or Titanic?


They were the same thing really.


But unlike Avatar, (though I didn't love that either), I was much less attached to Jack and his plight. I never loved him, though that might be because I knew he was going to die.  I felt that the less than a week wasn't time enough for Rose to fall in love with Jack, and instead she just latched onto him as a Christ-like, free spirit who embodied whatever she needed to get herself out of her seemingly hopeless situation.  I also felt that Jack, while he was more realistic, wasn't necessarily as in love with Rose as he felt a need to take care of her (they both had a save-people superhero-like complex.) Basically, had they both survived, I'm not sure they would have stayed together.


I was vaguely reminded of this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwnFE_NpMsE


I did feel for Cal though, as I thought he actually loved Rose (as I initially thought he intentionally put the necklace in her coat pocket), though he was a complete jerk. 


Admittedly, I feel like you only continue to feel for Rose and Jack because of some sentiment that you initially held onto since that first viewing 15 years ago, more so than anything. I also giggled at inopportune moments, as there were several very clever/silly lines towards the end of the film that, frankly, if you were further invested in the love story, you wouldn't notice or find as amusing as I, a fairly impartial viewer, did.


The thing that annoyed me most was that stupid necklace. Now, I didn't think Rose should have given it to the searchers (Brock?), mostly because he is a merchnary of sorts, and that is just silly. HOWEVER, you are telling me that you held onto it though 2 World Wars, the Great Depression, numerous smaller wars/police actions and recessions and you are from Grand Rapids, MI, which even in the 1980s is a dying town....AND YOU DUMP IT IN THE OCEAN????? Really? I don't think that Jack cared about that. In fact, as a poor boy with a thing for saving people, he would probably have rather you, I don't know, left it to your granddaughter or charity or SOMETHING? It was ridiculous. I spent that entire scene steaming over the impracticality of it.



http://data.whicdn.com/images/1804496/4474719296_b5c2ce3d49_thumb.jpg


I didn't out and out hate the movie though. I like Mr. Andrew's character (though he couldn't maintain his accent at all), and I loved how James Cameron (or whomever did the research) did a nice job mixing in the historic reality to the story that they were creating.  I was also super entertained by the use of 1997 movie technology, since I remember Titanic begin super cutting edge at the time. Props to Cameron for not really messing with his initial vision of the film...unlike some directors. http://scifi.icanhascheezburger.com/2012/04/11/sci-fi-fantasy-if-george-lucas-and-other-directors-restored-titanic/ 


I only learned there was actually a love triangle to the film about a week ago, when I watched the trailer for the first time since 1997, which a little bit blew my mind. (And then I saw the film.) I did have a few OMG moments (or omg might be better, as they were rather silly moments which I embraced. 1) Jack is from Wisconsin. (What?) 2) Titanic is where the line "Paint me like one of your french girls" comes from. I've been wondering for AGES where that is from, I've just never cared enough to find out.


I was slightly disaapointed by the end. Not because of any realistic or differing view, but because of how it was described to me back in 1997. When I was eight, my friend Sam told me that Jack came back as a ghost to keep Rose company, and I kinda wish there had been something to that. Instead, as a logical 22 year old, I realize that she might have been referring to the end scene where heaven is the Titanic, with everyone is in first class, and the lovers are reunited. Some part of me still longs for the ghost though.


Poor Kate though. She was so excited to see the film, and instead she ended up seeing it with me. I kept giggling, I got annoyed at the impropriety and practicability of Rose, and I exhibited far too much excitement following reading my text messages. At that point, I saw that the Florida Panthers, my beloved Hockey team, had beaten the New Jersey Devils in the second game of their seven game series in the race to the playoffs.


It makes us even going into the third game!!!!!!!!!



I think we had fun over all though. And the moral of the story is, if you know the story line already, you probably won't think the film is anything too special. Or you are about to come off as heartless.

Raging Bull

Finally. After setting my own personal record and holding onto Raging Bull for a solid month, I have hereby seen it.

I really, really wanted to like this film. I did. But frankly? No love is lost on my part for this film.


Possible Spoilers
The first hour is shots of fights, both in the ring and outside with Jake La Motta's (De Nero) first wife and La Motta awk-lusting and seducing/being seduced by a fifteen year old blonde girl, Vickie. Spliced throughout are artsy shots of New York. We then get a lovely montage (in color) of the life and fights of Jake, cleverly bringing us up to speed with three years of their lives. (Jake and his brother both get married/have babies, and yes, Jake marries his child-bride.) . At one point, the bros and wives go out, and Jake gets introduced as the celebrity in the crowd's midst and 'a Raging Bull' hence, the films name.Jake gets paranoid and angry, in part about making weight for his next fight and because he is so aggressive he is denied shots at the title. He also thinks his wife is cheating on him.

Awk-Fifteen year old

http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eL5GnEcFjivo/TchFwbhCOAI/AAAAAAAAAxw/bmNAqXMUgr0/s1600/vicki.jpg

The second half of the movie, he basically is playing by the rules (so to speak) but going nuts and getting more and more paranoid. I feel like anti-psychotic meds would have gone a long way for this guy. Also, I doubt the repeated blows to the head helped.

There is an interesting underlying plot commentary on the Italian lifestyle in the 40s and 50s as well as the rigging and attempted rigging of fights/sports.

End of Spoilers


Over all though, not my favorite. I'm not sure if I liked this better or worse than Casablanca. I'm going to go see Titanic out in theaters with my friend Kate on the 15th of April, as I am a total sucker for anniversaries and significant dates. That is most likely the next the AFI film I will be watching.

Next in the Netflix Queue is Winter's Bone, which I hope to get in time to take with me to DC so Lily and I can watch Jennifer Lawrence before we finally see Hunger Games!!!!!!!!!!!

After this though, I am putting a hold on my account, as if the last month or so is any indication, there is no way I will have time to watch anytime soon. Yay one month from Finals!

Intervention

I am quite possibly in need of an intervention. Not in the drug/self-abuse sort of way and not even in the hoarders sort of way. I do however have an issue, and no, it isn't yet time for the great cat intervention that I hope never comes. Instead it is a book intervention. I keep buying books.

Well, I say buying. Today is Thursday, and since last Friday, when I hopped the plane to Nashville, I have ordered/purchased a total of 8 books. I will however argue that two of the books I got are from the BBC list and were among my missing five. So now I only need three of the (Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell; The Faraway Tree Collection by Enid Blyton; The Wasp Factory by Iain Banks) to complete the BBC list. At that point, I will either own or will have read the entire list, so once I finish the physical books on my BBC bookshelf, I will be done and have read the entire list. (!!!)

Anyway, I bought the first one, A Town Like Alice, innocently enough, before I left Milwaukee at The Renaissance Bookstore at their airport location


http://www.blogography.com/photos24/Renaissance.jpg

I was super happy that they had it, knocking my list down to 4.

Of the other 6 books, I bought one of them when I was at the new Vanderbilt Bookstore hanging out while my friend Tiwa was working. And yes, I could have (and did't) gone back to Towers and either grabbed the book I had bought earlier or my school work. I passed up some of the BBC books for a Terry Pratchett book as I want to find the BBC books, and had I wanted to buy them new in a bookstore, I could have finished the list months ago.

Anyway, Saturday before Cafe Con Leche (see my upcoming post entitled You can't go home again) I went and hung out in Hillsboro, and visited the lovely Bookman/Bookwoman. There, I found several books by Iain Banks, but not the one I wanted. Similar I found another title by David Mitchell, but again, not the book I wanted! I did however find Swallows and Amazons, which made me rather happy.



And with three books, I thought I was done. When I got back to Milwaukee and I decided to check in at Renaissance, not because I thought they'd have anything new, but just to see what what available. When I was there, I came to the brilliant idea that if I wanted a number of used books I could very easily just see if they were on Paperback Swap, and get them for there.

http://www.paperbackswap.com/home.php

Which was also possibly a terrible idea, even if it is an awesome site. I believe I've mentioned it before, but essentially, for the cost of postage, you send some stranger a book of yours that you no longer desire, and you receive credits that then go towards your claiming of books. If there is a book you want that isn't available, you simply add it to your wishlist (along with everyone else who wants that book) and it goes in a fair and orderly fashion. It even tries to give you an estimate as to how many weeks you are likely to wait to get the book. If you run out of credits, you can purchase them, which, at $3.95 per credit, is still a bit cheaper than buying the book new or even used sometimes.

As my mom had been collecting a number of credits, but as I am fairly far down on most of the wishlists I'm on, I've switched my focus to some authors who I enjoy but I was never in a hurry to collect. The result? Since Monday, I've requested 5 books. I have also created a wish list 99 books long (in all the various bindings/versions of the desired books) that could be fulfilled tomorrow or in a year.

I have also now rearranged a good portion of my bookshelves in accordance with my new books that are arriving because it increases certain authors by about 5 books, allowing them their own shelves. I also came up with a better organization than what I had previously. I still have a number of empty or half empty shelves, and while I'm not in a rush to fill them, waiting for the new books to arrives leaves me antsy with anticipation. Furthermore, I keep excitingly checking http://worldbooknight.org/, the World Book Night website as I wait to find out when I will be getting my copies of the The History of Love, because yes, I am such a big book nerd that I can't wait for the opportunity to give books away.


And so, I think I need a book intervention. I am aware that there is a problem, but I am not in any hurry to correct it. The real issue comes with the fact that I had a nightmare that I ran out of shelf space. I would like to clarify, before I am accused of being completely shallow, I don't really dream except for when I am about to wake up. So yes, this has weighed heavily upon me, it wasn't a proper nightmare...actually, I'm not sure that solved anything in terms of disproving shallowness, so much as proving my anal retentiveness.

But that's about it. If you run across any of the 3 last books (and I don't mean new!) please let me know!

Casablanca, Raging Bull and the Oscars.

Casablanca. Quotable, unforgettable, beautiful.

Boring.

I feel bad saying so, but for my fourth film, I struck out. Maybe it was because I was tired, maybe because I wasn't super happy about life that day, but I honestly managed to read through the film. I normally can only read through classical music and baseball games. And I don't mean fun reading where I can tune out the world. I am referring to the boring, plodding kind of reading which is already a bit of a chore. I honestly had to rewind the film, put down my book and shut off my laptop so I wouldn't surf the internet. For whatever reason, I just couldn't really get into Casablanca. I tired, I just didn't succeed. Maybe because it is something that has so seeped into American film culture that there was no real innovation in it left for me (even if originally it was the innovation.)

To be fair, I knew  I would hit this point relatively soon. I mean, I've been putting off watching Titanic for a few months now, even if that translates to it taking up space in my DVR (no, I have never seen it.) I just honestly did not thing that Casablanca was going to be the tipping point. I really wanted to like it, I did! But...no dice.

Anyway, I also watched Midnight in Paris which was totally brilliant and lovely. It definately deserved the Oscar for best original screen play. In fact, over all, I can't complain about the Oscars. I didn't catch the 'Twilight' reference so that didn't bother me, I generally like Billy Crystal and I won the Oscar pool that I was in, which, admittedly did a good job to improve the thoughts on the Oscars overall. I didn't see The Help so I can't judge how good or bad that lead actress was in it, but I LOVED Meyrl Strep in Iron Lady. 

Next up on my list is Raging Bull, and I recorded The Godfather II as well. All I know about Bull is that De Niro gets beaten up. I also know that my legs are currently completely, inexplicably bruised up and I don't know why. I blame the cats, though I don't think that is the case in the film. We'll see.

And it's 52 degrees outside, the magical 29th of February, I'm getting Japanese food tonight and I've posted twice in one day.

Happy Wednesday!

Books, Books Books!

I love books! Heck, a good portion of my boxes when I was getting ready to move involved my books, and a nice chunk of the furniture of my apartment consists of bookshelves. Seriously, I think my entire family would be happy if we had a library. I bet between us, we already have enough books and bookshelves to have a small one I'm sure. And we also all anally organize our books, with each of us with our own specialties. My dad's shelves are filled with war and spy books, both fiction and non-fiction (including some of my books from college), my mom's with turn of the century literature (she loved Dickens and books about the human condition), my sister with art history, and beautiful English classics, and my own with tons of fantasy and animal books, from Pavlov's dogs to pet first aid.

Plus, if you've been reading my blog for any significant amount of time, you'd know that I'm working on the BBC 100 list. Last time I updated, I was about 7 books away, and now I'm only lacking 5. Soon, I will own them all! Anyway, this last set is super difficult for me to find as I had planned it, with them coming to me via used bookstores and by chance (more special/exciting that way) but my mom discovered something amazing. It's called the PaperBack Swap. (http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php) The idea is, you sign up with books that you have that you want to trade with other people (sort of like we use to do at the used book store.) When you do, and someone asks for the book, you get credit for sending it to them. It costs you the postage, which via media mail is somewhere between $2.50-$3.99. But at the same time, when you want a book, you use a credit, and they spend the postage. If you want a book and they don have it, you can put it on your wish list, with the website emailing you when they get that book in. I've actually now gotten two of my BBC books from there, and I'm super excited by it.

My mom has been sending out books of ours that we've been looking to get rid of, but without a bookstore to trade them to, they've just been taking up shelf space. It hurts to throw away a book, so unless it is completely decimated (which never happens in our house, even with pets), we don't do. On occasion I have loved a book to death, but I try and glue it back together...my copy (1 of 5) of Watership Down is in especially terrible shape these days, but it still sits proudly on my shelf.

Anyway, I feel like this is an awesome opportunity for the bibliophiles among us to trade books.

My next bit of book commentary involved World Book Night (http://www.us.worldbooknight.org/). This was started in the UK last year and now has made the jump stateside. The idea is, you sign up for one of 30 book titles that you can pick up a stack and distribute to light or non-readers, to try and get more people bitten by the reading bug. (Clearly, I am not among them.) Anyway, I signed up, and I got my third choice (my first was  Hunger Games and my second was The Book Thief), The History of Love (here is its amazon listing- http://www.amazon.com/History-Love-Nicole-Krauss/dp/0393328627/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1330366500&sr=8-1). It looks really good. You were suppose to pick books that you've read before so that we don't horde them to ourselves...but anyway, I'm super excited about world book night, even though it isn't until April, but I can't wait for it to get here!

 I also have the issue where I read five books at once, because I can never choose between them. At the moment, I am reading Sherlock Holmes, Eldest, Midnight Children, Lolita and NightWatch. Oh and Emma. They just are all  so soul-satisfying (except for Emma, though that has more to do with my personal likes than the book) that I can never decide which to read first and finish. So I end up with a weirdly circular book reading where none of them get done anywhere near as fast as they should.

Anyway, I think that is everything for my books and the thoughts I have on them. Now to get back to reading my book!

Film #3

Is The Godfather. I was talking to my father today and he was rather surprised that I had not seen it already. I suppose I should be grateful that people apparently do not believe that I am anywhere near as unaware of pop culture as I actually am. Still, that just proves I need to do this! I also will cease and disist adding my own two cents in about the movies as, well, what do I have to say? There is a reason it is the #2 film of all time according to the AFI.  It doesn't particularly hurt that I love mobster stories either.

It's been a long week, but my parents are coming to visit and bring along with my 2nd kitty, partly so that I am a step closer to crazy cat lady and partly so that I can be gone all day at school without feeling guilty and/or having the monster come after me to play when I'm finally home and going to bed. I also will finally be getting to see the dream three play in person on Wednesday! It's much cheaper to by Bucks tickets to watch the Heat play than to watch the Heat play in Miami at the AAA.

I just need to get a few more things out of the way before this weekend, including answering my backlog of correspondence and sending out some notes of my own. Well, as tomorrow is Friday, I hope everyone has a wonderful day!

Citzen Kane

With the credits rolling across the television screen of Citzen Kane I have hearby watched the first of the American Film Institute's top 100 films. I'm woefully ignorant of the silver screen, unless of course it has the word 'Disney' attached. So I figured, with some more recent and fun fillers added to the list, I'd start at the beginning and work my way down the list! That isn't to say I've never seen any of the films but rather that I have not seen the majority of them. I am starting more or less in order but I will deviate as films present themselves to me. I am also open to films that I really should have seen in my life but I have somehow avoided.

Regardless, part of the idea of Citzen Kane is a man who controls everything, or at least wants too and how he creates lots of little projects and ways to spend his time and money in order to have that control. He even constructs a Xanadu of sorts in Florida during the film. Kane is both an everyman and a 1% to use a word unknown to the 1940s when it was created. The sole heir to the 6th largest fortune in the world, he can do as he likes, yet, in the time when the american dream began, he (with flashbacks to the 1870s) both earns everything and loses everything, outliving his own usefullness and ability. 

I enjoyed it, as I suspect I will of most of the films on the list, after all, there is a reason they are considered some of the top films ever produced. As I said I am suplimenting the list somewhat with films I am curious about and never got around to seeing.

One interesting note to end on is that Charlie Kane (the main character for those as ignorant as I about these things) is said to be constantly starting projects but not finishing them. Well, as proven by the 700 or so cranes in my apartment, I'm not exactly the best example about finishing projects. Here's to hoping that this is one project I complete!

The complete list:

http://www.afi.com/100years/movies10.aspx

I hope that I can keep track of list on here as I go through it, though I promise not to spam facebook with these in between posts as it is more my personal project than anything else.