procrastination --> college?

Through my many hours of procrastination this weekend I think I may have managed to find a college that really interests me.

Ithaca College in New York. It's far away, it's expensive, but it offers the majors I want to take: Film and Photography. They even have a program where they will send you to Italy for several weeks just to take pictures. Sounds like heaven to me.

Just everything I've read about it totally clicks with me. Now it looks like I'll really have to start working to make sure I can get accepted: I always forget about that whole application part.

And I really need to buy a fucking good camera. I'm sick of taking pictures in my backyard of flowers because it's about as far as I can get before the battery dies, and the quality is usually shit anyway. Blerg.

Oh, and I just found out for the 2009 Choir Tour we're going to NYC. I'd usually be unbelievably depressed because we weren't going to Disney World (a part of me still is) but I have never been to New York and have always wanted to. Plus we may go see a few Broadway shows? I'm in.

Music Therapy

My God, I just bought Explosions in the Sky's album All of a Sudden I Miss Everyone.

It's the kind of album that restores your faith in humanity and makes you wish your life was more interesting just so it could be the SOUNDTRACK to it.

I don't know what it is that they do with their music, but they manage to move me more than any band with vocals ever could. Tonight, for example, I was extremely annoyed for no apparent reason, so I decided some of this could chill me out. Works like a charm.

I keep hearing Godspeed! You Black Emperor is great and similar to Explosions in the Sky, so I'll have to check them out next. It's so refreshing to turn off all the pop-catchy garbage you hear on the radio daily and hear something with actual substance and says so much more than anything with lyrics.

It's music that's important. It's music that makes me remember why I fell in love with music in the first place. It's brilliant.

*Sigh* It's a shame music like this goes unnoticed. Fortunately I have converted Holly into a fellow Explosion-lover :-) Hopefully I will convert more.

Man, I really should update this thing more often.

20 minutes

Well, I just told my friend Holly that I am not doing cross country this year and I am instead going to be the manager of the girls' tennis team.

She replied by saying she is not going to talk to me for at least 20 minutes :-P So alas, with 20 minutes of no one to text, I figured I could just write something here.

Tonight I learned something very, very important.

My mom is wayyy less hilarious when she's buzzed than she is when she's drunk hahah. I've only seen her drunk once when she returned with my dad and my sister from a birthday party, and my sister (who is over 21, don't worry) and her had hilarious drunk conversations that were funny even for me.

When she's buzzed, she just comments on EVERYTHING and has an attention span of like, zero. I literally did an experiment where I didn't say a word for about 20 minutes (coincidence?), and she managed to fill it up with conversation! Oh well, I still love her :-)

OH! My dad managed to get poison ivy again. This time it's on his legs...hopefully he won't look like some creature from a Sci-Fi Channel original movie this time. It's pretty funny though since he was only out of the mule in grass without jeans on for (you guessed it) 20 minutes.

Funny how life works out that way.

P.S. On a completely unrelated note, I desperately want to go to Disney World right now. The Olympic music when they award the medals is just like Disney music...*sigh*

What a beautiful mess

Woo, haven't updated this in a while. Probably because I'm stuck in Tennessee with dial-up internet doing absolutely nothing.

Wait, that kind of sounds like a bad excuse doesn't it? That's cause it is...I guess I just kind of forgot about this. Not that too many people read this, especially because it seems Chris doesn't have internet in Japan :-(

So yeah, these Tennessee vacations need to stop. Honestly, I don't know why my parents would even WANT me here...all I do is complain about how there is nothing to do. I'm kind of a dick to be around when I'm here, really. I'm certainly capable of taking care of myself at home for a few days and they would get a few days in their Tennessee log cabin alone. Why no deal?!?

Oh well, I will give it that sitting here writing a blog while chilling out to some Jason Mraz is actually pretty relaxing. He's playing in Chicago November 22nd...I'm definitely thinking about grabbing some tickets. I'll have to find someone else that wants to go of course...

Which leads me to my most recent problem. Finding people to go with me ANYWHERE. It's not that I don't have friends that would willingly hang out, it's just I don't have a friend that shares my entertainment tastes. For example, I'd like to see that new Woody Allen flick Vicky Cristina Barcelona. It's getting great reviews and has a stellar cast. But who exactly do you take to see a movie like that? It's essentially about a threesome...not something to watch with the parents, taking a friend that's a guy to a romantic comedy-thing just seems weird, and taking a girl that's just a friend might result in her thinking you are trying for a date. Gah.

I guess this is all leading to the fact that this would be way easier if I had a girlfriend I could drag along to all these things. It's not that I'm not happy being single...I guess they both have their pros and cons. I even have a girl in mind...it's just one of those times where you don't know if asking the girl out could result in making a friendship severely awkward if I got shot down. Blerg. Why do people have to make life so complicated? Why can't we all just be honest with each other and move on?!?

Woo, now THIS is a blog eh?

Anyway, it wouldn't be an update without some movie stuff so:

Pineapple Express-Wow, I thought this was absolutely hysterical. Sure, it's a stoner film, but I really enjoyed it and laughed till it hurt. Some critics have been complaining about how the film takes a violent turn toward the end, but I personally felt the filmmakers were aiming for a more over-the-top comic violence a la Hot Fuzz and I thought it worked spectacularly and was hilarious. Basically just another Judd Apatow hit. I'd throw in the wicked redband trailer but dial-up does not allow anything awesome.

Tropic Thunder- Haven't seen this yet, but from what I hear it's even funnier than Pineapple Express. Can't wait.

For all you video game fanatics out there:

Braid-Wow. Who knew that for a 15 dollar downloadable game that looks like Mario with time travel would turn out to be one of the best games I've played this year. You play as Tim, a young man who is on a quest to save The Princess (of course!). While this all sounds very elementary, the story turns out to be extremely deep and has one of the most powerful endings I've ever seen in a game. Seriously, the final level is one of the most genius things I've ever seen, and one of the most heartbreakingly tragic. Not to mention that the gameplay throughout is brilliant, with puzzles that I would want to just look up the answer to, suffer through, and eventually solve, leaving me so incredibly satisfied. I cannot recommend this game enough. It's on Xbox 360 currently for download off Xbox Live, but it will be released on for PCs later this year. You are all on PCs right now you have no excuse...buy this game.

Wow.

That was a ridiculously long post. And I didn't even talk about the Olympics! I won't go into too much ranting but Michael Phelps, you are my HERO. He won a race by one one-hundreth of a second. That's literally going to go down in history as one of the greatest races ever.

*Matthew McConoahey voice* Alright, alright alright...that's enough blogging for one night (pff, more like one lifetime). Later, whoever may happen to read this.

That Moment.

A few hours ago I experienced that moment.

That moment where you realize you are completely and utterly loving your life and everything you are doing.

I'm hanging with my friends on a nightly basis. I'm playing tennis; the first sport I've actually enjoyed playing. I've generally pushed people that bother me out of my life. I'm just happy.

It makes me laugh that people who do drugs and drink in my grade think they are better than others. To be honest, just stick me around a fire with my friends and that's about all I need to be happy. Oh, and *I'll* remember it in the morning.

Seriously, I'm just loving life right now. It's all such a change from the past years.

What a summer.

The Dark Knight: Masterpiece

I've written so much about this film over the last day I really don't know what else to say about it. It's the best superhero movie ever created. It's the best crime drama I've seen since The Departed. It's one of the best movies I've EVER SEEN.

Heath Ledger's performance is the best I've seen since Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood. He turns the Joker from a cartoon character into literally the best villain ever put on film. Some villains have been pretty nasty, but the Joker is just so wickedly unpredictable and dangerous, that it's the first time I've felt in a comic book film that I literally did not know what was going to happen and that something was at stake. This isn't a children's film. Major characters die, people are tortured, threatened, beaten, shot, hanged, and burned alive. It's a miracle this film got off with a PG-13 (very little blood is shown and there is a notable lack of profanity): the film is called The Dark Knight for a reason.

I won't give anything away, but basically the movie starts out with a bang, backs off, slowly builds tension, ups the game with wicked action and threats, and then releases it all during what feels like an hour long climax. It's daring, complex, disturbing, intense, scary, and brilliant. Take all the hype you've heard about this movie, multiply it by 5, and you may just have an idea of the ride this movie takes you on.

This may be a bold claim, but this is a serious contender for Best Picture. Ledger completely deserves a posthumous Oscar, and he will win it. This movie shall be remembered for years to come as the superhero movie that elevated its quality to a point as to where it cannot be compared to any other film in its genre. This isn't a superhero film. This is a crime epic, and it is a masterpiece.

Trailer:

Sigur Ros: ( )

After having been recommended to me many times, I finally gave up my last 10 bucks and just bought a Sigur Ros album. The one I had heard about the most was simply titled "( )", so I chose that as my first listen.

Wow. Wow.

I am blown away.

This is without a doubt one of the most powerful albums I've ever listened to. Not since "The Earth Is Not a Cold Dead Place" by Explosions in the Sky (which came out after ( ), I just hadn't heard it yet) have I had such a reaction to music that is mostly done through instrumentals.

The vocals are excellently weird. As far as I could tell they weren't in English, but I don't even know if this is any language...either way, emotion is universal and this album has plenty of it.

Each song is simply titled "Track 1," "Track 2," and so on, and starts off with a quietly haunting melody. Throughout the album, the tension and power builds until to reach the final song which is so forceful and explosive that it just blew me away.

As you can guess by my reuse of words throughout this review, words really can't describe this CD. It's an intense experience from start to finish, and one that should be experienced as such. Don't listen to a few songs and get back to them later; this needs to be listened to in one sitting the first go around. You won't regret it.

Once: The Best Movie You've Never Seen

Words cannot express how much I love this film, but I'm going to attempt anyway. It's got great performances, a simple yet emotional story, and some of the best music I've ever heard. If anyone who knows me is reading this, they already know what movie I'm talking about. It's my favorite movie. You will discover that you will only find a film that is this good...

Once.

How cheesy was that? Oh well. Once is an incredibly simple story. Basically, it follows the story of a struggling musician who works as a hoover repairman and is currently dealing with a nasty break-up. One day while performing on the street, he meets a girl: a fellow musician with--you guessed it--a broken vacuum. Discovering each other's musical skills, the movie follows the course of a few days where they write, record, and perform songs together that may just have more meaning than they first expected.

While this may sound like a cheesy Hollywood chick flick, it's pretty much the opposite. Instead of big name actors, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are assigned to the respective roles of the guy and the girl, and they do a fantastic job at not only portraying emotion during songs, but also during dialogue. For first time actors, they play the parts incredibly naturally---to the point where it feels like you are watching a documentary instead of a low budget Irish film.

The music is simply incredible. From the Oscar-winning song Falling Slowly that is beautiful in its simplicity (much like the film), to the slowly-building explosion of sound that is When Your Mind's Made Up, to the pure cry of pain that is Say It To Me Now, each and every song carries such emotion that you won't see it coming until it sneaks up and takes you along for the ride.

I really can't recommend this film enough. It's the best movie I've ever seen. From the hilarious opening to the absolutely pitch-perfect final frame (seriously, it's probably the best ending I've ever seen in a film), I just don't know how someone couldn't have enjoyed this film. It's got so much pure heart and emotion and such excellent music that you need to go out and rent this--no, BUY this---right now. For film's sake: see this movie. At least once.

Trailer:

Wanted: Woah.

If Wall-E was one of the most brilliant movies I've ever seen, Wanted is one of the coolest. It's not high-art, it's not meant to be taken seriously, and it's one of the most adrenaline-pumping action movies I've seen. What a summer for movies!

From the opening action sequence where a man literally jumps from one sky scraper to another, the movie lets you know its not exactly following the laws of physics. The story follows lowlife Wesley Gibson, a guy whose girlfriend is cheating on him with his best friend, a guy who lets his boss rip into him constantly, and basically a guy that just lets the world trample all over him. Enter Fox: a seductive assassin who tells Wesley that his father was one of the greatest assassins in the world, and that he was killed. Almost seconds after she reveals this, she reveals that the man who killed him not only wants to kill him, but is standing right behind him. After yet another high-powered action sequence, Fox brings him to the Fraternity: an assassin's bureau that eliminates evil. From here on Wesley starts on a quest to train and become an assassin that can fight and kill the man who killed his father.

If this all seems rather cliche, that's because it is. The story does have a few surprising twists that you may or may not see coming, but really, it's just an excuse to have some of the most explosively over-the-top and creative action sequences to hit the silver screen since The Matrix. You've got bullets curving, colliding, and taking out so many people that the bullets pretty much become their own character in the story. A sequence with a shootout on a high-speed train is the most thrilling scene I've seen in ages, and you'll be gasping at the pure awesomeness of the climax.

The cast is surprisingly great, featuring James McAvoy (with convincing American accent), Angelina Jolie, and Morgan Freeman as the head of the Fraternity. You also get to hear Freeman spout off TWO of the funniest lines I've heard this year.

Really, this movie isn't about Oscars or trying to send a message: it's about blowing up and taking out as many people as possible and doing it in the most entertaining way possible. If you were disappointed by the lack of action in this year's summer blockbusters, go see Wanted immediately. It has more action than all of those movies combined, and WAY more style.

Trailer:

Haha.

I love my absolutely atrocious handwriting in my title.

It has a certain charm to it, eh?

I'll fix that later. Hopefully.

Wall-E: Brilliant.

So, Pixar has released yet another movie and, as to be expected, it has received rave reviews. Does it live up to the hype?

Yeah.

In all honesty, this is probably one of the most brilliant films I've had the pleasure of viewing. It's hilarious, it has great social commentary, and it is probably the best love story I've ever watched.

What's that? The best love story in an animated film? Blasphemy! Madness! Sparta! Overplayed jokes! Seriously, Wall-E is probably the most touching movie I've watched since Amelie.

I've got to be honest. I haven't cried in three years. I didn't cry at the last funeral I went to (am I a terrible person?). I ALMOST cried during Wall-E at about three different parts. The characters, although they are robots, are more human and real than most of the actors working in Hollywood today. In a movie like Atonement, you feel bad that the lovers are separated and give those longing looks at each other. In Wall-E, Eve and the titular character call out to each other with such emotion that I couldn't help but be won over by them.

Not to mention the movie is incredibly dark for a G-rated film. I mean we are technically talking about the first post-apocalyptic family film here. Kids probably won't notice, but for teens and adults they will be getting a much stronger message out of this film than the youngans.

I have currently seen this film twice, and without a doubt it is the best animated film of the year, the best Pixar movie to date, and the best movie of the year so far.

Here's a trailer for you uninformed people out there:

I Can't Believe I Just Made A Blog

Stick me in a Starbucks with a college hoodie on and call me "indie." I feel so cliche about this whole thing, but I'm bored (as you may have guessed from the title of the blog...), Myspace bothers me, and Facebook doesn't really have a blog feature.

Therefore, I have just created a blog :-\

Ooh, it saves as you type? That's cool.

Wow, this is extremely uninteresting. Anyway, I plan to just add some cool videos and some pictures I find and stuff to show to apparently absolutely no one, unless of course they stumble upon this blog.

Well, there ya go. I'm thinking I'll make some movie review posts, since that's basically one thing I do a lot: go to movies.

Fare thee well, whoever may read this.