December 2010 Media Inventory

So . . . apparently it's almost February. And here I was, still thinking for some reason that we were in December. Could it have something to do with all the cold weather and left-out Christmas decorations and late-coming Christmas blog posts and lack of any other major holidays in January?

But anyway, December is over, and so I present to you my final media inventory for the year 2010.

Movies:

White Christmas: I thought this movie was better than I thought it would be, but not as good as everyone thinks it is.

Fruitbaskets: Not a real movie, per se, just a few anime episodes. They were kind of cute and fun and wacky and Asian.

Miracle on 34th Street: The new one. I think. Or was it the old one? Oh my goodness, December really WAS forever ago.

The Importance of Being Earnest: Hilarious, hilarious movie. I am, of course, a fan of the play, and I can't believe I haven't seen this before. Reese Witherspoon and Colin Firth, I love you both so much.

Despicable Me: Matt and I really wanted to go see something at the dollar theater, and this was the only thing we could agree on. It was mildly entertaining, but even the opportunity to snuggle with Matt throughout the film didn't convince me into liking it enough to see it again, pay money for it, or spend any more of my time thinking about it.

Elf: I have seen clips of this movie every year since it came out, but this was the first time I actually saw the whole thing. Funny. Very, very funny.

A Christmas Carol: The new "Jim Carrey" version, and the only "Carol" I saw this year, which, considering there are about 5,000 and I usually watch 20, is astounding. I liked it a lot - they did things a bit differently than all the other versions I had seen, which was kind of fun. And of course, it's just so...Christmasy. If you don't like it, you're Scrooge.

It's a Wonderful Life: And if you don't like this movie, you're dead inside. Period.

The Snowman: We watch this every Christmas Eve in my family. It's a silent film about a boy who makes a snowman that comes to life. The music is just beautiful and the story is sweet. Plus, it's Christmas Eve. Duh, I love it.

A Child's Christmas in Wales: We've watched this movie every Christmas Eve ever since I can remember. And every single one of us loves it to the point of devotion. Really, it's almost too sacred to talk about in a blog post. You just have to see it for yourselves. For 22 years. Every Christmas Eve.

Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time: We saw this on Christmas Day, which makes it special. It was kind of exaggerated and dramatic and overblown and ridiculous, but it was also fun and exciting and interesting and entertaining. So yeah, I liked it. But I must confess that "October Sky" ruined Jake Gyllenhaal for me, just because he was SO GOOD I don't want to think of him as any other character.

Toy Story: Confession - I watched this movie only once, as a 10 or 11-year old in the karate studio in Georgia (waiting for my older siblings in the adult class to finish). And I hated it. Sid was just so nasty, so mean, so terrifyingly ugly and grotesque! Despite seeing and loving every Pixar movie since as an adult, it's taken me this long to accept the fact that I needed to give Toy Story another chance. So, thanks to my Matthew darling :) for finally forcing me to sit through it and enjoy it.

Toy Story 2: I enjoyed it more than the first, probably because I had never seen it before and didn't have to deal with the years of negative memories. And because it was just . . . better.

Books:

None. I'm sorry. There were finals and deadlines and . . . Matt. Though Matt and I did read a couple of short stories by Patrick McManus and some Father Brown mysteries by G. K. Chesterton. They were good.

Theater:

Next to Normal: This was one of the last mask clubs of the semester. Probably the last one I went to as an undergraduate. And it was AWESOME. I had to look up all the songs afterwards (turns out they had to take out A LOT of swear words) and was humming them for weeks. And weeks. Definitely one of my favorite mask clubs ever.