May 2013 Media Inventory

You will note the heavy Jane Austen emphasis during this month. I considered writing the entire entry in a Jane Austen voice in honor of her domination of my viewing and reading habits, but in the end decided such a feat must be left to a greater mind with more time and talent than the most ignorant person ever to dare to call herself a bloggeress.

Movies:
Les Miserables: I did not "grow up" with this musical, and so missed out on the experience of having great hopes and dreams realized or dashed by the viewing of this film. Matthew could probably give you a more emotional review of the quality of the songs and so forth (I tried my hand at judging them and came up with completely opposite conclusions from him, but I defer to someone who actually sings and cares about singing in these matters). Overall I thought the film was enjoyable and entertaining, but not particularly monumental. My fascination with Russell Crowe continues, as does my love for Anne Hathaway's short hair and subtitles.

Mansfield Park (2007): This was the fastest adaptation of a Jane Austen film I've ever seen. I almost felt like I was playing a game of Bingo, crossing off each event rapidly to get through the story. I liked all the casting - yes, even slick-haired Edmund - except for Fanny, whose overwhelmingly huge grin, disheveled blonde hair-in-my-eyes look, and uncertain depiction somewhere between shrieking wildness and complacent shyness rather unnerved me.

Bride and Prejudice: This Bollywood take on Pride and Prejudice was more fun than I remembered (probably because this time I watched it with some friends from my JA class). Some things were still the same, mind - Darcy is dreadfully boring; the "no life without wife" song is my favorite part, etc.

Silver Linings Playbook: Matthew and I really enjoyed this one. It's sweet, weird, depressing, affirming, and had some touching, thoughtful insights about dealing with heartache, obsession, stress, and loneliness. Jennifer Lawrence is fast becoming a favorite actress of mine.

From Time to Time: Cute British film about mysterious old houses, nefarious butlers, and wise grandmothers with secrets. I wasn't surprised to learn this came from the creator of Downton Abbey - it's got the same "modern take on nostalgic past" feeling to it. And Maggie Smith.

The Darkest Hour: Matthew and I saw the trailer for this a long time ago, and thought it looked interesting. We should have just watched the trailer again. It was more interesting than the movie.

Sense and Sensibility (1995): Delightful version. I love this cast and the humor inserted throughout. I only wish they had used more characters and scenes from the novel (I was especially surprised to realize they had entirely omitted the return of Willoughby in the final hour scene). And of course, I always want more ending - couldn't they at least have Margaret catch the bouquet or something?

Sense and Sensibility (2008): I saw this version once before and was not greatly impressed by it, but my second viewing has altered my opinion considerably in its favor. This may have a little or a great deal to do with the fact that I have since become aware of the charms of Dan Stevens from watching Downton Abbey, but further watching - that is, research - is required to be certain. I also finally forgave Willoughby for the crime of being short. 

The Perks of Being a Wallflower: I wasn't really impressed by the book, but the film was very sweet without being cutesy or cliche.

Total Recall: Again we were tricked into watching this by the trailer. There were some ideas that had potential, and Colin Farrell has a pretty awesome worried facial expression, but I lost interest and emotional investment in the characters pretty early on. 

Sense and Sensibility (1995): I liked this so much I watched it twice.

Mansfield Park (1999): I'd seen this once before and hated it. This time I liked the overall film more, but hated the parts that I hated more, if that makes sense.

The Prestige: This was the film that converted me to Christopher Nolan, and it's still my perennial Nolan favorite. I think I could watch it every year and still gush about watching it for the first time.

Clipping Adam: I didn't expect a lot out of this film about a boy who doesn't cut his hair after his mom and sister die in an accident, but I was very pleasantly surprised at its warmth, humor, emotion, and simplicity. The characters were great and the story was sweet. The ending felt a little abrupt, and I may not watch it again, but I would recommend it.

Shackleton: I'd seen this around the library a few times and thought it looked interesting. Kenneth Branagh was predictably brilliant. It was also really nice to watch people shivering in the Arctic during an extremely hot week in May.

On a Clear Day: I watched this movie after recently getting hooked on swimming regularly again, so bear in mind that I am a water addict and can watch stuff like Olympics swimming and diving for hours. Anyway, this film. I. LOVED. IT. EVERY. SINGLE. LITTLE. BIT. Spot-on story and casting. I cried.

Tower Heist: Good bit of crazy fun with Ben Stiller. Bonus - Casey Affleck's worried face rivals Colin Farrell's!

Argo: I forgot to include this one on my list at first, but I really, really enjoyed it. Gripping story, well acted and paced. I haven't been quite so tense watching a film that I recall since Sophie Scholl.

Books:

The Candy Shop War 2: Arcade Catastrophe: Awesome, fun, and creative sequel. I get worried sometimes Brandon Mull will write himself into something so crazy he won't be able to get out of it without cheating, but somehow he manages to make it work.

Pride and Prejudice: It is a truth universally acknowleged that this book is awesome.

Modern Ghosts: A collection of short horror stories by Joe Hill, who is a pretty intense horror writer but also a good writer in general. I enjoy his style of horror better than Stephen King's.

Life Laughs: I think I read this book in an hour while walking home from the library. It's about as substantial as a chatty girly blog post.

Heidegger and a Hippo Walk Through Those Pearly Gates: Not quite as witty and clever as their first book, in my opinion, but still a fun/insightful read.

The Pregnancy Project: I was touched by this true story of a girl faking a high school pregnancy for a class project. I especially appreciated her opening up about her family's difficult background and the many trials of living without financial or familial stability. It definitely strengthened my gratitude for my parents' raising me and my resolve to raise my children in a good way.

Mansfield Park: Not my favorite of Jane Austen's novels, but I was glad to finally finish it after starting when I was about 13 and getting distracted somewhere around Portsmouth.

Misery: Why did I read this? I don't like Stephen King. Anyway, I didn't like it.

The Many Photoshoots of May

Until May I took remarkably few photos in the year 2013. The first photoshoot of the year didn't happen until Valentine's Day, where I got a couple of photos of Matthew eating spaghetti. I'm not sure why I didn't take any of myself - perhaps I was just feeling icky that day? The next time the camera came out was in April to take a random assortment of shots of un-posed people wandering around eating things on Easter and some very poorly decorated eggs (the sight of which I'll spare you). And that apparently was the whole of everything worth documenting with the camera for the Winter 2013 semester. Maybe it snowed. Maybe it was pretty. Will anyone know? Will they care?

Then all of a sudden in May, the camera came alive. It seemed every weekend was photo-worthy. Things went so far that we even had to (gasp!) CHANGE THE BATTERIES.

So what was the big deal about in May? Well, let's take a look back and see...

1. I decided to get my hair cut. So the weekend before, I got my sister Hannah to take a lot of photos of me and Matthew (she took some of the photos we used for our engagements, and we liked them so much we asked her to give us coupons for more photoshoots for Christmas). This led to some great and goofy moments - I'll let you figure out which is which:

I totally can see this as a movie poster for a chick flick. Titles, anyone?

A rare non-goofy one of us three!

I believe the instructions were "look flirty..."

This photo is destined for great things.

2. I actually GOT my hair cut. Photos briefly became an obsession.




3. Matthew, possibly influenced by that one time in my western film class when I took him to see "Unforgiven," went and bought a gun (in unrelated news, the dog who barks all the time upstairs mysteriously went missing that night...). Of COURSE we took photos.

Matt and *Shotgun Shane*

He also went shooting for the first time on Memorial Day with a few friends from work, but in a great tragedy, the camera was left behind, so we must imagine it looked something like this:

Matthew is obviously the cute Asian.

4. Mother's day! Self-explanatory.

5. Mama's birthday! You will note that once again we succeeded in making our mother cry.

Blueberry birthday pie!

Okay, so Daniel was actually the one who made her cry...

Dad reading my very witty Jane Austen card

6. We celebrated our two-year anniversary at the end of May. For some reason (oh yeah I'm taking a class this semester) I didn't have as much time as I had last year to prepare decorations and ideas, so we ended up having a very toned down celebration. I took a long walk in the rain (a romantic touch which I greatly appreciated seeing as how it rained on the evening of the day we got married) by myself waiting for Matthew to get off work, and we celebrated with cheesecake (which we had on our honeymoon) and strawberry lemonade (which we had at our reception). And pictures, of course.

The following things also happened in late April/early May that were camera-worthy:

7. We visited a friend of mine from the first neighborhood we lived in when we moved to Utah. I used to babysit her three oldest kids and it was fun seeing how grown-up everyone was except for herself and her husband, who haven't looked older than 25 since I met them. I actually thought she was a Laurel (a 16-18-year-old girl in the Church's Young Women program) when I met her and was surprised to find out she was a leader. Now I'm pretty convinced she could pass for one of my college students. I hope we'll visit them again so I can figure out where she stashes the Fountain of Youth flask.




8. I got a bad ingrown toenail. I actually got it in March, but it got worse and worse until I finally decided to get it taken care of after finals. I went to the BYU Student Health Center and had a very pleasant experience. Someone asked me if I was there to see the podiatrist before I had time to even sit down, the podiatrist and assistant had everything ready when I walked into the "operating" room, the assistant handed me the piece of paper to sign away my rights while the doctor was actually already prepping my toe, and everything was smooth and quick and relatively painless (most of the pain came later when the toe "un-numbed"). Overall I was in and out in about five minutes, and I haven't had a problem since. The lack of pain has done wonders for my exercise - turns out running, walking, and moving are way more fun when your toenail isn't jabbing you with every step!

Apologies for the grossness of the next photo. If you have small children.... actually, small children will probably find this pic pretty cool:

First look after taking off the bandages

9. I got back into shape. Winter is always the worst semester for me health-wise (especially with food poisoning!), but so far I've always been able to bounce back in the spring. Photo-wise, I ended up experimenting with yoga pics I've seen online or just stretching in general:

What you don't see is my toe, pre-operation, throbbing in agony