18 Best Movies of 2009, and 6 from 2010 That I'm Looking Forward To!

Since I have exactly 5 hours left of the year 2009!  The ten best movies of the year, that I saw, in order of release date.

1. Star Trek
2. Angels & Demons
3. Terminator Salvation
4. The Proposal
5. Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
6. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
7. Avatar
8. Sherlock Holmes

Oops.  Those are all the films I saw this year . . . with the exception of New Moon, which doesn't deserve to be on the list even as a filler.  Okay then, let's try this:  The top ten movies of the year I wish I'd seen, in order of release date

1. Inkheart
2. Coraline
3. Push
4. Watchmen
5. The Soloist
6. Public Enemies
7. G.I. Joe: The Rise of Cobra
8. District 9
9. Cirque Du Freak: The Vampire's Assistant
10. 2012

Not included are The Road, The Lovely Bones, Invictus, and It's Complicated, because those are still in theaters and I can see them next year . . . :)

And, movies I'm very much looking forward to in 2010!

1. Salt
2. Knight and Day
3. Shutter Island
4. Letters to Juliet
5. Percy Jackson & The Olympians: The Lightning Thief
6. Alice in Wonderland

"Avatar" Movie Review

This movie is . . .
Amazing.
Epic.
Beautiful.
Completely awe-inspiring.
One of the best movies I've seen in a very long time.
Totally groundbreaking in terms of production.
Epic.
Epic.
And apparently it's still doing a very good job of rendering me speechless.

Please please please do not go into Avatar expecting just an effects movie.  I have to admit that I did, and I was proved so completely wrong.  Sure, it might not be the most original story ever told, but is anything original these days?  In any case, the characters are just as strong as the effects, thanks in no small part to the cast.  My favorite characters by far were Trudy and Grace, and of course, they ended up dead (everyone always kills my favorite characters :(.  Not fair >.<).  But I still loved the movie.  Now, that takes talent.  The characters are all very real and believable, and I ended up caring more for the Naa'vi than the humans (I think that was supposed to happen, so yay :)).

The special effects.  Ohmygosh.  To quote from the LA Times' review "You've never seen anything like it.  And neither has anyone else."  I can totally see why Cameron needed to wait 14 years for technology to catch up.  I saw Avatar in 3D, and I strongly encourage you to do the same.  Pandora is perfectly real, everything from trees to floating mountains to strange creatures . . . even the Naa'vi.  You can barely tell that this is all CG.  You're thrust so seamlessly into the new world that there's never any issue of suspension of disbelief . . . you're just there.

Writing.  Leaves a bit to be desired, sometimes, but that's easily overlooked because of the acting.  Sigourney Weaver . . . I have to admit, this is the first time I've seen one of her movies, and she steals every scene she's in.  I can't believe they killed her . . . sooooo pointless.  But I suppose that's the point . . .  Sam Worthington was not overly impressive as a human, I found him much more likeable as a Naa'vi.  Zoe Saldana gives a remarkable, nuanced performance as Neytiri, which somehow all comes through even though Neytiri is 10 feet tall, blue, and completely CG.  The Colonel and the businessman (whose names I've forgotten by now, probably 'cause I hated them so much :P) were absolutely freakish in their disregard for the natives lives.  Brilliant performances.  I loved Michelle Rodriguez as Trudy Chacon, and I have to admit, I think I saw a bit of myself in her (even though I don't plan on joining the Marines any time soon :P).

The anti-corporate, pro-environmentalist standpoint is obvious throughout the film.  It might come off as heavy-handed to some, but I think we need to take a good, hard look at this film and say "We could end up like that."  It's a frightening possibility, but very real.

One more thing.  I don't cry at movies, as a general rule.  Julianne and I sobbed through probably half of Avatar.  This movie is so hard to describe . . . it left me speechless for a good ten minutes after it finished.  All I can say is . . . go watch it.  You won't regret it.

6 C's

1. Cinema (Julianne & I watching "Avatar")
2. Caffeine (Drinking more iced tea than we probably should at the Cheesecake Factory until 11.40 at night)
3. Chemistry (Yep, we did our AP Chem homework at dinner.  We are just that awesome)
4. Cold (Beautifully cold and windy outside.  A truly lovely day to be out and about!)
5. Cairde (Irish for "friends")
6. Craic (Irish for "fun')

Full review on "Avatar" coming later, but for now, I'm exhausted!

Fox News is Not News, or, Why Glenn Beck Should Keep His Mouth Shut

Oooh!  Lookit what I dug up from last October!

Unless you've been living under a rock the past month (and I hope you haven't, that sounds awfully not-fun!) then you know all about the war of words that the White House is waging against Fox News.  For me personally, I found it enjoyable to follow for the first few weeks, before I resorted to shaking my head and repeating Artie Neilson's line from Warehouse 13: "Children.  I am working with children."  Okay, I'm not working with them, but they sure are running the country!  In any case, I think Anita Dunn & Co. are emerging as the clear winners in this, for several reasons.

1. When you get right down to it, well, the White House is right.  Fox News is not news.  I wouldn't go as far as Anita Dunn and call them the PR wing of the Republican party (although several people there do a very god job of being exactly that), but it's not news.  It's commentary, plain and simple -- incredibly biased commentary, that likes to pass itself off as news.

2. Fox is populated by liars and hypocrites.  Well, actually, that's not fair.  The most vocal people on Fox (Sean Hannitty, Glenn Beck, et al) are hypocrites.  For example, Glenn Beck calls Anita Dunn a communist for saying Mao Zedong is one of her favorite political philosophers.  But . . . guess who one of his favorite authors is?!  Yep, Adolf Hitler.

So . . . interesting, yeah?

By the way, before you accuse me of railing against Fox just because I disagree with their conservative position, consider this: Keith Olbermann says many things that I agree with.  I still think he's a pretentious git, and MSNBC would never be my first choice for news, either.

"New Moon" Movie Review

I have to say, if anybody but Julianne had asked me to go see this movie, I wouldn't have.  But she's my best friend, so I felt I owed it to her . . . Anyway, you guys all know how much I hate the whole Twilight series, and why, so I'm going to try my absolute best to stay away from how awful the story is and just focus on the movie itself.

The best parts of the movie: The National Guard and Lovely Bones commercials/previews in the beginning, any scene that Victoria or Laurent were in, Bella jumping off the cliff, and the bit with the Volturi at the end.

The worst parts of the movie: Anytime Bella or Edward opened their mouths.

It's better than Twilight, and I think that's really the best I can say.  Much of the movie looks like it was directed by a 12 year old.  Chris Weitz seems to have started a love affair with slow motion that he definitely didn't have going on in The Golden Compass.  Slow motion is used to add to the story, NOT to tell the story.  There's a few scenes where it's used very well (the Victoria-in-the-forest-cliff-diving scenes come to mind) and some scenes where it's superfluous and childish (Bella running through the streets of Italy comes to mind).  On the other hand, maybe I'm just overestimating the intelligence of the general audience of this movie.

Which brings me to another one of my least favorite scenes: Bella sitting in a chair, with the camera spinning around her, watching the view outside her window change as the months go by.  Apart from the fact that the spinning camera is also way overused and all it accomplishes is making me dizzy, Weitz decided that he needed to have text onscreen saying the different months.  Way to hit people over the head . . . I think that the view alone should explain that time is passing.  Peh.

I do have to give credit where credit is due, however: the costume designers, the set people, and whoever designed the movie posters.  They all do a great job of making the film seem more mature/creepy/interesting than it actually is.  Apparently they're the only real professionals who worked on this whole movie.

There's very few characters in this film that I don't hate.  In fact, I can list them all on one hand.  Rosalie, Victoria, Laurent, the Volturi, and Jacob.  Unfortunately, they are the characters who get almost nothing to do the whole movie!  Rosalie is in like 2 scenes; Victoria gets enough time to come down out of a tree, scare a man to death, and cliff dive; Laurent just shows up to get killed, the Volturi are present but under-used and under-developed, and Jacob is in . . . my friend told me 30 minutes of a movie that's over 2 hours long.  Now, I've never read the books, so I can't say if their screen time in the movie corresponds to their roles in the book, but I think it's a darn shame that they're not given more to do.  That alone would have made the film better.  Like Rosalie.  We know pretty much nothing about her, except that she hates Bella.  Why can't that dynamic be explored more?  Or Victoria.  She's easily my favorite character.  Pretty, strong, and, like Rosalie, one of the very few characters who has no pretense at all.

So, I give this movie a 0.5 out of 5 stars.  The movie itself is sloppily put together, the underlying story is pathetic, and most of the main characters are boring as anything.  I watched it just to make fun of it . . . I suggest you do the same.

*hides from screaming horde of Twilight fans

"Once" Movie Review

Once was the first R-rated movie I saw (and it doesn't deserve that rating anyway). For that alone, it would hold a special place in my heart, but I love it for many, many other reasons.

For such a small-budget indie film, Once is really professional.  The director is obviously experienced, and knows how to bring out the best in his actors.  For two people who are musicians who have never had a large role (or even any role) in a film before, they're remarkably natural and comfortable, both in front of the camera and with each other.  This film makes great use of natural light/settings, for example, filming the party scene at the lead actor's own flat.  It gives a sense of warmth to the scenes that fits perfectly with the story they're telling.  They use a lot of medium close-ups, and a lot of really small sets (like in the Girl's flat) that make it clear that the film is almost just a window onto a very intimate and real friendship that develops over the course of the movie.  There's also an amazingly beautiful crane shot at the end that is just . . . wow.  It basically says everything the film is.  You really have to see it to understand . . .

Another thing I love is that the music is so seamlessly integrated into the film.  It doesn't even seem like a soundtrack at many points, it's more diegetic sound, such as when the Girl is walking down the street and starts singing along to one of the songs she's writing lyrics for.  The music is beautiful by itself too.  This is where the advantage of casting two professional musicians shows up: They wrote and recorded all their own songs.  Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova are two extremely talented musicians, and their songs are beautiful and heartfelt . . . and occasionally very, very, funny, a la "Broken Hearted Hoover Fixer Sucker Guy".

And then, the story is just so unique.  While I take pride in being one of five girls in the theater to see Transformers 2, and I usually avoid romance/drama films like the plague, Once is something else entirely.  It's not a traditional romance at all.  The two leads have such an easy camaraderie, it's so lovely to watch.  The Girl is strong and independent, raising her child while working as a flower seller.  One of my (many) favorite parts is when she totally flips out when the Guy asks her to spend the night, and then he realizes what an idiot he was.  It's not about the sex and the drama, like so many other romance films are (The Other Boleyn Girl, which deserves an "R" rating far more than Once does, comes to mind), it's about the friendship and the respect.

Overall, I think Once is one of the best movies I've seen in a very, very long time.  Its funny (I love the scene with the Girl dragging her broken Hoover down Grafton Street.  It's just . . . perfect), warm, and realistic.  The ending is sad, in a way, because the Guy and the Girl can't be together, even though they seem so perfect for each other; at the same time, the Girl has another shot at a real relationship with her husband and the Guy gets another chance with his girlfriend in London.  Once is so hard to describe because so much of its power comes from the acting, rather than the storytelling.  Just watch it :)

Lazy Amazing Days

It's a cloudy, rainy day in December, and I'm in one of those funky, artsy, calm-but-hyperaware moods that the rain always puts me in.

I'm sitting in bed, doing AP Government homework and listening to Enya music.

But I'm also ripping some Stargate Atlantis episodes.

But I'm also dying to go out and dance in the rain.

But I'm also writing a story.

But I also just kind of want to curl up and go to sleep.

See what I mean?  Southern California rains are just so rare, and real cold winter rains, complete with clouds and raindrops running down your window are just so rare.  There's a big tree right outside my window and I can see individual raindrops on its leaves from across the room.  I'm slightly in awe.  I went outside and sat in my backyard for a bit, just watching the world turn.  My backyard is huge and a bit wild, and when it rains I feel like I should see garden fairies or something.  I'm normally a more analytical person, but fairies have always held a special place in my heart, and the rain brings out all the wild myths that I've always half believed in.

The rain washes LA clean, more, I think, than in other cities.  All the colors are sharper, the air is more welcoming, the city is more alive.  You feel like you should see plants growing in front of your eyes, and the world has a new soundtrack for a bit.  That's why I love the rain, it's wild and powerful and beautiful and it brings you life.

Politics: The Next Generation

Hey guys!  Ashley and I have started a new blog aimed at making politics fun & relevant for teenagers.  It would be awesome if you would check it out and tell all your friends.  We're trying really hard to get the word out, because we think this is something that could become really big over time.  You can find it at http://doubleapolitics.blogspot.com.  :)

Firefox vs. Opera vs. Safari vs. Camino vs. Shiira vs . . . Chrome?

Now that Google has finally released a Chrome beta for Mac, I have of course downloaded it . . . and am now seriously considering making it my default browser.  Now, I have to say that I happen to have every single web browser listed in the title.  And I know that that's far more web browsers than any normal self-respecting person needs, but I have never claimed to be normal.  And besides, how can I say that one web browser is the best when I haven't tried all of them?

Firefox.  Well, what can I say that hasn't already been said?  Widely regarded as the fastest, best, coolest browser, with thousands of add-ons (which other browsers don't come close to replicating).  However, maybe because I feel like being a rebel, I find I don't use it that often.

Opera.  I've used it as my default for a while.  It has some definite shortcomings, including a tendency to freak out over my school's website and refusing to let me tag people in statuses on Facebook.  However, those are more than made up for with its Speed Dial feature (which other browsers, like Safari and Chrome are starting to copy), the Widgets (I love playing Pandora through its widget, and any of the multiple "get lyrics" widgets), and the ability to save different groups of tabs as sessions.  In the end, Opera suffers most from its relative anonymity (although I think it's used more as a mobile browser than on computers) because it's an excellent browser without the widespread recognition it needs to become the next Firefox.

Safari.  Well, I know it's the default browser for Macs, but I have to admit that between Firefox and Opera, Safari has mostly shown up as a blip on my radar, and "oh, shoot, I need to update Safari to get x other application to work.  That said, Safari 4 is nice.  I don't really use it, but I like the Top Sites feature (though Opera's speed dial still wins in a debate between them, I think) and it does play videos (like on YouTube and Hulu) faster than either Firefox or Opera.

Camino.  I'm kind of eh on this one.  I mean, it's basically Firefox customized for the Mac without the add-ons.  It's fast, it's pretty, but I really use it only when I'm testing my website in different browsers or when my dad wants a screenshot of it to add variety to one of his books.

Shiira.  You know, it's a bit of a hassle to use because pretty much the entire development team is Japanese, which makes their website full of typos, but apart from that, I actually really like Shiira.  It gets better with every release – and real, tangible improvements, like adding tab expose and RSS feed support in the latest version, not just an "oh it runs faster" update.  Shiira is a web browser that I would love a lot more if I had more time to devote to exploring it, but I still highly recommend it.

Chrome.  The new love of my life.  Fast, sleek, pretty, with nice themes, a really cute home page that mimics Opera's Speed Dial while adding in what my recently closed tabs are.  I think I'll be using Chrome a lot more in the future, but I'm still not giving up on Opera :)

Probably the most non-professional reviews of web browsers you've ever read, but it's nice to get a new perspective sometimes, yeah?

My Cameras :)

I suppose you all have gathered by now that I'm a photography nerd.  I'll be the first one to say that my knowledge is . . . well, not all that vast, but what I lack in that area, I make up in enthusiasm and a desire to learn more.  I mean, I can tell you what ISO means, and I can tell you what a slow shutter speed means, but I'm not one of those people that obsesses over cameras.  Either way, though, since I'm hoping to make my photgraphy a bigger part of my blog, I figured I'd write a little bit about my cameras.

Right now, the only camera I own (for sure) is a little Canon Powershot A590. And actually, it's not even my camera, it's the family camera and I'm the only one who takes good pictures. It's basically a really high end point & shoot, but I can adjust enough of the settings when I shoot on Manual or Program to make it worth my while.

It's got the basic ISO settings: 80, 100, 200, 400, 800, 1600. I generally try to shoot around 200 or 400 for everyday photos & school events, but I shoot on 80 or 100 when I'm doing city scenes (my pictures from downtown LA & Denver were all shot on either 80, 100, or 200.) My yearbook teacher actually told us not to shoot above 400 because it would "hurt her feelings". Well, I can say she's taught me well. My shutter speed goes from ... to ..., and aperture settings go from ... to .... Now, I have to say that I personally find dealing with shutter speed and aperture on the A590 a pain. Maybe it's just me, or maybe I need more practice, but I usually end up shooting on Program and letting the camera automatically adjust most of the settings.

On the other hand, I absolutely love my cousin's Canon EOS30D, and I found its light meter (to adjust shutter speed/aperture) really easy to work with. I only played with that camera for a few hours when I was over at his house for Thanksgiving, but I had sooo much fun. We went down to the pool at like 9.30 at night, and put the camera on a tripod. With 30 second shutter speed, we got pictures that looked just like they were taken during the day! We also had a lot of fun taking "ghost pictures": walking into the shot for 15 of the 30 seconds and half-appearing in the photo. Here's an example . . . I'm holding one of my cousin's other cameras up to my face, that's why it looks like there's a random hole where my face is supposed to be :P

Annnnnd . . . I've played a bit with Ashley's Leica film camera, not as much as I'd like too, but from what I've seen of it, it takes GREAT pictures.  I love the focus . . . ^_^

One last camera . . . and this is the reason I said I only own one camera "for sure" is because my mom apparently has a BEAUTIFUL old Olympus camera from when she was in high school, complete with hugely long telephoto lens, that I am getting as soon as she gets it out of the garage.  Unfortunately, our garage has more similarities than I'd care to admit to a black hole, so the odds of finding it anytime soon are pretty small.  But I will for sure write a post devoted only to it once I find it.

I'm looking at different cameras to ask for for Christmas (preferably digital), that are high-quality and not point-and-shoots that aren't too expensive.  Something like Canon's Rebel series.  If you have any suggestions, please comment!

More politics posts coming soon, and stay tuned for a new, politics-only blog that Ashley and I are going to be launching over our Christmas break! =)

Itouch!

I just updated my blog from my dad's iTouch! I feel like I just fulfilled a major life goal :)

"So if you jaywalk and the cops don't see you, is it still jaywalking?"

Ah, isn't that the million dollar question in Denver!  Practically nobody waits for the light to be on their side before crossing the street, and even fewer actually bother to find the crosswalk.

So, I suppose you're wondering why I'm even talking about Denver, right?  Well, I was there for the Irish Dance Western Regional Championships (Oireachtas), and I had brilliant fun . . . but more on that later.  This post is about the city.

I went to Denver without any real expectations as to what the city would be like.  My previous experience with Denver was 4 hours spent at a layover in the airport on a flight to Costa Rica with some kids from my school last April.  It was so much cooler than I had thought!  For such a big city, it has a wonderful fronteir town feel.  Basically, it just feels small and home-y.  It's not a place I would live . . . at least, the part where we stayed isn't.  But it's an absolutely beautiful place to spend a few days.

It was pretty cold while we were there -- I don't think it ever got above 55 or so.  I loved it!  I'm such a cold weather nerd (when I was in Ireland, I teased my family for being such "tourists" because they were always wearing huge jackets), and the fact that there was snow on the ground was brilliant!  I'd never actually seen snow in a city before, except for Mammoth (and that doesn't really count, 'cause we go up there to ski anyway in the winter).  I was also glad that it wasn't actually snowing, because that would have made lugging dance gear around/enjoying the city so much harder!

We stayed in a 30+ story hotel that was right across the street from the Convention Center, where we were dancing.  Just a block up was 16th street, which was full of shops.  In fact, cars aren't even allowed there, there's so many people -- you have to take this really cool shuttle up and down the street.  I must've rode that shuttle about 10 times, to different cafes, stores, etc.  My dad and I found this amazing independent bookstore, called the Tattered Cover, during our explorations.  It's this amazing 3 story brick building that, when you walk into it, just feels like home.  There's a little coffee place inside that makes amazing pumpkin "steamers" (what coffee-free lattes are called) and nutella croissants (YUM!).  They have books on every single subject, and magazines, and . . . pretty much everything!  I got Madeleine Albright's Memo to the President, a Stargate magazine, and a copy of the latest Macworld.  Yeah, that describes me in a nutshell.

We also went to Union Station to take pictures.  As you might've realized from my last post on my photography trip with Ashley, I have a fascination with trains, train stations, etc.  They're so beautiful and haunting, and even more striking when they're practically empty, as they were when I went.  Except . . . guess what!?  There was another guy there taking pictures too!  He had a nicer camera than me, but when we saw each other, we smiled and, I think, recognized each other as fellow artists.  Such a cool encounter. . . . Denver is a brilliant city to photograph.  Not just in the more urban parts, but when we went down by the Platt river, there was no shortage of photos there either.

We ate at this awesome little Irish pub by the river called McLoughlin's that had these amazing little flatbread pizzas, among other things.   Which brings me to another topic about Denver . . . the food!  There's all sorts of cool little places to eat on 16th street (which was mostly where we were).  There was a Cheesecake Factory, a chocolate factory, the pub, multiple Corner Bakery Cafes, about 30 different Starbucks, and so many more places!  If you're ever in Denver, check out 16th street for the food.

We also visited the state capitol, which gets major points for having beautiful poetry all around the walls.  The legislature wasn't in session, unfortunately, but we did get to see all the empty rooms.  I would have loved to watch the House or the Senate meet . . .

So yeah.  That's Denver.  I feel like I have a really hard time describing it in words, so maybe some of my pictures will do the trick.

Roswell! Oh, and Happy December :)

This started out as a comment on Tay's reveiw of Roswell (found here), but it got so long that it deserved it's own post.

I have to start out by saying that I've only seen the first seven episodes, so if I say anythng glaringly strange, considering how the show ends up, well, that's my excuse.

~Katherine Hiegl is brilliant
~The show is VERY unique.  I've never seen anything quite like it before, even in the other scifi shows (Stargate, X-Files) that deal with the Roswell crash.
~Julie Benz's character, the guidance counselor/FBI agent is probably my favorite so far. Her drop-kicking the creepy sheriff has got to be my all-time favorite moment so far!  Although, since I know her mostly as Darla from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I always get creeped out whenever she's with any of the kids alone.  I feel like she should be trying to eat them or something! :P
~I love how all the shots are set up to focus on the characters.  It's very clear that they, and not the surroundings/action is the main focus.  There's interesting uses of reflections/lens flares, not exactly normal, but then again, the whole premise of the show is that life is abnormal.
~Maria deLuca is one crazy amazing friend.  Czechoslovakians, anyone?
~I love how Max just looks like a normal guy.  No super-hottness, no idealized view.  Just a normal kid I'd like to hang out with.  That's so rare in shows, especially those targeted at the teen age group.

Overall . . . I am liking this show very, very much!  I'll put up a recap at the end of season 1 with my final thoughts, it'll be interesting to see how my views have (or haven't) changed.

And finally . . . happy December you all!  Make it an awesome last month of 2009!! :)