Happiness of the Week #2

- This print, by Barachan, of Lady Gaga in her Telephone video. I want to buy the 8x12 photo print (the default view is fine art mounted print, but just switch the option) and hang it in my house, for real.
- Little Boot's song Remedy, totally made me feel better during a week of being sick. Go check it out at iTunes!
- Archer. My brother's new favorite show and one of mine as well. If you're a fan of Adam Reed (Sea Lab), you'll like this too, that wonderful lazy style of recycled animation. And who doesn't love that it stars Jessica Walter??? (Lucille Bluth from Arrested Development) Just don't watch it at work...but why would you?
- Watching the old animated Transformers movie from 1986 last night and finally understanding the entire plot. This was a staple in our house when I was growing up, my brother and I watched this nearly every week, but as a young child I never quite got the whole thing besides good guys vs. bad guys. Now I understand the whole....trying to take back the home planet, spying, deception, slavery, etc. Yay for more complicated concepts working in my brain now. Also, I haven't seen the new movies, but I'm perfectly happy not to. This is the real Transformers movie!

Longing

Ever since we watched Marie Antoinette a few weeks ago, I can't get this out of my head. After her birthday party, Marie runs out with her friends into the gardens at Versailles at around five in the morning and the lighting is just breathtaking. They run around and lie down in the grass and enjoy nature, waiting for the sun to come up. I want that. I want to experience that.

As I have been a maker of costumes in the past, sewed quite a few already, I wouldn't mind making a couple of outfits for the boy and I, finding a place where you can't see any modern buildings, and pretending we're in the careless aristocratic 18th century France. And a picnic perhaps. I can dream, anyway. Something like this...

Happiness of the Week #1

- Finally catching up to the current season of Lost, so I can wait for next week's episode just like everyone else.
- Making Pioneer Woman's Shrimp and Linguine Package and Ina's Garlic Bread for Valentine's Day and having it turn out awesome.
- Getting a job interview this week, and having it go really well.
- Running into John Lasseter, not once, but twice, and getting to shake his hand.
- Going to Shutter Island last night, and discussing the craziness afterwards.

Double Feature Night

On Tuesday, TamZin and I watched two visually stunning movies in a row. It was delicious.


Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Often on the favorites list of anyone you know, definitely on mine, and a movie that reinforces that Kate Winslet is flawless beyond all shadow of a doubt. Her character Clementine is very much an example of what I wish I could be. Someone who is fully devoted to filling every aspect of their life with color and beauty and fun. I need that.


Marie Antoinette. A lot of people haven't seen this or may not have been interested but please give it a chance. I love this movie. It has some of the most beautiful costumes, jewelry, makeup, cinematography, and of course set (because damn it, it's the actual Versailles) you could ever ask for. And the modern soundtrack is a nice twist. I couldn't get over all the pastel colors and the pastries and the feathers and the flowers. One of my favorite parts of the film is when they are out in the fields waiting for the sun to rise. Amazing lighting and all I want to do is be out there with them. I wish I could live in this world...just for a little while. Gardens and fabrics and dogs. And the opening shot, pictured above, is just perfect.

My Top 5 Recent Movies

Okay, so I was going to make a few more formal posts before I started getting to random discussions but I decided they can wait. I don't need to be so structured, which is something I struggle with, and a reason why I have trouble drawing lately. I feel like there needs to be order to things when there doesn't need to be. And with that, let me break my own mold by posting a little bit of nothing.

Counting down my top five movies I've seen within the year:


#5 The Lovely Bones


I'm surprised how many people didn't care for this movie. I've seen it twice now. The filming, the colors, is just beautiful. And while the special effects don't come from the best CG-house money can buy, I forgive it. The imagery is just beautiful. The lead actress, Saoirse (pronounced Seer-sha) has the most vivid eyes. Colors are important to me, and I was so delighted by the visuals in this film. I'm one of the people who has read the book before (and liked it quite a bit), but I had no problem with their changes. I understand how things need to fit together more in a film, being that I've been learning film for four years at college. I really appreciate this movie, even though the majority of America isn't interested in looking at abstract visuals in the midst of a story. People need to be more open and accepting of different artistic visions.


#4 Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince


It's no secret that I'm a huge Harry fan. I love the books, I love the movies. I'm definitely not one of the avid book fans who slams the movies (though I must admit the first one was quite awful looking back). The problem that I see with them is that they keep getting better. And you think, too bad they can't go back and make the first few better to match. That's okay! I still enjoy them all even though they are strikingly different in artistic visions. With the Potter movies, I enjoy that they keep getting better. Each one has been better than the previous, and this was is no exception. Before I saw this movie, the fifth had been my favorite, now currently this one is my favorite. (I'm afraid about the seventh one being in two parts though, hopefully it won't be as bad as that arrangement seems.) The film visuals of the Half Blood Prince are beautiful, I love the lighting. The movie is mostly incredibly low key lighting, but it works and I love it. My favorite part of this movie was teenage Tom Riddle. He may not be the same we saw in Chamber of Secrets, but this version of Tom was a smooth talking and eloquent little snake and I love watching the actor talk for what little screen time he had. Wonderful.


#3 Avatar


The only movie on this list I've only seen once in theaters. You don't need me to tell you this movie was gorgeous simply because you've probably already seen it. Stunning visuals, stunning colors, and I can't believe how much animation was put into it and how good it ended up looking. Epic, beautiful, what have you. Definitely need to get a blu-ray player to handle this monster.


#2 Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs


Seriously, the most epically gorgeous CA movie I've seen so far. The colors the color the colors the lighting the rendering. And it's damn funny. I saw it first in 2D and then in 3D, and it's the first 3D movie I've felt didn't hurt my eyes and worked really well. It didn't feel gimmicky like the others. Most people might skip animated movies when they're older, and of course I see everyone due to my major, however this is a must see for anyone with a modern sense of humor. And I was so happy to see people who I went to school with in the credits. Oh what the hell, one more pic for good measure:


The eye spec! The eye spec! And the shaders....yay.


#1 Where the Wild Things Are


This movie is wonderful. Instantly my favorite thing about this movie was the fact that they had realistic voices. They talked like normal people (instead of snarly monster voices), and they had normal names like Carol and Douglas. I loved the color palette. It's very earthen and muted and you really feel like you need to be a kid again running through the woods. It was funny and heartwarming and real. And I loved how the wild things were tie-ins to Mac's own life, he and his mixed emotions about his family created these imaginary monsters in his imagination for him to come to terms with. I am buying this on blu-ray/dvd pack as soon as it comes out.

(In fact, Harry and Cloudy were the first blu-rays I bought ever, since they came with dvds which I can watch until I can get myself a nice tv and a blu-ray player.)

I love movies. Watching something beautiful can make things better for a while. Can't wait to see Alice in Wonderland and Shutter Island.

Goals

Animation - I'll be graduating this spring with a major in animation. Goal: Get a job. The hardest and most important goal on this list, and the one that needs to be accomplished first.

Drawing - When I'm not doing my work, I like to draw and color on the side. As my stress level has risen, I have found myself unable to draw for fun anymore. I miss the feeling of it.
Goal: To return to drawing for fun and improve my skills in the process. And be happy with it.

Cooking - Cooking is my favorite thing to do currently. I just love the alchemy involved with making something out of nothing...or in some cases something out of a lot of things. I have stacks of cookbooks but I don't often get to them, I sometimes find myself relying too much on simple things like spaghetti. Tim from Lootie + Doof has said that you should never make a recipe twice, and he says he sticks to that, except for his very favorites. That way, you have time to discover all the things you haven't made yet. Now I could never be that extreme, I love finding something and making it all the time. But I need to make an effort to really explore what my books have to offer, and hopefully even start through Martha Stewart's Cooking School.
Goal: To be able to make a whole library of recipes and memorize their processes, so that I can improvise on a whim with the resulting knowledge.

Home Decor - Like cooking, a more fun goal. I currently live in a place with all white walls and pale aging furniture. And there's nothing I can do about it, but it's just god awful drab. I cannot wait to move after graduation, and fix up a nice little apartment full of life and decorations that are unique to me.
Goal: To paint and decorate my future residence in order to make a colorful and bright atmosphere that will me make feel at home.

Films - Film is very important to my career seeing as I am trying to enter the film industry. With that in mind it is very important to watch films and understand what makes them good, or even what makes them bad, and to really know your material and history.
Goal: To get a Netflix account and watch as many movies as I can so I can be more knowledgeable about both classic and recent films.

Pets - A simple goal, but living without one for four years really shows you how lonely it can get. I need somebody to be there for me when my friends can't be, especially when it comes to moving somewhere new.
Goal: To adopt a dog or cat (eventually both) once I move in to my new place.

My last main goal is hard to talk about. That's because it has to do with more intangible things. It has to do with my whole lifestyle. When I've imagined myself in the future, I've thought of myself as being a more colorful person, exploring new places, being more expressive in my clothing or jewelry, trying new foods, doing new things, running around with my future dog, being overall more confident and happy with myself. So I suppose it can be summed up in a way that I want to become the person I imagined I would be.