Movies 2009

Movies that I saw for the first time in 2009, and enjoyed:

1. Taken
2. Paul Blart Mall Cop ("Peanut Blart & Jelly!")
   
3. In Bruges (brutal, but good)
4. Enchanted
5. Star Trek (!)
6. Run Fatboy Run (I guess I like anything with Simon Pegg in it)
7. Ladies & Gentlemen the Fabulous Stains (rent this if you haven't seen it yet)
8. The Hangover (!)
9. District 9
10. He's Just Not That Into You
    

Contents of the Pockets of Mrs. Bessie Glass's Housecoat

from Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger

1. two or three packs of cigarettes
2. several match folders
3. a screwdriver
4. a claw-end hammer
5. a Boy Scout knife that had once belonged to one of her sons
6. an enamel faucet handle or two
7. an assortment of screws, nails, hinges, and ball-bearing casters
   

Notes on Project Runway

1. Anthony needs to step up and design something good if he is going to stay on the show and keep me entertained. If you think I'm biased towards him because he is Southern, you are correct.
2. I just noticed that I regularly fast-forward through most of the parts during which Heidi is talking.
3. I actually felt bad for both Ping and Jesse in their awful pairing.
4. Am I the only one who thinks Jesse *kind of* looks like a serial killer?


5. Needs more Tim Gunn.

A Few Cancelled Shows That I Miss

Inspired by this article on Flavorwire about TV characters that they miss.

1. Eastwick - This show just started in the fall, and it's already canceled. It was good: funny and fast-paced with just a touch of the supernatural, and it was much less tedious than most nighttime soaps.
2. Earl - Are you kidding me? In the last episode they showed, we learned that Dodge was Earl's son and Earl Jr. was not Darnell's son. And that was it. Just nothing. I miss Randy.
3. New Amsterdam - This show was incredibly silly, but I couldn't help but like it. It was about a guy who was cursed to stay the same age until he finds the love of his life. He keeps having to reinvent himself and in the present is a NY police detective. Unexpected highlight: the old, African-American, bartender-sidekick is actually his SON! What?! It was a fun show.

Lost Art

I've got Lost on the brain, having stayed up late the last 3 nights to watch season 5, studying up for the premier next Tuesday. Here's some Lost-related art:

1. Chuck Close's Big Self Portrait was perhaps the inspiration for styling Radzinsky.





2. DaVinci-inspired promo picture. In the words of Eddie Izzard, "We can't all do big arms!"



3. Professionally fan-made Lost posters, found on Flavorwire. Click the link to see more - this one's my favorite.

How to Have a Great Sunday

1. make some French toast
2. watch CBS Sunday Morning
3. visit a beautiful new baby in the hospital
4. have a delicious lunch
5. watch a silly movie while crocheting
6. finish off the evening by watching a couple of episodes of Lost with friends
   

Polite Responses to Artwork I Saw Last Night

• This work is very challenging.
• I'm more interested in continuing this conversation for the moment.
• I didn't feel compelled to look closely at the subject matter.
  

Someone Has Travel Fever

This is where I went last year:

1. Chattanooga, TN
2. Ft. Lauderdale/Naples, FL
3. Hot Springs, AR
4. Nashville, TN
5. New York City
6. Pigeon Forge, TN
7. Nashville, TN
8. Roadtrip!
1. Nashville, TN
2. Pittsburgh, PA
3. Niagara Falls, Canada
4. Bennington, VT
5. Atlantic City, NY
6. Charlottesville, VA
7. Greenville, SC
8. Greensboro, GA
9. Peachtree City, GA
9. Naples, FL
   

New Approach to January

Instead of listening to mopey music and complaining about it being one long Monday, I am:

1. Listening to Gogol Bordello
2. Enjoying the short-lived cold weather
3. Appreciating the beauty of bare trees
4. Taking advantage of skirts-with-tights-and-boots temperatures
5. Making plans
   

Books I Read in 2009

1. Fellowship of the Ring by JRR Tolkein (2nd reading? 3rd?)
   
2. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (bookclub)
   
3. Breakfast at Tiffany's by Truman Capote (bookclub)
4. The Two Towers by JRR Tolkein (2nd reading I think)
   
5. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (bookclub)
6. In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor (the writer not the actress)
   
7. Chronicle of a Death Foretold by Gabriel Garcia Marquez (bookclub)
8. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby
9. Food Matters by Mark Bittman
10. Palestine Peace not Apartheid by Jimmy Carter (bookclub)
11. What is the What? by Dave Eggers
12. Julie & Julia by Julie Powell (bookclub)
13. My Life in France by Julia Child
14. Suite Francais by Irene Nemirovsky (bookclub) (2nd reading)
    
15. The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Stewart (bookclub)
16. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry (bookclub)
17. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (bookclub)
18. The Twenty-Seventh City by Jonathan Franzen

Of which I highly recommend:

1. The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barberry - best book I read this year!
   
2. My Life in France by Julia Child - Julia is so inspiring!
3. Suite Francais by Irene Nemirovsky - Maybe on my list of favorite books.
   
4. In a Summer Season by Elizabeth Taylor - Both simple and devastating.
   
5. The Polysyllabic Spree by Nick Hornby - A well-written book about books and writing.
   
6. Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie - This is tough to get through, but worth it.
   

Favorite "Classic" Movies

A digression from the year-in-review, here's another challenge to list favorite classic movies. For the purposes of this list, "classic" is defined as "movies that came out before I was born."

A Night at the Opera
An Affair to Remember
Arsenic and Old Lace
Casablanca
Gone with the Wind
Horse Feathers
It's a Wonderful Life
Monkey Business
North by Northwest
Notorious
Rio Bravo
Roman Holiday
Sabrina
Shaft
The Big Sleep
The Great Escape
The Sons of Katie Elder
The Sound of Music
The Wizard of Oz
Three Days of the Condor (oops, this came out after I was born)
To Kill a Mockingbird
Yours, Mine and Ours

Favorite Movies of the Aughts

And here begins the "things I did/saw/read over the past year" posts, beginning with a challenge from Chris to list favorite movie of the past decade, in alphabetical order:

Really Favorite
Amelie
Bridget Jones's Diary
Elf
Love Actually
Moulin Rouge
O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Shaun of the Dead
The Darjeeling Limited
The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou
The Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring
The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
The Royal Tenenbaums

Favorite
50 First Dates
A Very Long Engagement
About a Boy
Anchorman
Bend it Like Beckham
Bride and Prejudice
Chocolat
Ever After
District 9
High Fidelity
Lost in Translation
Marie Antionette
Monsoon Wedding
No Such Thing
School of Rock
Serenity
Signs
Star Trek
Stranger than Fiction
Whale Rider

Favorites from 1998-1999
American Movie
Blast from the Past
Dick
Eddie Izzard: Dress to Kill
Notting Hill
Office Space
Rushmore
The Big Lebowski
The Sixth Sense
The Virgin Suicides
The Wedding Singer