Avatar

I awoke this morning to my phone ringing merrily next to my ear, my mother calling to see if I wanted to see Avatar tonight. I mumbled something back that translated to "Yes, of course." Twenty minutes later when she called back with a show time, after I had managed to wake up a little, I advised her to go ahead and get the tickets online if she could. And to make sure she was getting the ones for the 3D IMAX. There had been two things I'd heard about Avatar over the course of the week. 1) Showtimes were selling out like crazy and 2) make sure you get the full visual experience in the IMAX.

Both, it turns out, are true. When we arrived at the theater (an unplanned hour early thanks to a fast dinner) the 7 PM show was sold out. When we walked inside, there was also already a line filling up the hallway for theater one. Guess it was lucky we were so early. Not a huge fan of waiting in lines but when they finally let us in we were able to get great seats just where I like to sit in a theater (in the middle, about two thirds back). So I guess that makes it worth it.

There were a few trailers, warnings that they were not, in fact, enhanced for IMAX, and then finally the words popped up on the screen. "Please put on your 3D glasses." Another trailer or two (Alice in Wonderland, not so excited about) and then it was time to begin. Credits. Voice Over. Spaceships. Game on.

Now here's the thing. I'm not really interested in writing a full review of Avatar. The story is okay. It has its problems, its cliches. Some moments are trite, some are painfully familiar as we've seen it all told before, some of it just silly. If this movie was anything less than what it is, it wouldn't be all that great.

What is it then? It's a spectacle. A delightful, sensational technological visual wonderland designed to make the audience "Oooh" and "Aaah" and it really, really, really works. James Cameron proves his mettle as a filmmaker. And the result is so very pretty.

My reaction upon walking out of the theater: "Squee!"

Of course I would have loved a little bit more going on with the story but whatever. I went to see Avatar to see what it would look like, to experience the potential of what 3D and IMAX can be, and in that it does not disappoint in the slightest. For my expectations, I got what I was hoping to get. I'm pleased with that. I'm happy with what it is. I don't know if I'd want to pay to see it again but I'm very, very glad I did see it this once. In the 3D. In the IMAX. It's made for that, that's how you should see it to experience it fully.

Avatar is eye candy and it is super delicious.

And now that that's out of the way, hopefully I'll be able to get a few more films on my "Want to (NEED to) See" List knocked out this week.

Currently on the list:
An Education
Me and Orson Welles
A Serious Man
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Precious

Did make it to It's Complicated on Friday which is cute, Meryl Streep is wonderful as always. Also planning on seeing Sherlock Holmes just cause. RDJ. Yeah....

Merry Christmas!

Watch out for the Blarg Monster! She eats Santa!

Today's The Day

My friend's video that I posted a few days ago was just chosen as one of the 50 finalists in the Nikon competition. Now there's this whole period where people are supposed to watch the videos then vote on them and stuff. His video is good! It should be voted on!

http://www.nikonfestival.com/blog/2009/12/14/todays-the-day/

Check it out, hopefully love it and give it five stars, and then watch some of the other videos. It's a pretty neat competition. There's some cool stuff up there. You don't have to give the other videos five stars though. Just my friend's. That's fair to say right? (I'm kidding! Really!)

Congrats DL! You done well.

I'm on the Internets

I really have been kind of MIA lately. On the internet sure but also in real life. It's amazing how quickly time can go by when life things are happening. Is it really the last night of Hanukkah? Only a week til Christmas? When did that happen?

Well, you'll be happy to know that the roommate search has ended, we've found the lucky person who will soon become the latest edition to Bonaparte House. She's a friend which is a HUGE relief and K and I are both confident she's going to fit right in with our crazy. Plus, bonus, she comes with a pup! How excited are we? K and I have both missed having a dog around. It's going to be wonderful.

Of course we're still sad to see J go. We'll keep in touch though and there are nefarious plans in the work for an adventure of epic proportions. That may turn into a movie. I dunno. Anything can happen. Be sure I will tell you more as this THING develops.

Speaking of movies and making them and being a woman who plans to make them... The New York Times ran this article about women in the film industry last week. It's a topic I keep alluding to and yet never get around to actually writing about. Seriously though, it's hard being a woman in this industry! There are opportunities for sure but honestly not as many as you'd think. Especially when your goal is to become a director. Female producers? I have known plenty. Most of them are batshit crazy (it all relates I think) but they do exist. When have I worked with a female director? Um. Twice. Once was a super low budget indie film that shot in Ft. Myers, Florida. The other was a super low budget indie film in San Francisco. And have you heard of these women? Not yet. Hopefully you will someday but yeah. Not yet. Anyway, read the article. It's good.

In other places, I'm on the internet! Go check me out. I'm silly. I really, really am.

Thoughts of the Day

The roommate search continues. It was an, um, interesting weekend of meeting potential roommates. Okay, some of these emails K and I have been getting are just plain scary. A guy emailed K today professing to be a "Submissive" and expressing his hope that we would not only let him rent a room but make him our slave. Er. Yeah... That happened.

How hard is it to find a nice, normal person in LA? Apparently that hard.

Also apparently difficult, getting anything useful passed by the Senate. Can Lieberman just go away already? I mean seriously. Apparently reasonable access to health insurance is too much to ask of our government. Public option? Nope! Health insurance for people under 65? Nope! No big deal that people have lost/are losing their jobs and with them their benefits. No big deal. Who needs health insurance really?

I do like how my friend put it on Twitter: @DanMazinOMG If Joe Lieberman were a soup, he'd be Cream of F*cktard.

Bah. Sorry. Mini-rant. Moving on.

Nikon is running a video contest to share your day in 140 seconds or less. My friend entered and made an awesome little video about recovering from a foot injury. He really was a gimp for the last couple of months! Yay for returning to mobility.



It's the end of the year which means it's time for the annual slew of "Best of..." Lists. Slant magazine has their 25 Best Films of 2009. That one definitely makes me feel like a slacker. I've seen maybe two of those movies? Three? I have a lot of movie watching to catch up on.

io9 has their 20 Best Sci Fi books of the decade. I also have a lot of reading to do. My Amazon Wish List just got a lot longer. I haven't read a lot of those but there are a few by authors I like a lot (Neal Stephenson's Quicksilver, Cory Doctorow's Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom), a couple I've been meaning to pick up for ages (Audrey Niffenegger's The Time Traveler's Wife, World War Z by Max Brooks), even worse ones I own but haven't read yet (Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke), and best of all ones that I'm not familiar with (like The Alchemy of Stone by Ekaterina Sedia).

And as always I'm always happy to take recommendations for things I should read/watch/consume in some fashion. I like discover new little bits of wonderful. Share away!

Unemployment Tuesday: Work!

This edition of Unemployment Tuesday finds me actually working. Yay! Sadly it's only for this week but it is on a commercial which pays a bit better than my usual rate. The people are also great and the hours haven't been hideous. All in all it's a pleasant working experience at a time when I desperately need any working experience.

I have a bit of work to do before sleeping happens so I'm going to keep this short, share a couple of links, and then get done what needs to be done before sleep.

Mike Harvey has this great list of The 10 Best Long Tracking Shots. Don't agree with all of them as necessarily being the 10 best but they're 10 great ones in any case. It made me happy that he started the list with I Am Cuba. It's the first movie that always comes to mind for me whenever I think of my favorite tracking shots. I Am Cuba is a beautifully shot film throughout but some of the shots are just downright amazing.

I cannot get over this site. Number One. Check out some of the guest Rikers a bit down the page. Keep scrolling, it's worth it.

Then for any of you Twilight fans (or any of you other women whose inner feminist cried a little after watching Twilight) there's this list of 20 unfortunate things girls learn from Twilight.

Stays Crunchy In Milk + Farscape = Awesome

Okay, I can't let my only post of the day be so super debbie downer. So I will share this with you! Because it's fun and awesome and it should be shared. So I say.

As I've mentioned previously, there's this awesome book called Stays Crunchy In Milk. My friend Adam wrote it and my other friend Lauren edited it. I read it and loved it.

My mini review (which I should have posted here but I've been lazy and have so far only put it up on Goodreads):

Clever and charming, Stays Crunchy In Milk is an adventure story that starts off appealing to the kid in you and ends up revealing itself as a well rounded delight. On the surface there are the entertaining pop culture references that wrap you in a warm blanket of childhood nostalgia. At its depths, Stays Crunchy takes its three heroes (who should remind you of several popular cereals that make an appearance around a certain holiday involving dress-up and candy) on a journey that is as much exis...more Clever and charming, Stays Crunchy In Milk is an adventure story that starts off appealing to the kid in you and ends up revealing itself as a well rounded delight. On the surface there are the entertaining pop culture references that wrap you in a warm blanket of childhood nostalgia. At its depths, Stays Crunchy takes its three heroes (who should remind you of several popular cereals that make an appearance around a certain holiday involving dress-up and candy) on a journey that is as much existential as it is physical. It becomes more than a game of catch that cartoon reference, it's a story about friendship, perception of self, and the subjective nature of reality. Stays Crunchy is a fun and tasty tale that a reader can enjoy on many levels. 

 So what's this contest about? Basically all you have to do is buy a copy of the book, take a picture of yourself somewhere with it, and then post your picture over in the comment section of Adam's blog. For all of the contest details, go check him out! Contest runs through December 18th so you've even got a little time.

Oh yeah, and the prize is a set of Farscape DVDs. How rad is that?



Now my job here is done. I'm going to watch Glee.

Unemployment Thursday

Today is not a good day in unemployment land. It's been one of those days where the light seems to have gone out of the tunnel entirely, where there is no end. I'll spare you the details but basically I started the day feeling like I was having a financial meltdown. Everything is overwhelming, I'll never get things straightened out, I will be broke forever, etc. etc. etc. Of course it's never as bad as all that but some days it takes a lot to convince yourself things will be okay.

The frustrating thing here is that it feels like I every time I start to get a handle on things, every time I can maybe get ahead, something will happen and there will be a set back and I never get anywhere. Stuck perpetually in the same hole. It never gets deeper but it's impossible to get out of nonetheless.

I feel this way. I know that it's really not as awful as it feels on the bad days. I'll feel better tomorrow. I'll feel even better than that on Saturday. Then next thing I know I'll get a job, things will work out. It's the cycle, it's how it goes.

This week is probably particularly bad since we're also dealing with finding a new roommate to join us here in Bonaparte house. We'll be losing one at the end of the month, in three weeks actually, and neither myself or K are particularly happy about. We love J, we're sad to lose her, and the task of finding someone to fill her shoes is going to be huge. If you happen to know anyone looking for a place in LA, we've got an open room! Our Craigslist ad.

I should be sharing fun links, babbling about how pleased I am that I actually finished my NaNoWriMo novel, talking about other pleasant things. Will you forgive me if I don't? I have to admit I'm lacking in energy at the moment. I promise I will do better next time!