The Summer of Films

I hereby christen this summer "The Summer of Films." I think I've seen more movies in the month of June than the whole of last year. Crazy.

These are the movies I saw in June:

• "Star Trek" (I is a trekkie now. For realz.)
• "Drag Me to Hell" (Effing scary.)
  
• "The Hangover" (Hilarious!)
  
• "Up" (Best Pixar movie to date.)
  
• "The Proposal" (Okay, I guess.)
  
• "Transformers 2" (...)
  

And that's just in the theater, not counting the movies I've seen with the boyf at home on DVD. And this is not counting the movies I have yet to see this summer, like "Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince" (be still, my beating fangirl heart).

I've liked most of the movies I've seen in the theater this summer. "The Hangover" was funny as heck. I laughed so hard, I think I may have bruised a rib or two. There are a few gross-out moments, which I'm not fond of in films, but overall it was a pretty good movie.

"Up" was fantabulous. I loved how surprisingly bittersweet it was -- the first 15 minutes of the film had me bawling, then the remainder of the film had me laughing hysterically, and then getting teary again at the end. Actual line of dialogue from the film: "I am hiding under your porch because I love you." *Dies from adorableness* I love that talking dog, Doug. I want one.

"The Proposal" was only okay. It was kinda formulaic. (I know what you're going to say -- what romantic comedy isn't? My response: "Love Actually." Shut you up.)

And as for the last movie, the one I've been waiting for all summer, all year, with bated breath, the movie that had my boyf and all grown men jumping up and down like a little boy in wide-eyed expectation -- TRANSFORMERS -- and yes, the movie needs to be in all caps and all bold. The flipping movie of the flipping summer ... What did I think of it? Well, it sucked.

Yes, you read that right -- It sucked.

Let me enumerate for you the many ways it sucked: it was horribly written, there was dog-humping, robot-humping, mothers eating brownies laced with pot, robo-sluts, inexplicable dialogue, Megan Fox clearly needs to stop acting and pursue a career in Hugh Hefner's stable, the movie feels like an overblown ad for the military, and oh yeah, there are two robots who are such racial stereotypes, they have gold robot teeth. I kid you not.

But why take my word for it. Read this to see all the other 1,000,000,000 things wrong with the movie.

If I have one wish, it's that I never have to be subjected to such a shoddy film ever again. I knew it wouldn't be as good as the first one, but I had no idea it would be this bad. Blech.

Here's hoping "Harry Potter" will take the bad taste out of my mouth.

ETA: My boyf asked that I write that he REALLY hated "Transformers 2." In case that wasn't clear. And he says this as a super-duper Transformers fan.

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All content on this site is the sole property of Ana Cristina Simon, unless otherwise stated, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

Hibernation, here I come.

Ever since school let out, I have been sleeping on average 12 hours a night. Considering that's double the average of hours I sleep a night during the school year -- on a good night -- I am very happy. Even if I seem to approaching hibernation. I don't care. At least I'm rested! :D

What else have I been doing? A lot of reading and writing. A lot of Facebooking. A lot of video gaming. A lot of listening to music. Tokyo Police Club and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs have been on repeat mode a lot.

Le boyf and I have been wanting to see the loads of good movies that have come out recently: Up, Drag Me to Hell, The Hangover, to name a few. We finally got to see one of these, The Hangover, last night. It was much better than I thought. It somehow managed to be disgusting, hilarious, and heartwarming all at once.

Le boyf's been showing me all the old Star Trek movies ever since I became a fan. Most recently we saw Star Trek VII: Generations. We've also seen The Wrath of Khan, The Search for Spock, The Voyage Home, and First Contact. I don't think I missed anything, but I'm not sure. It's been a marathon of movies. I think my favorite was The Voyage Home. Next up is watching the shows online. Do you know the original series of Star Trek is on YouTube? True story.

So yes. I am a trekkie. It is true. *shrugs*

Tonight, we are going to a friend's house for dinner, which means I am going to have to do something with this hair of mine. I've been wearing it wavy all week and it's a tangle of knots. Sigh.

Is it wrong that I feel like taking a nap?

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All content on this site is the sole property of Ana Cristina Simon, unless otherwise stated, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.

These are a few of my (current) favorite things...

St. Vincent

I first heard about this singer on Pitchfork, this most awesome website for music aficionados. The first song I heard was "Save Me From What I Want." And that was the song that made me want to buy the whole CD. I was not disappointed. She is a mix between P.J. Harvey and Bjork. Her lyrics are amaaaazing: "I'm a wife in water colors/ I can wash away." That's from the same song. And here is the audio so you can fall in love, too:

Save Me From What I Want - St. Vincent

If you like what you heard and you want to hear more, you can do so here.



Dungeons & Dragons
(on Facebook)
Confession: I never understood what the D & D rage was all about, and I never got to play it in high school. Then Facebook added the game app and my bloggy friend April sang its praises. So I decided to give it a try ... and cannot stop playing it. I am currently a Level 3 Half-Elf Cleric named "Anawen" (snicker, snicker) and having a ball. Come play with me!



The Joys of Love
I first heard about this book on QPB (Quality Paperback Books). I've never actually read Madeleine L'Engle's books, not even A Wrinkle in Time, but something about the book's description drew me in:

During the summer of 1946, twenty-year-old Elizabeth is doing what she has dreamed of since she was a little girl: working in the theatre. Elizabeth is passionate about her work and determined to learn all she can at the summer theatre company on the sea where she is an apprentice actress. She’s never felt so alive. And soon she finds another passion: Kurt Canitz, the dashing young director of the company, and the first man Elizabeth’s ever kissed who has really meant something to her. Then Elizabeth’s perfect summer is profoundly shaken when Kurt turns out not to be the kind of man she thought he was.

Moving and romantic, this coming-of-age story was written during the 1940s. As revealed in an introduction by the author’s granddaughter Léna Roy, the protagonist Elizabeth is close to an autobiographical portrait of L’Engle herself as a young woman—“vibrant, vulnerable, and yearning for love and all that life has to offer.”

I began reading it on Sunday night, finishing it at around 2 AM. I literally could not put the book down, despite the fact that I had to get up at 6 AM the next (same?!) day. It is vibrant and poignant and thrums with the immediacy of first love. Add this to your "To Read" list!

For more information, visit Madeleine L'Engle's website.



Star Trek
So I went to see "Star Trek" with le boyf on Saturday night. He's a bit of a trekkie and I have watched an episode or two from the 1960's show with him and enjoyed it, albeit in passing. But I wasn't expecting much out of the film. I was also worried I might not understand it too well, not having the background and all. But about twenty minutes into the film, I knew I was going to love it. And I wasn't wrong. Not only do the actors look like their counterparts, but they did a bang-up job acting out the roles, too. Chris Pine was great as Kirk, with just enough hamminess to underscore the performance (he wasn't hard on the eyes, either!). But IMHO, the stand-out performance belongs to Zachary Quinto, who played the young Spock.

It wasn't so much that he was able to do the quintessentially Spock eyebrow-lift (which he was), or that his voice matched the perfectly monotone delivery of Leonard Nimoy (which it did). What made Quinto's performance amazing was his ability to portray the all-too human feelings brimming under the surface of a seemingly imperturbable Vulcan exterior. A truly great performance! Go see it -- it doesn't matter if you've never seen an episode from the old shows. If anything, it will make you want to see the old shows, like I want to do now!

Here's a trailer to tempt you:

Wow, Dungeons and Dragons and Star Trek?! If I don't watch out, I'm going to start wearing a pocket protector ... ;-D What are some of your favorite things this month? Let me know in the comments!

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All content on this site is the sole property of Ana Cristina Simon, unless otherwise stated, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.