recommended: interstellar + smith kids

I think I've sort of forgotten how to do this. Let's ease myself back into blogging, shall we, with a post about not much. Two things you should look into:

Recommendation #1

Aaron and I saw Interstellar this weekend, and I loved it. The last hour got a little hokey, and sure, it was odd that they needed massive amounts of fuel to escape earth's gravity, but could zip off any other planet they wanted no problem even when the gravity was greater than earth's, but MAN. I am still thinking about that movie three days later, and that has to mean something. Some things I loved in no particular order: the music, the massive wave planet, the visual effects all-around, the fact that all the main characters are scientists or engineers and it's a female scientist who figures everything out and spoiler alert saves everyone, the idea of time as a villain, the general caliber of acting, and again, the music. Didn't know I was an organ fan until I saw this movie!

Recommendation #2

Have you guys read this interview* with Willow and Jaden Smith? It is out of control. Seriously, who are these kids? They are INSANE.

An excerpt to whet your appetite:

I'm curious about your experience of time. Do you feel like life is moving really quickly? Is your music one way to sort of turn it over and reflect on it?

WILLOW: I mean, time for me, I can make it go slow or fast, however I please, and that's how I know it doesn't exist.

JADEN: It's proven that how time moves for you depends on where you are in the universe. It's relative to beings and other places. But on the level of being here on earth, if you are aware in a moment, one second can last a year. And if you are unaware, your whole childhood, your whole life can pass by in six seconds. But it's also such a thing that you can get lost in.

WILLOW: Because living.

JADEN: Right, because you have to live. There's a theoretical physicist inside all of our minds, and you can talk and talk, but it's living.

WILLOW: It's the action of it.

wut? The whole thing is like that, it's amazing.

So there you go, Interstellar and interviews with crazy celebrity children. What do you have to recommend to me?

*Guess you're going to have to google it, because I can't get around the New York Times login page to get a link. UGH. 

listening to my dad watch this movie was actually the best part

This was my favorite part in "The Hobbit":

Something about singing dwarfs just really speaks to my soul. Did you see it? Did you like it? I like Bilbo a lot more than I like Frodo. He's a cute hobbit. Also, isn't Galadriel great? I just love the elves. I wish they got more screen time.

Hurray for Christmas movie going!

forget chemist, i should've been a ballerina

Last week we survived a hurricane and hosting a Halloween party, so it was a success! Now we have enough cereal, granola bars, bottled water, and canned beans to last us until the next hurricane comes along. Just kidding, the bottled water will last the rest of our lives since we never actually drink it.

We watched a good amount of tv/movies this week since we never lost power. We finally saw "Moonrise Kingdom." Someone please remind me next September that I want to be Suzy for Halloween 2013. That blue eyeshadow just really makes me happy, and I haven't put mine to good use since ballroom (> 2 year old eyeshadow = gross?). We also watched "First Position," the documentary about kids competing in the Youth America Grand Prix ballet competition, and it was fantastic. So much beautiful dancing, and the kids were so adorable. We discovered that the dance studio, the Rock School which we drive past every Sunday on our way to church is actually pretty legit. Way to go, Philly!

If you need more convincing to watch it, here's the trailer:

Hope you had a lovely Halloween! We're still eating homemade oreos, pumpkin cupcakes, and candy corn so we're still enjoying it.

planning ahead

Today I decided that, like thousands of other people surely will be, me and Aaron should be Katniss and Peeta for Halloween. (or Effie and Cinna. Think I could get Aaron to wear gold eyeliner?) The question now is, which Katniss?!

Reaping Day Katniss?

In the Woods Katniss?

Soon to be on Fire Katniss?

Interview Katniss?

Arena Katniss?

I think I can safely rule out Interview and Soon to be on Fire Katniss since my Halloween costumes have been historically low maintenance. (Bones from "Bones" anyone? 5 years in a row being a witch followed by 3 years of pirate?) Reaping Katniss gives me an excuse to buy a new dress and Arena/In the Woods Katniss could both be thrown together with stuff I already have (minus a bow and arrow and a mockingjay pin). 

What a dilemma. Good thing I have until October to figure it out. 

Did you watch the movie? Aaron and I forked over $8 for a matinee (Can you believe that?! That's the price of a regular nighttime movie in Utah), and I definitely thought it was worth it. I tend to dislike books made into movies (Harry Potter), but I thought they did a great job following the book. 

Things that disappointed me:

Girl on Fire moment- I wanted more wow!

Jason Bourne style filming- headache

I didn't feel the horror of the idea of children being forced to kill children, but maybe I was just too used to the idea from reading the books a bunch of times?

Things that were spot on:

Rue, and what I'm assuming was her father freaking out and throwing things after her death-that was the part that had me near sobbing

Cinna's eyeliner

Caesar Flickerman

Seneca Crane's beard

Everything about Effie

Not CGI'ing tributes' eyes onto beasts at the end-I think it would've looked laughable instead of rightly horrifying

I want to go see it again! I feel like I missed a bunch of things the first time around or I was so annoyed with the jerky camera that I couldn't fully enjoy the movie. Next time I'll be mentally prepared and maybe take an ibuprofen before and then I can truly savor my Hunger Games cinematic experience.
What did you think? 

hiding beet sugar or cane sugar? also, everglades.

Right now I wish I had four roommates so we could get some great discussion going about tonight's Republican debate and the fact that Harrison Ford is slated to play Colonel Graff in the Ender's Game movie coming out next year! Since Aaron is buried in study materials, all I've done is posted a couple lame tweets, texted my mom, and contemplated sharing a link on facebook. I haven't felt this socially deprived since I lived in France and no one could understand me.

Tell me how excited you are for this movie/how weird Newt's hair is/how lame the questions were at the debate/why did Romney use the word self-deportation/the girl from "True Grit" is also in "Ender's Game"/the director of "Ender's Game" is also responsible for its screenplay and that X-men Wolverine movie which is a little concerning/I am soooo needy.

Or maybe I just don't feel like reading a paper for bioinorganic that's not due until Thursday anyway.

reason 1203493 why i love penn

Oh, hello James Franco.

Did you want to come speak at my school on November 6th?

Okay, great.

(!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!)

so the budget for this was...$100,000? and brendan fraser acted for free?

I have never doubted Rotten Tomatoes ratings until now.

Because apparently "Journey to the Center of the Earth" got a 68%?! How?! Maybe it's better in 3D. Or better if you're not working on solving double integrals using summations while watching. Seriously though, these special effects are terrible. I can't believe this came out in 2008.

Anyway.
Back to math.

inception

mind. blown.

bam.

I just wanted to say that I am very proud of myself for getting an article in the Daily Universe for National Lab Day, and for getting fliers taken to 15 schools in the area.

Go VP of publicity.

And I also find it highly amusing that my lab made it into the Police Beat yesterday.
(a piece of tape on top of one of our oven started smoking and a janitor saw it, freaked out, called the fire department)

Also...I leave for Europe in two weeks from tomorrow.
Wow. Wow. Wow.
Ah. Ah. Ah.
I am simultaneously ecstatic and terrified.

Before I leave, I need to:
have another India night
write up my abstract for the paper I'm writing while I'm there (although, really? making me write the abstract before I'm done with or even started the paper? That is ridiculous and counterproductive.)

If you were leaving the country for 3 months, what would you do before you leave? I feel like I need to fill up my reserve of American-ness, eat some apple pie or something.

OH! And I saw "Iron Man 2" last week, and ohmygoshIlovedit.
The cast was great. Can I just say I am so impressed with Robert Downey Jr.'s ability to make Tony Stark, who is totally selfish and self-destructive in this movie, very charming and very likable? Pure awesome. I did think Scarlett Johannson's character was sort of unnecessary besides the fact that she had a fab scene of taking out a bunch of guys.

Anyway...please excuse the randomness of this post. If you have any thoughts on Europe, my incredible accomplishments with Y Chem (ha), things to do before I go, Iron Man 2, etc, feel free to share. :)

I have a suggestion

Watch "The Last Airbender" trailer.

I promise, you'll get at least half-excited as I am.
(but not more than I am, because I don't think it's physically possible. This is the girl who searched etsy yesterday for a Katara water tribe necklace for 2010's Halloween costume. To quote my sister, "People don't realize how big of a nerd you are.")

Just click here. It's only 32 seconds long, and oh so very worth it.

karma

Today I am grateful that I am not a widow and that I do not live in India.

I think you ought to watch "Water".

That's all.

rummaging for answers

I went. I watched. I loved.

"(500) Days of Summer."

(aka "Amélie"* of the US)

Except "Amélie" is pure agony until the very end and then it's absolutely wonderful.

And "(500) Days of Summer" oscillates repeatedly between absolutely heartbreaking and absolutely perfect.

I think the reason why I loved it so much was because I am afraid I will become Summer.
But Summer ended up all right in the end.
And I will too.
P chem** finals and bad karma and all.

*Did anyone else think that part where Tom falls asleep in the theater and inserts himself into a movie just screams Amelie? Or the omniscient narrator who tells us all these random details at the very beginning? Or the cinematography? Or the part where Tom walks down the street, and it becomes an illustration?

**It's over! Now all I have left is French, American Christianity, Gold Bar Latin, and Physics...

elementary

I am almost tempted to go see this on Christmas Eve.
But then I would miss out on animal wars* with Becky and Jeff...
Anyone want to go see it the day after Christmas?

*Every Christmas Eve my 17 year old brother, [almost] 19 year old sister, and I sleep in the same room and play a game where we make forts out of pillows and then throw stuffed animals at each other.
We are really cool.

What better way to spend a Saturday afternoon?

Alfred Pennyworth: A long time ago, I was in Burma, my friends and I were working for the local government. They were trying to buy the loyalty of tribal leaders by bribing them with precious stones. But their caravans were being raided in a forest north of Rangoon by a bandit. So we went looking for the stones. But in six months, we never found anyone who traded with him. One day I saw a child playing with a ruby the size of a tangerine. The bandit had been throwing them away.
Bruce Wayne: Then why steal them?
Alfred Pennyworth: Because he thought it was good sport. Because some men aren't looking for anything logical, like money. They can't be bought, bullied, reasoned or negotiated with. Some men just want to watch the world burn.

Lt. James Gordon: Because he's the hero Gotham deserves, but not the one it needs right now. So we'll hunt him because he can take it. Because he's not our hero. He's a silent guardian, a watchful protector. A dark knight.

Bruce Wayne: People are dying, Alfred. What would you have me do?
Alfred Pennyworth: Endure, Master Wayne. Take it. They'll hate you for it, but that's the point of Batman, he can be the outcast. He can make the choice that no one else can make, the right choice.

Batman: What happened to Rachel wasn't chance. We decided to act! We three!
Two-Face: Then why was it me who was the only one who lost everything?
Batman: It wasn't.
Two-Face: The Joker chose ME!
Batman: Because you were the best of us! He wanted to prove that even someone as good as you could fall.
Two-Face: [bitter] And he was right.

Batman: You either die a hero or live long enough to see yourself become the villain. I can do those things because I'm not a hero, like Dent. I killed those people. That's what I can be
Lt. James Gordon: No, you can't! You're not!
Batman: I'm whatever Gotham needs me to be.

Alfred Pennyworth: You spat in the faces of Gotham's worse criminals. Did you not expect casualties? Things were always going to get worse before they got better.

Harvey Dent: The night is darkest just before the dawn. And I promise you, the dawn is coming.

---

I love this movie because its theme of this movie of putting what is best for others above what is best for yourself is so powerful. I love how it portrays human nature as intrinsically good instead of intrinsically selfish and evil as the Joker would have us believe. The symbolism of light vs. dark, Two Face/Harvey Dent, the juxtaposition of Batman's work in secrecy and darkness vs. Harvey's use of the law, Harvey's deterioration from symbol of hope to agent of chaos and terror is all so awesome.
And you know, it's always a plus that Heath Ledger plays the most horrifying villain of any superhero movie and Christian Bale is incredibly attractive...

Have a "Horrible" Halloween!

I know I've posted this once before on this blog, but I think it's fan-freaking-tastic and Halloween-y enough to repost:

Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog.

You must invest approximately 42 minutes of your time to fully enjoy this. It is all worth it.


Happy Halloween!

It's 4:20 already?!

Currently: avoiding homework while listening to Natalie watch the football game.

Should be: typing up a paper for American Christianity. Or reading for p chem or physics. Or studying physics. Or writing a French paper.

Want to be: sleeping. Or eating Mexican food. One of the two would be awesome.

Earlier: Saw "Pan's Labyrinth". Sort of liked it. Didn't like how arbitrary the tasks Ophelia had to do were. Liked the creepiness and *****SPOILER ALERT******** stop reading right here and right now if you'd like to find out for yourself what happens in the movie***********











the fact that practically everyone dies. (Now that you think I'm a creeper, let me explain. It's sometimes more powerful when the main character dies because you don't expect it to happen. They're the main character, they have to live. And the fact that the villain gets what he deserves and dies too was satisfying to me.)

Am now going to: take some tylenol and go back to reading. meh.

Go cougars!

firefly (aka I do enjoy post titles that have nothing to do with the post itself.)

I have moved.
Many thanks to Jeff, Josh, and my parents for helping carry my stuff across the parking lot from one building to the next. I'm really liking my new apartment. Why might you ask? For the benefit of Kellie and Laura who will in the future be joining me there let me elaborate.
Nicer flooring (the fake stone vinyl that's in A building)
Prettier (sort of) cabinets (off white instead of cocoa brown)
Black leather couches
Air conditioning
Bigger closets
TWO desks in every room instead of one (however, there's only one dresser...go figure...I'm going to get plastic drawers to stick under my bed for my excessive amount of clothing)

And this week I splurged a little bit at Target and bought a new 12" skillet (stainless steel with copper bottom, very pretty), and white bird salt and pepper shakers (so Martha Stewart) at the suggestion of Josh. I'm looking forward to an IKEA run sometime in the next week to get a kitchen shelving unit with hooks for pots and pans, a coat rack, and a couple of yards of fabric to sew some pillow coverings (I'm seriously on a domestic roll here).

I told my mom I knew I was an adult since I got so excited about pans.
Yep, I'm that awesome.

P.S. During the school year I want to do a foreign film night every so often since Laura and I are going in on a Netflix account/the International Cinema is just so darn accessible and fun.
You are all invited. :)

A night in review: Harry Potter 6

My siblings and I went and saw the "Half-Blood Prince" two nights ago at 12:35 in Burbank. Now back at home...people get a little crazy at midnight premieres. Especially at midnight premieres where there is ample opportunity for dress up. We thought we'd have some fun and go along with that a bit, so we bought white v-necks at Target and painted them with fun Harry Potter things. Becky painted "I love Harry!" in Gryffindor red and gold, Jenny painted "Ginny is my homegirl!", I painted a Ravenclaw crest and stuck a Ravenclaw quote on the back. Jeff was the only smart one and opted out of the shirt making. We show up at the theater at 11:00 wearing these over-sized, hand-painted shirts and NO ONE is wearing anything out of the ordinary. Maybe it's because all the crazies got 12:00-12:03 tickets and were already in the theaters or waiting in lines out of our sight. All I know is everyone is dressed in regular old clothes minus a few schoolgirl outfits here and there. Becky and I quickly zip up the jackets we wore just in case this should happen as we make our way to the only group of four seats left in the theatre: front row baby! aka seats so close you have to move your head to fit the screen all in.

The movie was pretty darn good I have to say, definitely one of my favorites. Seeing Daniel Radcliffe on liquid luck was probably the best part for me. Absolutely hilarious. However...I thought it was really funny that they sort of ignored the whole Half-Blood Prince part...seeing as it is the title of the movie, you'd think they'd do a bit more with that. Also, when are they finally going to make the endings sad enough?! I mean, they kill off Cedric in number four and all we got was some downtrodden and solemn looking Hogwarts students. They kill off Sirius in number five and yeah, Harry looked angst ridden, but I was still wanting more...I thought for sure that they'd get it right at last with number six, but alas, I was disappointed yet again. The most powerful wizard, the only one who really presented a challenge to Voldemort is DEAD and all you're going to do is raise your wand in remembrance (I did think that was a nice embellishment on the book and overall a lovely scene, but)?! I need some sobbing here! I want students with disbelief and fear written all over their faces! I need some What?! No! He can't be dead! He's Dumbledore! And what?! Snape killed him?! It can't be! What's going to happen to us?! Who will save us now?! Where can we turn for protection?! Voldemort's going to kill us all!!!
But I digress. Overall, nice movie. Way to go Potter people.

One last thought...
who's beyond excited for "Sherlock Holmes"? :)

A cat may look at a king.

What do I feel right now?
I have no idea...but I wish I did.

Two things:

1. Being a single parent would be seriously difficult.
2. "Star Trek" is unbelievably awesome.

I think I have a good post brewing inside of me. I'll see if I can disconjoin (Josh, that was for you) my thoughts tomorrow.

currently less than three-ing:

a. this headband (got my cheapo version at forever xxi for $1.50)
b. flower hair clips
c. this movie (so, so cute! so, so funny!)
d. new hair, 3D glasses minus lens from c., and rootbeer popsicles
e. this scent from Victoria's Secret...
f. farmer's markets! (new discovery! they have one here, and Kellie and I got major deals on earrings and b.)
g. this boy :)

happy thursday!