Black Swan

I LOVED THIS MOVIE.

I feel like Natalie Portman is one of those people who everybody knows, but I never really felt like I could name something she was great in. But god, she was great in this.

I love Darren Aronofsky. After directing both Requiem for a Dream and this, two of my (now) favorite movies, he's one of my favorite directors. I need to see Pi and The Wrestler now.

It's difficult to pinpoint exactly what this movie was. It's one part drama, one part psychological thriller, and one part horror. And there were times that this movie was terrifying. It's essentially about Nina's (the lead character's) descent into madness as she strives to reach perfection, and the question of what's real and what's happening and what are just insane hallucinations really creates a horrifying atmosphere. There were scenes that struck me as part of a REALLY good horror movie. It almost reminded me of the Exorcist at times

And it also has such a complex but brilliant plot, as it reimagines the story of Swan Lake while also telling a completely different story. I don't even know what to say... go see it.

NOW.

Chicago

CHICAGO!

I finally saw it, and... It was fantastic.

I think one of the things that's inherently wrong with the genre of musicals is the fact that the music part doesn't often flow well with the plot. Oftentimes the plot stops and then the characters sing about how they feel about stuff, or the song is just unrelated filler.

Sometimes musicals perfectly use the music to enhance the story, and then there's times when they find completely inventive and unique ways to use the music in the context of the story.

And that's what Chicago did, and why I think it is so brilliant. Basically the central theme in Chicago is that the world is fucked up and corrupt and murders can be freed as long as they lie a ton and are pretty and razzle dazzle the audience. To take this even farther, these serious events (murder, criminal trials, etc.) literally become vaudevillian musical showcases. The press conference becomes a brilliantly inspired ventriloquist and puppet show run by the lawyer, in his final defense he does an intense tap solo, and the courtroom is a circus. The musical numbers surpass the reality of the events and expose the over the top often hilarious truth of the events, while simultaneously making complete sense as visions of the lead character (who is obsessed with show-business).

Chicago is brass, breathtaking, exciting, intense, gorgeous to watch, hilarious, sexeh, and brilliant. I don't care if you don't like musicals, WATCH IT

BOOKS TO READ LIST 3 (I think this is the third)

OH MY GOD I NEED TO READ MORE

To help motivate me, here is a list of books/plays I want to read:

Death of a Salesman

The Shining

Brave New Worlds 1984 (I was supposed to read those freshman year but only sparknotes'd them)

Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, The Tempest, Taming of the Shrew, Comedy of Errors (I doubt I'll get to all of these but I'm interested in reading more Shakespeare)

Oliver Twist (I adored Great Expectations), maybe more Dickens

More Poe (?)

Crime and Punishment

The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen

Spring Awakening (the play)

Atlas Shrugged

Everything Is Illuminated (SHUT UP I'M NOT A HIPSTER)

A Clockwork Orange

Cat's Cradle

Catch-22

On the Road

Catcher in the Rye

The Invisible Man

Animal Farm

His Dark Materials

So yeah. A lot of those books are a bit old and I'll probably have trouble getting myself to read, but I think I want to read all of those at some point. If any of you have any suggestions for books you think I should read, leave them in the comments.

Updated New Years Resolutions

So let's take a look at my goals I set in January:

1. Finish my short film and film it (Before the end of the school year)
Already filmed and almost done editing. My external hard drive just arrived in the mail so I can finish. CHECK

2. Work out more often and more consistently (and eat healthier)
I've been working out consistently like all summer and this year and half of last year. This is going well. CHECK

3. Begin/Continue learning to play guitar and piano
I realized I need to concentrate what I can do. I'm spreading myself too thin and will be unable to accomplish everything I want to. I can't practice piano and guitar for half an hour every day on top of singing, reading up on acting, and all my real school work. I haven't been doing this much, but I'm not unhappy. I do want to start doing piano more again though

4. Get a B or higher on an essay in AP Comp
Obviously completed, and I got a B on my first rough draft in Am Lit which is like REALLY impressive, it's a hard class. Definite CHECK

5. Get into AP Chem
I am currently in AP Chem and it's going really well so far. CHECK

6. Do well enough in math to eventually move into Supercalc
I'm on the way, CHECK

7. Act in something and be happy about my performance, or direct a show (probably The Importance of Being Earnest) and of course do a good job
Auditions for Earnest are next weekend, and I'm starting a drama club and joining an improv club. CHECK


8. Do something big in acapella, whether it be arrange a song or get a singing solo-
I'm directing the Pokemon theme song as the first song of the year

Well, I'm pretty awesome. Go me. =D

My laptop

I lost it then I found it and now I have it and I am happy.

I love Final Cut

I just spent like two hours using it to make this video:

(It's not here right now but I'll post the link once it's done)

It's clearly not perfect, but I'm pretty alright with it for my first try. The thing is, final cut is just fun to use. That's one of the reasons I started vlogging in the first place and one of the reasons I hated iMovie 09. iMovie HD was just fun to use, and iMovie 09 was not.

And final cut is even more fun xD! There's so much stuff I still don't know how to do, it's so powerful. Ahh I am happy with it haha.

Final cut

Is awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bi1IJyONUZ4

SAT Scores

I got my SAT II scores... MEH

690 in Chem and 680 in Lit

I'm pretty disappointed with a 690 in chem. I'm sure I can do much better than that. I'm definitely going to retake that one.

680 in Lit I'm not sure about... I could probably do better but based on how I felt while taking the test that's not awful.

Reading

I went to the library today and got A Streetcar Named Desire and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (two famous plays, I'm trying to become more theatrically well read). The woman I was standing next too and the woman working there both asked if I was reading them for school and were very surprised to find out I just wanted to read plays.

It's weird how reading has become so uncommon that it almost labels you to want to read something. I really ought to read more than I do, and I am trying to

Looks

In the past couple weeks I have been mistaken for a freshman, a college student, a man with a child (on the phone), and a woman (on the phone). My brother also legitimately said, "I don't think we've met" when I talked to him for the first time in a couple months. I have no idea what I look or sound like anymore

THEATER!

YES!

I'm feeling so passionate! I just want to read books on acting and write films and plays and finish bugle (god what I've gone through to recover that footage) and get voice lessons! grah!!!

Glee Finale and Kill Bill

Just some thoughts. Glee:

While this wasn't necessarily the best episode ever simply because of a various plot music and dialogue problems, this is what Glee needs to be. The problem with Glee is that recently (as I talked about in a previous post) the episodes have basically become Mr. Shue gives an assignment, there are a bunch of random scattered events sort of based on that assignment, then they all get together and he teaches them a lesson. THIS FORMAT IS AWFUL.

In this episode, however, things made sense! It followed a good narrative structure and actually had an interesting plot. PLUS I DIDN'T LEARN ANY LIFE LESSONS THIS EPISODE, YAAYYYY! On top of that, overall the musical choice this episode was SOOO much better than it's been (Journey and Queen never fail). Plus there was a well done delivery scene that was intercut with Bohemian Rhapsody. This was an incredibly interesting part of the episode, and it reminded me why I watch Glee. Because Glee has potential to do things that no other shows can do, AND THEY NEED TO.

This episode wasn't quite as good as sectionals, but it was still great. I'd say... 8.5

Kill Bill:

So I'm just going to review Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 together. Basically I loved vol. 2 and was bored with vol. 1. The problem with vol. 1 is that it's pretty much all action with very little backstory or explanation. Because of this, there isn't really any emotional investment in the action. The bride is basically presented to you as a horrible person out to kill other horrible people, so I wasn't exactly rooting for her. Alone I would have given this a... 7, because the action sequences were pretty awesome, and some of the sparse dialogue was really good too.

Vol. 2, is then mainly dialogue, backstory, and emotional investment. I feel like I would have enjoyed Vol. 1 more if I had already seen Vol. 2, because after an hour of Vol. 2 I actually cared about what happened to the bride, unlike in vol. 1. Plus Vol. 2 still had some incredibly awesome action sequences.

I understand that they are sort of meant to be viewed as one film, but because, in my opinion, pretty much all the emotional investment and explanation of what the hell was going on was in a completely different movie, it was really hard to enjoy vol. 1.

Vol 1: 7

Vol 2: 9.3

As a whole: 8.5

Glee

I've been fairly unimpressed with the entire second half of the season. While the first season was very inconsistent, it had great music, plots that continued and mattered, and less of that "after school special" feel.

These episodes have all been very bland. Basically every episode starts out with some random event, Will gives the students some random assignment, and then the rest of the episode has the students following some sort of theme and singing about random stuff related to the assignment. Then the episode ends with them all coming together and learning something.

There have been barely any good songs, and I feel like there hasn't been any build up to regionals. The episode before sectionals had a feeling of excitement to it. Sectionals was, in my opinion, the best episode of the series so far. I'm hoping regionals will be as good, but it just seems like there are 30 random plots that may-or-may-not be-resolved-but-I-don't-know-whatever.

Plus, recently the characters have been so unrealistic! Artie has basically become "the kid in the wheelchair" who never gets any plots or has any personality except for his being in a wheelchair, Jesse apparently hates Rachel and the Glee club for no reason (last episode he was confessing how much he liked her?), and there really wasn't a logical reason for why Rachel and her mom didn't want to see each other anymore.

I have no idea what songs they are gonna do on the finale, but I hope it can make up for some of the crap recently.

Kid Cudi

Kid Cudi is really good. Just throwing that out there

American Idol

American Idol happened to be on when I was bored. The season finale is the first episode I've seen.

Based on the first two performances, I let out a resounding "meh"

My Camera

I'm glad I bought the camera. The thing recently that has taken away any remorse is something I've been doing for a Chemistry teacher at my school. He's an entrepreneur of sorts, and he decided he wanted a compilation of a bunch of chemistry experiments to be made into one DVD so that he could sell them to other teachers. He had me film and edit tons of experiments, put them together, and in the end he is going to pay me $500. That's almost the price of the camera, and he probably would not be hiring me if I didn't have a camera. So yeah, I feel like it was worth it.

Plus it is awesome to have a nice camera, I LOVE IT VERY.

If only I didn't have to use the new iMovie with it... OH! I might get final cut over the summer! My mom wants me to edit a bunch of footage of sammy and her interviews into a DVD to sell, and we would buy Final Cut Express if I did. ORGASM

Oh yeah

So due to STUPID administration decisions, I will rarely have internet until the end of the year. This means... BARELY ANY BLOGGING

Yayyy!! Okay bye

Pretty. Odd.

So I've had this album for like half a year now, and I finally listened too it.

It's really good! Like I kept hearing people tell me how good it was, but it just is. It's good. Yum.

At the moment my favorite song is "I Have Friends In Holy Spaces". That's how I am when I listen to albums, I sort of jump from song to song as the one I like at that time. so yeah.

ENJOY

Questionable Content!

So I've been reading questionable content (An internet webcomic at http://questionablecontent.net) a lot recently. It's so good! I started last break, read it a ton, read it slowly, and recently I've been devouring it like crazy. I've gotten through like 400 of them through this break.

It's sooo good! The characters are so well written and it's pretty funny (occasionally laugh out loud hilarious, usually with Hannelore, more on that later) and the story is pretty interesting, like it's not run of the mill or predictable. I recommend it highly for a HUGE time waster!

My favorite character by fare is Hannelore. She isn't really introduced until sort of far into the comic, so if you begin reading it (LIKE YOU SHOULD) you won't meet her for a while. She's neurotic, germaphobic, has OCD, really sensitive, paranoid, completely likable, and perfectly written.

She's absolutely hilarious with her craziness, but at the same time you really feel bad for her and she is really likable. She's the funniest, the most rounded, and just a really interesting and great character in my opinion.

Also it's SO witty. There is an unhealthy amount of witty banter in that comic. WIT. MORE WIT THAN YOUR BODY HAS ROOM FOR. OVER 9000 WIT!!!!

I guess I'm feeling meme-ish this post.

I put some questionable content in your blog so you could wit while you read

You should read it

*Goes back to it instead of doing homework*

A-!!!!

I GOT AN A- ON AN AP COMP ESSAY!!!! I was so excited! Yess... FINALLY! I put so much work into this essay because I really wanted this to be my A paper.

We're not gonna talk about how I think my final is gonna go.

BUT THIS PAPER!! Maybe it's because I really liked Great Expectations, maybe it's because I put more work into this one than any other essay, or maybe it's because I've just finally learned how to write better, but I finally got it.

So let's look at the goals I set at new years:

1. Finish my short film and film it (Before the end of the school year) - In Rehearsal, check!
2. Work out more often and more consistently (and eat healthier) - I've been working out more, but eating healthier not so much. I need to work on this.
3. Begin/Continue learning to play guitar and piano - At a much slower pace... I need to start again
4. Get a B or higher on an essay in AP Comp - A-!!!!!!
5. Get into AP Chem - I'm working on this, I have a SAT 2 prep book and if I score above 700 I can take AP chem
6. Do well enough in math to eventually move into Supercalc - There are three different before calculus classes at MSSM, AB, BC, and accelerated BC. I got in Accelerated BC, so I'd say check.
7. Act in something and be happy about my performance, or direct a show (probably The Importance of Being Earnest) and of course do a good job - This is not happening. I am doing a monologue in theater club though... so that sort of does this
8. Do something big in acapella, whether it be arrange a song or get a singing solo (I have a solo, but it's rapping and to me that's not as much of an achievement). I'm not sure about this one *UPDATE - Tentative Check* I don't think this is gonna happen this year, but I'm probably gonna help Katie arrange a song next year.
9. Do stand-up again, and do it well enough that I want to continue pursuing it. Do it as good as I did at the end of 8th grade. - Not done

So taking away already completed ones or ones I know I can't do:

1. Work out more often and more consistently (and eat healthier)
2. Begin/Continue learning to play guitar and piano
3. Get into AP Chem
4. Do stand-up again

That's a lot better than before!

Incidentally if you haven't noticed, these goals are more end of the school year goals than year long goals.



The sad part about this paper is that now that I have higher standards I can no longer be content with a C+. Nooo!

98.65% of the music in my iTunes library has an e either in the song title or the artist name. Fun fact.

Short Film

I now have my short film cast! woo! This just leaves a couple rehearsals, vacation, and then I will film it.

The final decision was really difficult, but I think it's going to turn out really well

Next to Normal

So I just wanted to explain my general feelings about Next to Normal.

First things first, AWESOME! Damn, it was really good.

So my first reaction was I found out that J. Robert Spencer would not be playing Dan in this showing, and that his understudy would. This was kind of disappointing, and I had trouble not thinking about it. There was just something off about the vibe of the guy who played Dan in this showing, I just felt like he didn't embody who I had imagined the part was. I almost got some gayish vibes from him at times which seemed really weird considering a lot of the show is about how he is in love with his wife. Meh, I don't know. He wasn't bad, I was just a tiny bit disappointed.

Alice Ripley was expectedly amazing, which almost leaves me with nothing to say about her. I like her voice a lot especially during the more intense passionate songs, and her acting was great.

The rest of the cast were all originals or just great with nothing for me to say about them.

One thing I will say, is that Gabe is a terrifying character. It really doesn't come through in the music, but he is legitimately scary because he is essentially the embodiment of mental illness and suicide.

I think the two songs that I liked more than I expected to were "Didn't I See This Movie?" and "Wish I Were Here". They were both songs I didn't absolutely love on the soundtrack, but after seeing them on stage I really like. They're both really intense rockish songs sung by Alice Ripley that were awesome with the energy live.

I've also come to a decision on something about broadway shows in general. I think it's better to have not heard the soundtrack, or have heard it only once or so when you see a show. The problem is once you've listened to a song a lot, it loses its meaning (for me at least). So during some of the more well known songs like "I'm Alive" or "I Am the One" (and it's reprise) the emotional intensity and context were sort of lost to me just because I knew them so well.

Overall it was a really great show, and I've been thinking about it and listening to it and watching clips of it since I saw it.

It also really made me miss theater. I WANNA BE IN A PLAY OR MUSICAL AGAINN!!!!

Anywho, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UHmaseeujM (It was even better at the show I saw, because she get's pushed towards the Doctor on a Gurney instead of a stairwell)

Amazon

Sometimes I'm astounded by how well amazon knows me and what I like to buy

I think they look like they're grinding

Isn't Yahoo! News great?

A short history of all feelings when looking back at things you did when younger

*facepalm*

GOAL COMPLETING RAMPAGE

I accomplished another goal! I got a B- on an AP Comp essay. There are also a lot of goals I am in the process of continuing, so here is where we are now:

1. HALF CHECK Finish my short film and film it (Before the end of the school year) - I finished writing it and I will be auditioning people next weekend

2. CHECK Work out more often and more consistently (and eat healthier) - I have started lifting a lot and I'm already improving a lot. I'm eating a shat-ton of protein because at this point I'm bulking up, but not exactly healthier

3. HALF CHECK Begin/Continue learning to play guitar and piano - I've been playing guitar a lot and improving a bunch, and my piano book is FINALLY going to arrive at MSSM so I can start learning

4. CHECK Get a B or higher on an essay in AP Comp - I GOT A B- WOOT!!!! I shall slightly change this goal to an actual B so I still have something to shoot for

8. HALF CHECK Do something big in acapella, whether it be arrange a song or get a singing solo (I have a solo, but it's rapping and to me that's not as much of an achievement). I got a singing solo, and I haven't decided if that meets this goal.

I've still got a lot more to achieve, but so far I've done a lot! Yay.

The Marriage Ref

This is sort of just saying what was already said by John Green, but the Marriage Ref is really disappointingly bad. It's soo unfunny! And it had Seinfeld and Alec Baldwin in it who are both awesome! it's just a bad show at it's core.

It's one of those shows where the audience and guests all laugh way to hard at mediocre jokes and there are random unnecessary segments and it all just covers up the fact that there's not that much humor there.

Take a hint from Chelsea Lately, that is like the best round table show in the world.

* Inappropriate Language Follows*

Who the FUCK will I be in 5 years? I have no idea, but I'm excited to find out.

Well this is certainly optimistic sounding!

ZOMG I'M SHORT

THIS POST IS SHORT! I WILL DO MORE SHOT POSTS BECAUSE I CAN NEVER FIND TIME TO WRITE LONGER ONES LIKE I USED TO BUT I FEEL LIKE I AM NEGLECTING MY NUMEROUS ATTRACTIVE BLOG READERS SO I WILL DO MORE SHORT POSTS.

THIS SONG DOES NOT FIT MY PERSONALITY AT ALL BUT IT'S STILL BALLIN' FUH SHIZZLE: HTTP://WWW.YOUTUBE.COM/WATCH?v=E1QMFOR5wi8

RETURN OF SONG OF THE DAY?

ON THAT SUBJECT I AM GOING TO START KEEPING MONTHLY PLAYLISTS AGAIN, I MISS IT! HOKAY BYE.

New Years Resolution - AP Comp

We've got another tentative check! I got an A on an essay today. There are a couple reasons it's only tentative though. First of all, it was not a full length essay. It was a synthesis essay we did in class to practice for the AP. Second of all, in reality I didn't do fantastically. I got a 6 out of 9. That's not an amazing job, but it was the first graded synthesis essay we did, and 6 was the highest grade in the class. She lowered the grading level because of it being so early on, so technically I got an A, but if it were the end of the semester it would have been a B- or a C.

I'm not sure I wanna count this because when I made that goal I was thinking final draft of a full length essay that we worked on for a long time, but again, tentative check!

New Year Resolution - Acapella

8. Do something big in acapella, whether it be arrange a song or get a singing solo (I have a solo, but it's rapping and to me that's not as much of an achievement). I'm not sure about this one

Today I got the last solo in "The Longest Time" by Billy Joel. It's not a huge achievement, but I feel a lot about myself as a singer. I know have two semi large solos in the next concert (This along with the last rapping solo in "Where is the Love") =D

I'm going to put a tentative check-mark next to this.

Yay!

Writing, and entertainment in general just gives me a sense of accomplishment. I just wrote about 2 pages on my film that I like, and I feel like I'm finally making some progress and might be able to finish it the near future. It just gives me a really good feeling. I'm excited.

I've been thinking about this a bit recently, and I've decided I'm really going to pursue entertainment in some form. I mean for all I know I may end up behind a desk, or working in production or pre-production (the first of which I am doing now) but something with movies. The fact is I'm just not going to be happy otherwise, and I don't want to be someone who spends their life feeling unfulfilled because they didn't go for it. I'd rather try and fail and be unhappy then never try and be slightly better off and maybe slightly happier.

So yeah... now the question is, how do I do that? Do I go to college for film or theater? Do I go to college in LA so I can try and audition steadily? I don't know what I'm gonna do, but luckily I'm a sophomore and have at least half a year before I even have to start thinking about that stuff.

Well I'm feeling pretty good, so I'll leave on that note.

This blog I'm going to leave you with a classic quote from Gary Busy:

"I'm going to pull your endocrine system out of your body"

New Year Resolutions

I'm a little late but I just deciding what I wanna do this year. These aren't so much resolutions as goals really. Anyway, GOALS (Not in order):

1. Finish my short film and film it (Before the end of the school year)
2. Work out more often and more consistently (and eat healthier)
3. Begin/Continue learning to play guitar and piano
4. Get a B or higher on an essay in AP Comp *UPDATE - Tentative Check*
5. Get into AP Chem
6. Do well enough in math to eventually move into Supercalc
7. Act in something and be happy about my performance, or direct a show (probably The Importance of Being Earnest) and of course do a good job
8. Do something big in acapella, whether it be arrange a song or get a singing solo (I have a solo, but it's rapping and to me that's not as much of an achievement). I'm not sure about this one *UPDATE - Tentative Check*
9. Do stand-up again, and do it well enough that I want to continue pursuing it. Do it as good as I did at the end of 8th grade.

I think my more personal resolutions would be:

1. Accept myself more, and be more willing to be myself, which by extension means
2. Get better at not being awkward with meeting new people, and just acting like myself
3. Be a nicer person, and don't let anger boil up inside me
4. Get better at telling when to and when not to take a stab at being funny

That's all I can think of at the moment... ADIOS

I was more interested in this yahoo news article when I thought it said "fattest human"

New Year!

Happy New years everyone! Let's make it a good one