Top 7 in '07, Part I: Movies

Here are my favorite movies from 2007:

*Hairspray. I loved this movie for its energy, catchy music, and message, as much as for the fact that it was really damn funny. I saw it with a friend after it’d been out for a while and I had waited as long as I could, and when it was over, I turned to her and said in all seriousness, “There was absolutely nothing wrong with that movie.” I loved every minute of it; I love that the protagonist, the one everyone is rooting for, is a bigger girl; I love that they make people see that she is beautiful regardless of what she weighs; I love that whoever came up with the idea of making this into a musical was able to take what was a kind of weird John Waters movie and turn it into something this joyous and uplifting. Because that’s what it is: Joyous. And. Uplifting. But not in a super-corny, annoying way. That’s why it’s great. That’s why it’s going to be one of those movies that I can stand to watch over and over again without getting sick of it. That and the awesome soundtrack.

*Dan in Real Life. I know I’ve already written about how much and why I love this movie, but I’ll just reiterate that it is so, so good. It came between seeing some pretty crappy movies (see below for some of the worst), and that just made it that much better. It’s hilarious, sweet, and Steve Carrell is so endearing that it’s impossible not to love him and wish for him to be happy. Hate his two oldest daughters, love him forever.

*Little Children. Kate Winslet at her best (and I saw this pretty soon after seeing the abomination that is The Holiday), playing a woman unhappy and stifled in her suburban surroundings and her role as a mother to a child she doesn’t feel she knows or cares for as she “should.” After discovering her somewhat older, inattentive husband is having a strange virtual affair online, she starts up an affair of her own with the neighborhood hottie played by the scrumptious Patrick Wilson (Google Image search him and tell me who could blame her). They both feel estranged from their respective spouses (he because his ambitious and successful wife doesn’t understand his lack of these qualities and is always on his back about studying for the bar exam, a test he has already failed numerous times). They get together for play dates for their children and themselves (if you know what I mean…wink wink), feel alive again, fall in love, and make plans (I won’t tell you how those turn out). I also shouldn't fail to mention the disturbing sub-plot centered around Ronnie McGorvey, the known pedophile who’s moved into the neighborhood to live with his mother, causing a wave of hysterical, indignant fear among the parents living there, and who plays a central role in the climax (anti-climax?) of the film. Side note of trivia: Patrick Wilson is from Norfolk, VA, and both he and Kate Winslet starred in two of my least favorite movies ever--however, they really do a lot to redeem themselves here.

*Juno. I just saw this on Christmas day after many weeks of dying to, and let me tell you: it was worth the wait. It tells the story of a 16-year old girl who accidentally becomes pregnant after having sex with her best friend one night because she [claims she] was bored. Luckily, she has the most understanding parents in the entire world who do not make a big fuss over the unfortunate situation and she has the coolest head ever, and decides quite easily to give the baby up for adoption to a nice-looking couple she finds in the local penny-saver. It is so easy to overlook the fact that it really is all a little too easy for this pregnant high school student because the movie is so funny, and it’s a smart kind of humor. Also, the soundtrack is perfect.

*Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. I pretty much love musicals and adore anything Tim Burton does, so of course a movie that puts these two things together would make the list. It is everything that Tim Burton represents: dark, over-the-top, Gothic (not goth), kind of creepy, and very stimulating for the senses (the way he combines the visual aspects of scenery, costumes, and make-up with the aural aspects of everything from the accents he gives his characters and the music he chooses to support his films is one of the reasons I love Tim Burton’s movies). Johnny Depp was absolutely amazing as Todd, the seriously wronged and seriously vengeful barber who returns to London after escaping from prison where he was incarcerated for a crime he didn’t commit and finds his wife and daughter gone (wife dead, daughter taken as a ward by the judge who sent him to jail in the hopes of stealing his wife). After an unexpected turn of events, he decides to take up his old trade, kill all the people who come to him for a shave (since they’re all rats anyway), waiting for the day when the judge will come to him for his services and he can kill him, too. It’s a little gruesome, but the gore is so intentionally fake-looking that it’s not hard to watch, and Johnny Depp is a surprisingly good singer (though not so surprisingly for those of us who are his die-hard fans, and who know, know, that he is amazing at absolutely everything).

*Enchanted. This is maybe the cutest movie ever made that isn't associated with Pixar, and it somehow manages to be cute without being annoying or too sugary sweet. It's hilarious and Amy Adams is adorable and lovable as Giselle, the pure-of-heart princess who is transported from her bright, happy world to New York City and has no idea how to get back but isn't scared because she has faith that her Prince Edward will find her and rescue her. It made me wish that people really did break out into song like that...why don't we? Everybody always seems so happy in musicals (except, of course, in Sweeney Todd).

*Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. The first one I saw in theaters. If only for the whole atmosphere and experience of going to see it on opening night in a theater full of working adults, it makes the list.

Almost made the list: Waitress, Knocked Up, Eastern Promises.

Movies I hated: Evening, Love in the Time of Cholera, Hannibal Rising, The Nanny Diaries, Rendition, Bee Movie.

Best I saw on DVD: Once, Harry Potter Years 1-4, Pan’s Labyrinth, The Queen, The Departed, Monster House, Good Night & Good Luck, Ratatouillie.

Merry Christmas!

I hope everyone is having a very happy Christmas! I've updated my playlist with some non-holiday tunes I've been listening to obsessively lately, including a few from Once, some Cardigans, the Cure, Pet Shop Boys, Lennon, Costello, and Hendrix.

A few things I got for Christmas this year:

*All five Harry Potter movies on DVD

*The Abstinence Teacher by Tom Perrotta

*Barnes and Noble gift cards

*Mechanical pencils with apple-scented lead (it's a Japanese thing)

*A pink travel cooler with a nine can capacity (also useful for transporting human organs)

What did you get?

Once

I just finished watching this great movie, Once, and wanted to share why I think it is so wonderful:

*First and foremost is the music. It's billed as a musical, but it's definitely not your typical Grease, Hairspray, or Rent kind of musical. The songs are Damien Rice-esque, so beautiful, full of emotion and melodies that soar (I don't even care how corny and cliche that sounds, it's really true sometimes). The music is like another character, it drives the movie, but it doesn't seem inappropriate or unnecessary at any time. The songs stand on their own, completely independent of the film, so if nothing else, check out the soundtrack. Some of them are almost painful to listen to if you've ever had your heart broken, but they're just so gorgeous that it's impossible not to listen to them over and over...slowly falling into a deep pit of despair...but still swaying to the melody...oh, it's so good.

*Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova. They play the guy and girl in the movie (they really don't have names, so I didn't just forget them), and they're both just amazing. I immediately wanted to marry him, and I am not ashamed of the fact that this is about 98% because of the guitar and his voice...and, of course, the songs he creates. She has a beautiful voice, and the two songs her character writes and provides lead vocals for in the movie are the most haunting of the whole soundtrack. Another thing that makes them both even more amazing is that they actually wrote all of the songs they sang in the film.

*The movie itself was also very good. It's a story about a week spent by two strangers who meet on the street when he's playing a song he wrote and she stops to listen--they play his music together, write more, and record the songs for him to take to London. It could be a little slow at times, but it had little funny moments, sweet moments, and they didn't fuck it up by having a perfect, completely unrealistic ending. Obviously, the best part about this movie was, for me, the music. Seriously, at least listen to a few of the songs ("Falling Slowly," "The Hill," "When Your Mind's Made Up," and "Say It to Me Now" in particular).

That's all.

Happiness is...

*Season 2 of Big Love on DVD. No matter how busy I was with studying for my law final, writing the two papers that are due in the next two days, and taking my take-home Budget final, I still managed to set aside three hours a day for four days this last week to watch (perhaps a little obsessively) this wonderful show about the screwy Henrickson family. Of course I'm sure most of you know that they're a polygamist family living in suburbia, but do you have any idea of the kind of drama that goes down in their world? It's bad enough having to hide your lifestyle from the rest of the world, but to have two crazy-dangerous polygamist cults coming after you would be the kick in the pants it would take me, if I were the first wife (or the third...the second is out of her mind), to get the hell out. Rent it if you haven't seen it--it's very well-written, original, and you really start to care about and even identify with at least some of the characters.

*Being done with classes. Today I finished writing my last paper of the semester and then took my last final. This means I am a little closer to graduating and to whatever will come after graduation. Unfortunately, I only have until January 7th before I have to go back for stupid law classes.

*Book shopping. A friend and I have a two-person book club and every month we go to Barnes and Noble and walk around the shelves picking out our new book. This can take upwards of two hours, but it is always two hours well-spent. This month's book is The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay by Michael Chabon. Friday night we went shopping for January's book and decided on Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer. I also threw in Nocturne by John Connolly and Gone With the Wind by Margaret Mitchell just because I have very poor self-control.

W&M's new logo

The College of William and Mary has adopted a new logo after some big controversy erupted over the use of the feathers in the old one to signify us as "the Tribe." The logo was changed in the spirit of political correctness from this:
To this:
I didn't really have a problem with the feathers, but I understand the argument from those who do. I also understand that people hate the new logo, and why, but one of the reasons people keep harping on for why it sucks in, for example, a Facebook group called "Students Against the New W&M Logo," is the fact that the M in the new logo is just an upside down W. Now maybe it's just me, but isn't it obvious to anyone else that the M in the old logo is also just an upside down W? The new logo is ugly and boring, but at least get your argument straight if you want it to change.

My cute lil' addict

Today my dad and I took my dog Honey to the vet for her annual check-up. She was very excited to go somewhere new (she doesn’t have the memory capacity to remember that she’s actually been there before), and wasn’t even fazed when, upon walking through the door, a friendly-looking black lab tried to bite her face off--how rude. One of the concerns we have that we brought up with the vet is that Honey has this habit of licking spots on each or her front paws until those spots are completely raw--we thought maybe they were hot spots at first, but she kept doing it, so we thought maybe she had a skin disorder or an allergy. The vet assured us that it's nothing as serious as that. Apparently, these are called lick granulomas--a dog can become obsessed with licking their paws because doing so leads to the release of endorphins, resulting in a sort of addiction to paw-licking. So...my dog likes to get high.

(She was a little scared of the camera)

She's also 15 pounds overweight and we have to put her on a diet. Poor puppy has had such a hard day.

Listography

Last night a very good friend gave me a very good Christmas present (my first of the year!). As those of you who read my blog know, I love making lists. So, she bought me a book/journal called Listography: Your Life in Lists which gives pages with topic headings, like "Your Favorite Films", "Places You've Lived", "Your Character Flaws", etc. It's perfect. I've decided to share one of the lists with you: Professions I would like to have:

*Reviewer of:
i. Amusement park rides--There couldn't possibly be a more fun job in the world. Sure, maybe you'd get sick of riding the rides after a while, but that's when you move onto a new job.
ii. Movies--Get paid to see all the new movies and bash the ones I hate in national publications? Awesome. I will kill your career Cameron Diaz.
iii. Fancy hotels--I'd get to travel and be pampered (and, of course, feared) for a living.

*Caretaker of:
i. Red pandas--On "Growing up Red Panda", they showed how if you put your fingers in the paws of baby red pandas, they grab on like human babies, and you can lift them in the air without them letting go. It was the cutest thing in the world, and I want to experience it.


ii. Polar bears--After Knut made headlines earlier this year, I wanted to get a polar bear of my own. It would probably be better if I just worked at a zoo and cared for one there instead of bringing one home...they get pretty big...and predatory.

iii. Baby elephants--They're just adorable. They may slightly resemble little old men, but I would love to cradle a sad little baby elephant and sing him to sleep with "Baby Mine."

*Publisher--I would love to get to pick what books get to be published, get to read the next great story before anyone else in the world, and give up and coming writers the chance to be heard.

*Biographer--I think this would just be an interesting job, and I'd get to become the authority on historical figures that fascinate me.

*Travel writer--Again, I'd get to travel everywhere in the world and write about it. It'd be a lot of fun and a lot of people would be really jealous that I got to do that for a living--always a plus.

Please Christmas don't be late

*Here is my scrawny little Christmas tree that I keep in my room:

I put it up yesterday while listening to Christmas music and just generally getting in the Christmas spirit. I couldn't get a good picture of the tree that showed the star on top, but that's OK since I can't seem to get the star to stand up straight. It's all very Charlie Brown's Christmas. This is my favorite new ornament from the Disney Store:

It's Cinderella's glass slipper!

*For your benefit, "Happy Xmas (War is Over)" by John Lennon and "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't be Late)" by Alvin and the Chipmunks have been added to my playlist. What year was that song written that Alvin so desperately wants a hula hoop? Oh, Wikipedia informs me that it was recorded in 1958, pre-Chipmunks cartoons. That explains it.

*All the classic holiday commercials are coming on TV now, my favorite of course being the Coca Cola one with the polar bears and penguins dancing to "Little St. Nick" by the Beach Boys. It warms my heart. Also, ABC Family is now in its "25 Days of Christmas" mode which means shitty holiday TV movies, but also means that Harry Potter movies come on just about everyday of the week now. It's nice.