"If I knew things would no longer be, I would have tried to remember them better"

This is most definitely not the "Year of Me," as I had hoped it would be in January.

For those of you who read this and do not know me personally, my father passed away last week after being diagnosed with lung cancer only two and a half weeks previously. It has been a hard couple of weeks and is bound to get harder, but my family is doing the best that we can, especially considering that my brother is getting married next weekend. I am devastated, but I actually do not think that it has fully hit me yet. I am not sure when it will, but until then, I have been trying to keep myself as distracted as possible.

Since I went through all of Grey's Anatomy while my friend was in the ICU a few months ago, I have been using Gilmore Girls for this crisis. Seasons one and two over the course of three weeks (not including the first season's Christmas episode, for obvious reasons to those who watched the show). I have been watching all my current TV shows, along with a few movies here and there and I have been getting the show Deadwood from Netflix.

As you can see, I am not flying through Gilmore Girls like I did with Grey's Anatomy. Mostly because ABC Family reruns the episodes every day, so it has not been as long since I have seen them all. My mother usually makes fun of me for watching things over and over. "Haven't you seen this?!" But if I really like something, then why wouldn't I want to watch it again. Plus, she is just as guilty with NCIS, all Pirates of the Caribbean and Harry Potter movies, Shakespeare in Love and Gosford Park. Clearly, it is genetic. The craziness must increase exponentially with each generation, which means my future children are in big trouble :o)

Deadwood is a show that I really wish I had watched when it was on the air because it is awesome. It is set in the town of Deadwood, South Dakota during the gold rush in 1876. I am only through the first season so far, but Season 2 Disc 1 comes in the mail today and I CANNOT wait :o) The entire cast is phenomenal, especially Timothy Olyphant and Ian McShane.

I was not planning to watch A Perfect Getaway because it looked like a scary movie, and as we all remember, I do not do scary. However, in my efforts to see more of Timothy Olyphant, I decided to risk it and was actually pleasantly surprised. It turned out to be more of a thriller than a scary movie, which I can handle, and was not as awful as I thought it would be. My only real complaint about this movie is that Steve Zahn was not quite his normal funny-self. I would not say that it is a fantastic movie, but it was entertaining enough that I watched it twice. If only because once you know how it ends, you pick up on all the little clues and "red snappers" that you did not notice the first time through.

I also got Avatar on blu-ray the other day and rewatched it. I have to say, as amazing as it was in 3-D, I am just as satisfied with the 2-D version. I am already so over the 3-D thing and unfortunately, the madness is just beginning.

Anyways, I thought I would keep this relatively short since my last couple posts have been pretty long.

As a side note to the beginning of this posting, if you are reading this and are not a personal friend, please say hi in the comments section! I would love to know who is actually paying attention to my rantings and not just doing it out of friendship to me :o)

xoxo
c
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"Every story has an end. But in life, every ending is just a new beginning."

Happy 2010!

I am hoping that this year will be the Year of Me :o) I have not exactly figured out what that means yet, but I am working on it and will let you know how it goes.

Now, back to business...

Always a sucker for anything vampire related, I have watched all three Blade movies. I enjoyed the first one, although the special effects and storyline left something to be desired. The second one had slightly better special effects, but still a very thin plot. It was, however, fun to watch Wesley Snipes kick some vampire ass. In the last one, Ryan Reynolds brought the funny and some hotness, which made up for the fact that there probably never should have been a sequel, let alone a third.

Apocalypse Now was a little disturbing but very well done. I only watched the 1979 version because the 2001 version was an extra hour longer and the reviews I read said the original was better. I cannot even imagine what it was like to shoot this movie. It was supposed to take six weeks to shoot and ended up taking sixteen MONTHS, in part due to a typhoon that destroyed the sets. It also took three years for them to edit it because they had almost 200 HOURS of footage. Apparently the shooting of the movie was very intense for the actors, and it definitely comes across on screen and in their performances. It is not something I am going to watch more than once, but it is definitely a movie that everyone should see at some point in their life.

Continuing down my list of nominated films, I saw The Young Victoria and Avatar this week.

The Young Victoria was excellent. The beginning jumped around a little bit so it was confusing trying to figure out who was whom, but then it settled down and was much easier to follow. Though, at some point, I feel like I need to have a British Royalty movie marathon because they have been made (and thus, watched) out of order and I get the genealogies all confused. Emily Blunt was excellent as the young queen and I even learned a few things :o) For instance, she was the first monarch to live in Buckingham Palace. I never knew that. While Victoria was slightly naive when she took the thrown at the age of 18, she was also a strong and clever leader. Blunt plays this character beautifully and deserves all the praise she has received.

Now on to Avatar...

First of all, 3-D glasses were not made for people who already wear glasses. I think someone needs to get on that, pronto. That being said, the movie completely blew my mind! The story was predictable but still very moving and the special effects were spectacular. Even if you are not someone who usually gets excited about science fiction, you NEED to see this movie just for the experience. It is not even something that I can describe to you in a way that will make you understand, you really just need to see it for yourself.

I was also planning to watch Up this week, but unfortunately, when I received it from Netflix there was a tiny crack in the disc. So I have sent it back and will get a replacement disc in the next couple of days.

My television shows are starting to come back, so the movie watching will slow back down to its normal pace over the next couple of weeks :o) I am very much looking forward to new NCIS, Castle, Accidentally on Purpose, Greek and The Vampire Diaries.

However, tonight I take a break from movies and television and enjoy some live entertainment in the form of Wicked! I know, you are jealous :o)

Until next time...

xoxo
c