Well, I haven't blogged since the 4th of July. Obviously a lot has happened since then: school started up, Katie had a birthday, Liam had a birthday, Evie had a birthday, I had a birthday (it's amazing I don't weigh 300lbs just from all the cake that's consumed over here in a 3 month period,) Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year! Phew. Blog backlog. I'll put it all on here eventually.
But todays posting is about goals.
I had a few for 2014.
Have more quality quiet time (this I could have done better at. But I got more QT with the Lord than I have years past)
Lose 30lbs (umm, yeah. I lost 3. It was all the birthday cake.)
Make stuff (I started a TON of projects and didn't finish any of them. Not how I usually roll.)
Blog more (I did well till July!)
Watch more movies and read more books (this I accomplished and it's probably why I didn't finish my craft projects and so yeah, lose more weight. Too much sitting.)
Most everyone knows that I love to watch movies, but folks may not know that I equally love a good book. Now that the kids are older, gone at school and Finn naps like a champ, I have more time to read.
I became good friends with the library here. I took full advantage of the holds system and the only book I had to wait a looong time for was "A Fault In Our Stars" which originally popped up saying I'd have a 54 week wait. Luckily people read faster than anticipated and it was only a few months till it was up for grabs. (And then I finished it in a day and wondered what all the fuss was about. I was not impressed.)
All said and done my eyes got a workout in 2014, scanning 15,185 pages. 30 books total. 28 fiction or autobiographies I've never read, one devotional, and one re-read.
Oh and I watched 14 movies I've not seen before.
I've written a list of all the books and movies down below and I've added a short review to almost all of them. Scan it and see if there's anything you should put on your "to see or read" list.
Books
Series-
The Giver
Gathering Blue
Messenger
Son
So good! I had the movie on my watch list, so I thought I'd read all of the books first. Make sure you read this series in order!
Series-
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children
Hollow City
These 2 books are weird. They are young adult (YA) and we're recommended by the children's librarian. They have REAL freaky vintage pictures in them that the author used to write his totally fictional story around.
Series-
The Maze Runner
Scorch Trials
Death Cure
Kill Order
The Maze Runner was made into a movie this year, so again, I read the entire series first. I wasted my time on the last book. It was a prequel and just one violent story after another, and didn't really add much to the first 3 books.
Series-
Outlander
Dragonfly in Amber
Voyager
Drums of Autumn
The Fiery Cross
A Breath of Snow and Ashes
An Echo in the Bone
Written in My Own Hearts Blood
If you like time traveling, fictional historical romance novels - this is THE series for you! I read all 8 books, 7,712 pages in about 2 months. If you DON'T like time traveling, fictional, historical, or romance novels, this is so NOT the series for you.
Individual Books
The Mortal Instruments: City of Heavenly Fire
(this one is apart of a series, it's the last one, I read the others in 2013. It's YA and ok.)
Gone Girl
Dark Places
(both books written by Gillian Flynn and they made me want to throw up. Wish I had a do over and made them a do not. I did not see Gone Girl and have no plans to see Dark Places when it comes out.)
A Prayer for Owen Meany - there are no words for me to describe this book
The Outsiders- cried my eyes out
Tuck Everlasting- one of my favorite movies and a quick, easy read.
The Fault In Our Stars- ehhh
P.S. I Love You- good movie, book is totally different
Unbroken- biography of Louis Zamperini and the best book I have a read in a long time. Get your tissue box ready and be prepared to be inspired! A must read. (I've not seen the movie yet. Not sure I want to ruin the book experience.)
Rocket Boys- biography of Homer Hickam and friends. The movie October Sky is on my favorites list and this is the book it's based off of. Couldn't put it down!
Creative Counterpart- the lone devotional
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows- my re-read
Movies
Some of these came out in 2013, but I didn't see them till 2014
HER- trippy and I would just love to meet Joaquin Phoenix someday
Winter's Tale- ummm, I liked it. I like odd things and I cannot lie.
Emperor- this came on when we had a free Starz weekend. It was good, very sad, kinda slow.
Stories We Tell- again thanks to free Starz I saw all but the last 30 minutes of this. I feel no urgent need to finish it.
American Hustle- Jennifer Lawrence did not deserve an Oscar nom for this.
Crazy, Stupid, Love- what would I do without free Starz weekends?
X-Men: Days of Future Past- I liked it! My husband is a walking comic book encyclopedia. So I've seen allll the movies about allll the mutant/superhero/iron/godlike men.
The Hunger Games: Catching Fire
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt.1
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day- saw it for E's birthday, super cute!
Maleficent- not bad!
The Maze Runner- good book to movie adaptation
The Giver- another good book to movie adaptation, I wasn't sure if I would like the changes they made, but I did and needed tissues at the end - you really should read the book before you see the movie. It'll make more sense.
Interstellar- this I loved. Bring kleenex. And just let go of all your science-y opinions and enjoy the ride. It is make believe after all folks.
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Showing posts with label movies. Show all posts
Friday, January 2, 2015
Monday, March 3, 2014
oscar follow up
Every year once the Oscar telecast is over, I say, "Self, you really must do something else worthwhile with your time."
Then 12 months later here I am blogging my predictions on a Sunday afternoon.
However, I've come to the conclusion that when I am choosing my potential winners in the various Oscar categories, if I write: "watch for ______ to possibly nab this" or "though it could be ______" and "______ would be my 2nd choice" - then whatever "blank" is, that is who I should be listing to take top prize. Not the other film I've actually put in the winners seat. Because if I'd done that last night I would have gotten 22 out of 24 categories correct. Not 18. 18 is nothing to sneeze at, but last year it was 20 and I really hate to go backwards.
Costume/Production Design
The Costume Designers Guild awards in 3 categories: contemporary, period and fantasy film. Usually the period film goes on to win the Academy award. The CDG period film winner was 12 Years a Slave. The Great Gatsby won the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) in both costume and production design. It also had "period" costumes and Catherine Martin is a previous Oscar winner. I should have known better.
Animated Short Film
I know nothing about these movies other than Get a Horse! was the short film before Frozen. I picked it based on Frozen's popularity.
Live Action Short
Again, just randomly guessing here. After reading some about the films I picked The Voorman Problem as it was the only one not in subtitles. And people seem to not like films with subtitles.
Documentary Feature
I haven't seen any of these films. The other Oscar blogs I read from people who get paid for it, split this up between The Act of Killing, The Square and 20 Feet from Stardom. 20 Feet from Stardom was my gut reaction. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Foreign Language Film
The Great Beauty won the BAFTA and some other awards. But I also read that people thought it was boring and had been done before. Never listen to "people." Go with the awards. This was another gut reaction I should have stuck with.
Another trend I noticed last night in these particular categories were winners who had previously won or at least been nominated before, some of them quite a few times. It's something to remember to check up on next year...
Then 12 months later here I am blogging my predictions on a Sunday afternoon.
However, I've come to the conclusion that when I am choosing my potential winners in the various Oscar categories, if I write: "watch for ______ to possibly nab this" or "though it could be ______" and "______ would be my 2nd choice" - then whatever "blank" is, that is who I should be listing to take top prize. Not the other film I've actually put in the winners seat. Because if I'd done that last night I would have gotten 22 out of 24 categories correct. Not 18. 18 is nothing to sneeze at, but last year it was 20 and I really hate to go backwards.
Costume/Production Design
The Costume Designers Guild awards in 3 categories: contemporary, period and fantasy film. Usually the period film goes on to win the Academy award. The CDG period film winner was 12 Years a Slave. The Great Gatsby won the BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) in both costume and production design. It also had "period" costumes and Catherine Martin is a previous Oscar winner. I should have known better.
Animated Short Film
I know nothing about these movies other than Get a Horse! was the short film before Frozen. I picked it based on Frozen's popularity.
Live Action Short
Again, just randomly guessing here. After reading some about the films I picked The Voorman Problem as it was the only one not in subtitles. And people seem to not like films with subtitles.
Documentary Feature
I haven't seen any of these films. The other Oscar blogs I read from people who get paid for it, split this up between The Act of Killing, The Square and 20 Feet from Stardom. 20 Feet from Stardom was my gut reaction. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
Foreign Language Film
The Great Beauty won the BAFTA and some other awards. But I also read that people thought it was boring and had been done before. Never listen to "people." Go with the awards. This was another gut reaction I should have stuck with.
Another trend I noticed last night in these particular categories were winners who had previously won or at least been nominated before, some of them quite a few times. It's something to remember to check up on next year...
Sunday, March 2, 2014
oscar predictions
It's that time of year again! Oscar prediction time. I usually do this on my other blog. Yes, I have a second blog. A Chick & Her Flicks doesn't get a whole lot of lovin' though as I have a hard time just keeping up with new nothings.
Since no one ever reads the other blog anyway, I decided to post my Oscar predictions here this year.
The top post over in "other blog land" has all my guesses from last year. You can see what I picked, but I didn't do a follow up with what I missed. I was put out, to say it mildly, that my Outguess Ebert registration didn't go through and that even though I outguessed him - with a perfect score - it didn't count. Since Mr. Ebert sadly passed away in 2013, there is no contest this year. After I initially won, but had to relinquish the prize due to our location in 2011, I had been hoping to possibly win again and this time being able to accept the grand prize.
Even though I didn't see many of last years nominees and waited till just before the ceremony to pick my winners, I still did well, 20 out of 24 correct. As always, I am trying for that perfect score. It's those darn documentary films and live action shorts, etc. that get me. I don't watch them and I read a blog yesterday where a few academy voters had anonymously published their ballots and apparently neither do they. One guy even said he fell asleep during one of the foreign language films. So your guess, is as good as mine in those categories this year.
I'm pretty confident I am right on the money with a few of my choices, but if I wind up being wrong (it's happened many a time before) I'll be sure to report back this week with my reaction.
Please note that instead of typing out, as in previous years, who I think will win and why for every single category and listing all of the nominees... I've just typed up the category and my choice as winner. It's Sunday afternoon and it's raining and I want to take a nap.
Best Picture
12 Years a Slave
Actor in a Leading Role
Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club
Actor in a Supporting Roll
Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club
Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine
Actress in a Supporting Role
Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave
Animated Feature Film
Frozen
Cinematography
Gravity
Costume Design
12 Years a Slave
(watch for The Great Gatsby to possibly nab this)
Directing
Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity
Documentary Feature
The Square
(though it could be The Act of Killing)
Documentary Short Subject
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Film Editing
Gravity
Foreign Language Film
The Hunt
(The Great Beauty would be my 2nd choice)
Makeup and Hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club
Original Score
Gravity
Original Song
"Let it Go" from Frozen
Production Design
Her
(this choice is my biggest risk, watch The Great Gatsby or even American Hustle to win this)
Animated Short Film
Get a Horse!
Live Action Short Film
The Voorman Problem
Sound Editing
Gravity
Sound Mixing
Gravity
Visual Effects
Gravity
(do you see the trend?)
Adapted Screenplay
12 Years a Slave
Original Screenplay
Her
(again, risky guess, could go to American Hustle - with 10 nominations they have to win something... right?)
That's a wrap.
Since no one ever reads the other blog anyway, I decided to post my Oscar predictions here this year.
The top post over in "other blog land" has all my guesses from last year. You can see what I picked, but I didn't do a follow up with what I missed. I was put out, to say it mildly, that my Outguess Ebert registration didn't go through and that even though I outguessed him - with a perfect score - it didn't count. Since Mr. Ebert sadly passed away in 2013, there is no contest this year. After I initially won, but had to relinquish the prize due to our location in 2011, I had been hoping to possibly win again and this time being able to accept the grand prize.
Even though I didn't see many of last years nominees and waited till just before the ceremony to pick my winners, I still did well, 20 out of 24 correct. As always, I am trying for that perfect score. It's those darn documentary films and live action shorts, etc. that get me. I don't watch them and I read a blog yesterday where a few academy voters had anonymously published their ballots and apparently neither do they. One guy even said he fell asleep during one of the foreign language films. So your guess, is as good as mine in those categories this year.
I'm pretty confident I am right on the money with a few of my choices, but if I wind up being wrong (it's happened many a time before) I'll be sure to report back this week with my reaction.
Please note that instead of typing out, as in previous years, who I think will win and why for every single category and listing all of the nominees... I've just typed up the category and my choice as winner. It's Sunday afternoon and it's raining and I want to take a nap.
Best Picture
12 Years a Slave
Actor in a Leading Role
Matthew McConaughey in Dallas Buyers Club
Actor in a Supporting Roll
Jared Leto in Dallas Buyers Club
Actress in a Leading Role
Cate Blanchett in Blue Jasmine
Actress in a Supporting Role
Lupita Nyong'o in 12 Years a Slave
Animated Feature Film
Frozen
Cinematography
Gravity
Costume Design
12 Years a Slave
(watch for The Great Gatsby to possibly nab this)
Directing
Alfonso Cuaron for Gravity
Documentary Feature
The Square
(though it could be The Act of Killing)
Documentary Short Subject
The Lady in Number 6: Music Saved My Life
Film Editing
Gravity
Foreign Language Film
The Hunt
(The Great Beauty would be my 2nd choice)
Makeup and Hairstyling
Dallas Buyers Club
Original Score
Gravity
Original Song
"Let it Go" from Frozen
Production Design
Her
(this choice is my biggest risk, watch The Great Gatsby or even American Hustle to win this)
Animated Short Film
Get a Horse!
Live Action Short Film
The Voorman Problem
Sound Editing
Gravity
Sound Mixing
Gravity
Visual Effects
Gravity
(do you see the trend?)
Adapted Screenplay
12 Years a Slave
Original Screenplay
Her
(again, risky guess, could go to American Hustle - with 10 nominations they have to win something... right?)
That's a wrap.
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