Shopping makes me more exhausted than any other kind of exercise.
That is all.
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
One Final Left
In 24 hours I will be totally done with the semester! Hooray!
In actuality, it's less than 24 hours. Technically it'll be about 16, since I'm done by 4pm tomorrow. But saying that it's 24 hours gives it a nice ring to it, don't you think?
Anyway, just finished watching NBC's The Sing-Off, featuring "The Socals," aka alumni of the Socal Vocals. It was rather surreal, watching them sing their classic "Somebody to Love," because I've seen it a good number of times now and I know (by face, not personally) a few of the members. It's awesome though, seeing USC a cappella on the television! They better win. I bet they'll do well, they're from such a good group that they HAVE to do well!! And even though I'm not actually in Socal Vocals and I don't know any of them well, I'm kind of proud of them! YAY USC A CAPPELLA!!! I guarantee that's what I'm watching tomorrow night. =)
In other news, I finally finished all my work for my Chinese class. I finished the online speaking, reading and listening exercises yesterday, and today just had to record a video on Youtube/Facebook of me speaking 50 lines in Chinese--no reading. We got to do whatever we wanted though. I had no idea what to talk about for 50 lines, let alone memorize! But then I had the oh-so-brilliant (hah) idea for a puppet show, starring--you guessed it--my lovely stuffed animals Steak and Bacon!
Steak was renamed "Little Purple" and Bacon's his love interest, "Little Red." I wrote up a silly script, forced in some grammar and ta da! Created the video. No reading necessary! And the cool part was that some of my classmates made comments:
This made me happy. My Chinese usually sucks because I have no idea what I'm saying. But by forcing myself to rehearse this little story of Little Purple and Little Red, I actually had a tiny idea what I was talking about! Hooray!
The other comment:
Silly stuff, but hey, it made me happy. The fact that anyone actually watched it other than my teacher, and didn't think it was RIDICULOUSLY stupid (just mostly stupid, hehe!) makes me smile. And yes, I did make mistakes--I think I said they danced for two years instead of two hours--but so be it!
Time to reread Uncle Vanya again. Last chance to reread it before the final tomorrow! And then... I'M DONE!!! YAY!
In actuality, it's less than 24 hours. Technically it'll be about 16, since I'm done by 4pm tomorrow. But saying that it's 24 hours gives it a nice ring to it, don't you think?
Anyway, just finished watching NBC's The Sing-Off, featuring "The Socals," aka alumni of the Socal Vocals. It was rather surreal, watching them sing their classic "Somebody to Love," because I've seen it a good number of times now and I know (by face, not personally) a few of the members. It's awesome though, seeing USC a cappella on the television! They better win. I bet they'll do well, they're from such a good group that they HAVE to do well!! And even though I'm not actually in Socal Vocals and I don't know any of them well, I'm kind of proud of them! YAY USC A CAPPELLA!!! I guarantee that's what I'm watching tomorrow night. =)
In other news, I finally finished all my work for my Chinese class. I finished the online speaking, reading and listening exercises yesterday, and today just had to record a video on Youtube/Facebook of me speaking 50 lines in Chinese--no reading. We got to do whatever we wanted though. I had no idea what to talk about for 50 lines, let alone memorize! But then I had the oh-so-brilliant (hah) idea for a puppet show, starring--you guessed it--my lovely stuffed animals Steak and Bacon!
Steak was renamed "Little Purple" and Bacon's his love interest, "Little Red." I wrote up a silly script, forced in some grammar and ta da! Created the video. No reading necessary! And the cool part was that some of my classmates made comments:
yayy katherine! have you been using your chinesee during finals?! haha it sounds really good. :)
This made me happy. My Chinese usually sucks because I have no idea what I'm saying. But by forcing myself to rehearse this little story of Little Purple and Little Red, I actually had a tiny idea what I was talking about! Hooray!
The other comment:
hahaha! i love it!
Silly stuff, but hey, it made me happy. The fact that anyone actually watched it other than my teacher, and didn't think it was RIDICULOUSLY stupid (just mostly stupid, hehe!) makes me smile. And yes, I did make mistakes--I think I said they danced for two years instead of two hours--but so be it!
Time to reread Uncle Vanya again. Last chance to reread it before the final tomorrow! And then... I'M DONE!!! YAY!
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
The Lovely Bones review
So last night I went with my friend Sarah to see a free screening of "The Lovely Bones." I got the tickets off a Facebook "free movie screenings in LA" group. The email from Facebook said that the first 50 people to respond would get 2 free tickets. They sent it at 2:52. I read it at 2:53. So I responded and got the tickets! Hooray Facebook! Hooray freebies!
I admit, I haven't actually read the book (I think I started it once, borrowing it from the library, but I think I thought it was too depressing and never finished it), so I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into. I knew the basic premise (and if you don't want to know the basic premise, I suggest stopping here)--that a girl dies and the story is told by the ghost--but that's all I knew. So we went in pretty much blind.
Left USC 2 hours early for the movie in Burbank. It actually was right in that shopping mall that I went to with Mom! Got there in an hour, took forever to find the parking (though it was free, which was a perk. Free parking in Los Angeles never happens!) and got in line. There was already a big line wrapped all the way around the movie theater, probably about 100 people or so. Sarah grabbed us some pizza (SOOOOO yummy! Though maybe because we were starving. But "Zpizza" has the yummiest crust ever) and we finally got in the theater. I ended up sitting to a couple of college girls from LMU. We didn't know any of the same people, unfortunately.
We heard a big spiel from various librarians in the Los Angeles area about going to the libraries and family bonding. It was not that exciting. There were also some freebies given out to those screamed the loudest. I didn't scream. One of the freebies was a T-shirt. Had I known it was a Mary Poppins (not Lovely Bones... Mary Poppins) shirt I might have actually screamed. Maybe.
No previews! That was cool.
The movie itself was very well done. It wasn't sad, per se, though it wasn't particularly uplifting either. It had a melancholy mood about it. Because it's narrated by the ghost, I always felt a bit of a separation from the surviving family members, which is a good thing. I discussed this with Sarah, and we both agree it was the best way to create the movie. (Neither of us have read the book though, so I have no idea how it compares to the original.) Had we fallen into the emotions of the family, it would have become a sad melodrama, and the ending wouldn't have had the same impact. It'd be too hard to go from the complete despair of losing a loved one to having any possible happy ending. Not to say that this movie had a happy ending, exactly. It's more about the process and the journey these people went through.
Regardless, because the story is told through the ghost, it became a bit of a commentary on this journey. I want to say there's some connection to something we talked about in Paul Backer's class last year--Brechtian theater? Or something? I don't remember. But I wasn't living the lives of the family, I was definitely an observer. Just like the ghost-girl.
It was also interesting how they dealt with heaven and the "in-between." Interesting, in that they didn't delve into it. Not knowing much about religion myself, I'm not sure what else they could have done. But what they did, I thought was smart and beautiful.
I did tear up once, though. And I usually don't cry at movies. And there were moments when the audience actually started clapping, and then moments when they talked to the screen. It made me happy. There were also some little bits of humor during the really dark scenes, which made the mood a bit lighter. I definitely appreciated that bit of lightness, as a change from the overall dark feel of the film. And when I walked out, I felt like there was a weight on my chest. It's still there, actually.
Overall? I think this movie is worth seeing. The acting was really good, especially the creeeeeeeeeeepy old man--Stanley Tucci. I get shudders just thinking about his character. Yet he's the same guy who played the assistant in The Devil Wears Prada. It's amazing what actors can do; I didn't even recognize him! I only know that because it says so on IMDB. His IMBD page is actually ridiculous, he's apparently been in everything.
Anyway, that was my night last night. Much better than studying for the 2 finals I had today (philosophy and singing for experimentals). Gotta love LA--where else can you just go and see a random free screening? I want to get out and enjoy Los Angeles more, which is why I decided to randomly get tickets for this movie. I'm glad I did though.
Now time for something a little lighter. 5 minutes until Glee begins! So... good night!
I admit, I haven't actually read the book (I think I started it once, borrowing it from the library, but I think I thought it was too depressing and never finished it), so I didn't know exactly what I was getting myself into. I knew the basic premise (and if you don't want to know the basic premise, I suggest stopping here)--that a girl dies and the story is told by the ghost--but that's all I knew. So we went in pretty much blind.
Left USC 2 hours early for the movie in Burbank. It actually was right in that shopping mall that I went to with Mom! Got there in an hour, took forever to find the parking (though it was free, which was a perk. Free parking in Los Angeles never happens!) and got in line. There was already a big line wrapped all the way around the movie theater, probably about 100 people or so. Sarah grabbed us some pizza (SOOOOO yummy! Though maybe because we were starving. But "Zpizza" has the yummiest crust ever) and we finally got in the theater. I ended up sitting to a couple of college girls from LMU. We didn't know any of the same people, unfortunately.
We heard a big spiel from various librarians in the Los Angeles area about going to the libraries and family bonding. It was not that exciting. There were also some freebies given out to those screamed the loudest. I didn't scream. One of the freebies was a T-shirt. Had I known it was a Mary Poppins (not Lovely Bones... Mary Poppins) shirt I might have actually screamed. Maybe.
No previews! That was cool.
The movie itself was very well done. It wasn't sad, per se, though it wasn't particularly uplifting either. It had a melancholy mood about it. Because it's narrated by the ghost, I always felt a bit of a separation from the surviving family members, which is a good thing. I discussed this with Sarah, and we both agree it was the best way to create the movie. (Neither of us have read the book though, so I have no idea how it compares to the original.) Had we fallen into the emotions of the family, it would have become a sad melodrama, and the ending wouldn't have had the same impact. It'd be too hard to go from the complete despair of losing a loved one to having any possible happy ending. Not to say that this movie had a happy ending, exactly. It's more about the process and the journey these people went through.
Regardless, because the story is told through the ghost, it became a bit of a commentary on this journey. I want to say there's some connection to something we talked about in Paul Backer's class last year--Brechtian theater? Or something? I don't remember. But I wasn't living the lives of the family, I was definitely an observer. Just like the ghost-girl.
It was also interesting how they dealt with heaven and the "in-between." Interesting, in that they didn't delve into it. Not knowing much about religion myself, I'm not sure what else they could have done. But what they did, I thought was smart and beautiful.
I did tear up once, though. And I usually don't cry at movies. And there were moments when the audience actually started clapping, and then moments when they talked to the screen. It made me happy. There were also some little bits of humor during the really dark scenes, which made the mood a bit lighter. I definitely appreciated that bit of lightness, as a change from the overall dark feel of the film. And when I walked out, I felt like there was a weight on my chest. It's still there, actually.
Overall? I think this movie is worth seeing. The acting was really good, especially the creeeeeeeeeeepy old man--Stanley Tucci. I get shudders just thinking about his character. Yet he's the same guy who played the assistant in The Devil Wears Prada. It's amazing what actors can do; I didn't even recognize him! I only know that because it says so on IMDB. His IMBD page is actually ridiculous, he's apparently been in everything.
Anyway, that was my night last night. Much better than studying for the 2 finals I had today (philosophy and singing for experimentals). Gotta love LA--where else can you just go and see a random free screening? I want to get out and enjoy Los Angeles more, which is why I decided to randomly get tickets for this movie. I'm glad I did though.
Now time for something a little lighter. 5 minutes until Glee begins! So... good night!
Monday, December 7, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)