School, Globes, and Film. OHMY!

This week has been a little crazy for me. With school, work, and public humiliation(I'm not gonna tell you what I'm talking about. Humiliation isn't suppose to be public lol) , I haven't had much time to watch movies. That's right, I set a goal and already I'm behind. MIND YOU: once I get the hang of this whole movie thing I'm gonna plow through it. So, this blog is gonna be in three parts.



PART ONE: School

That's right folks, we're back at school. The holidays are over. No more presents and senseless drinking. Back to books, putting off homework, and sitting through lectures. I'm going part time right now because I can't really afford to go full time, and that means I'm taking three classes.

• My first class is American Literature 1865 to present. I'm pretty excited about this class, and the teacher. Even though he made us all do a lame "get to know each other" exercise, I forgave him the minute he made a Seinfeld reference. His passion for the subject is apparent too. I've only been to his class twice, so I might eat my words later, but for now I like him and the subject.


• My second class is Journalism 2: I'm a journalism major, so I was looking forward to this class. Sadly, I'm not digging it so far. It's not as well structured as the school paper I worked on in California, and we're being taught via web cam. That sounds cool, but it really isn't. I want so badly to like this class, and I hope it gets better. Maybe we just had a bad first week.


• And my last class is sociology. This class is a once a week class, so I've had it once so far. But the teacher is pretty outspoken and energetic. I can tell this isn't going to be boring, and I'm looking forward to thoughtful and passionate discussions.

PART TWO: Golden Globes
Things I liked:

• Ricky Gervais, you lovely man. You were hilarious, adorable, and entertaining. I have to admit, right before the Golden Globes I was a bit nervous for Ricky. Not because I thought he'd tank, but because I knew he wouldn't hold back. He didn't disappoint. From his hilarious introductions, to his on going self promotion. Pitch perfect. Love that British man. "Let's get on with it, before NBC replaces me with Jay Leno."
• Michael C. Hall's win. Anyone who says the man won because he has cancer needs to either a. not tell me that or b. tell me that and...get out of my life! haha He didn't announce his cancer until very late last week, and I'm pretty sure that the awards had already been decided before he came out with that announcement. He's a lovely man, and a great actor. No, I haven't watched Dexter yet. But SFU was amazing, so I like him. I have no doubt he earned the award he got.
• Meryl Streep's acceptance speech. The lady is classy. That's all I've gotta say.
• Christoph Waltz winning for best supporting actor. He stole every scene he was in, and made a character that was horrible...sort of likable? I guess likable isn't a great word, but I liked him in the movie and I'm glad he won.
• GLEE! 'nough said

Things I didn't like:

• How little we actually saw Ricky Gervais. I'm pretty sure we saw him for all of 20 minutes. MORE RICKY!
• The set up and stage was ridiculous! It made me laugh so much. I think the actors/actress's had to elbow a few people to get to where they needed to be.
• Quentin Tarantino not winning ANYTHING!
• Sandra Bullock?!
• And anything Avatar won. I'm sorry. I didn't see the movie. And I'm not saying it is bad. I'm sure it was entertaining. But...I mean...COME ON! Avatar was better than Hurt Locker, AND Inglorious Basterds. I'm pretty sure that's not true. I miss the days when James Cameron made movies that were meaningful and well crafted. It's like his budget kept growing, so his ambition changed from storytelling to graphics. The movie won because it used technology and computer graphics in a way that hadn't been used before. I'm more of a story person, and I'm pretty sure this story was predictable. End of rant.

PART THREE: The Lovely Bones

Before the globes I went to the movies. I haven't been since I saw Up in the Air, and I was dying to see something. And I chose Lovely Bones. This is a film adaptation of a novel written by Alice Sebold. It's directed by Peter Jackson, and staring Saoirse Ronan as Susie Salmon. Mark Wahlberg as Jack Salmon. Rachel Weisz as Abigail Salmon. Susan Sarandon as the grandmother, and Stanley Tucci as George Harvey. It's the story of a girls murder, her attempts at helping her dad catch her murderer from beyond the grave, and her family and friends attempt to move on.

Let me just say right now, Tucci is pretty fantastically creepy. His portrayal as Mr.Harvey was chilling, and great to watch. In my opinion, Tucci and Ronan made this movie. I'd never heard of Saoirse Ronan before, but I'm pretty sure she has a good career in front of her. She was adorable, heartbreaking, sweet, and innocent. The other actors were all good, but faded in the background whenever they were on screen with either of these two. Solid performances, good story telling, and great music. I give this movie a 8/10. Go check it out.

Movies this year: 2 (pathetic.)