Snowmageddon

Ok, so it's really not THAT bad outside, there's just a lot of snow. It was nice when we had the blizzard the day after Christmas, it was gone by New Years day. These past two storms? not so much. It's not that I don't like snow. I do, it makes everything look pretty. I just don't like plowable amounts of snow. Like, say more than 3 inches at a time. It can come, look nice for a few days, then melt.

It's a pretty slow day at work - I feel like that always happens on snow days. Plans for Spain are starting to fall into place (less than a month!). I'm excited to go to Barcelona, we didn't get to go there when I went with my family in high school. That trip was more of southern Spain; Málaga, Seville, Granada, Toledo and Madrid. I'm hoping that when get to Barcelona we get to see a Barça game - that would be sweet. The only thing is they don't decide if they're going to play Saturday or Sunday until about a week before the game. If the game is on Saturday, we're out of luck, we don't get there til Sunday morning. Hopefully it pans out. Emily asked what I was doing to brush up on my Spanish. Nothing, as of yet, but I'll probably watch some trashy telenovela on Univision.

27

Wednesday was my 27th birthday. I officially entered my late 20's. I don't really know why, but it was a pretty difficult pill to swallow. Maybe part of it is because I look at some of my other friends my age, they're married, own homes (or condos), are having kids, etc. But then I realize that I don't really want any of that, at least not right now. Maybe the owning a condo part, but no thanks with the kids.

Anyways, we went to Sacco's Bowl Haven in Davis for some beer, pizza and, you guessed it, bowling. It was really fun even though I'm an absolutely atrocious bowler. The food was pretty good, but the place was hipster central. Something I can get over? Probably, but my eye-rolls will be audible for the time being.

An explanation

So where have I been the past four months you might ask? I've been busy, not quite feeling myself, and sadly, the blog has suffered as a result. The past week at work has been painfully slow, so I decided what better time to reacquaint myself with my blog. What have I been up to? Here's a quick month by month rundown:

September
Started off great. Headed west for Labor Day weekend to San Diego to hang out with Brian Gilb and run the Disneyland 1/2 Marathon. Did ok (finished in 2:45) for not really training. The middle of the month brought a devastating blow. George Parks, director of the UMMB and one of the reasons I went to UMass, died suddenly on the way to Michigan. I was shocked and saddened, and was pretty much in a haze my entire trip to Michigan. After the UMMB performed at The Big House, I expected him to jump out of the stands. Sadly, that never happened. The following Monday, I was on my way to work and there was a brief mention of his death on 98.5 and I burst into tears. It wasn't pretty.

October
Oakmont kicked into high gear and we had a competition and I also went with Nick LaPete to NYC to see Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson and American Idiot (yes, for the 3rd time. Billie Joe Armstrong was in it. Couldn't pass it up) the first weekend. The rest of the month was pretty uneventful. Went to a wedding of a friend in Providence which was fun, and Oakmont was crowned USSBA Division III Open New England champions again.

November
Started out the month with a trip to NYC and Annapolis with the Marching Spartans to see The Phantom of the Opera and compete in the USSBA National Championships. was ok, and the band came in 12th in Nationals. Not bad, but they could have done better. Paid a return visit to NYC the following weekend to catch Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice, which was pretty awesome. I was supposed to run in the Philadelphia Half Marathon, but because of my stress injury, that didn't happen. Went to Philly anyways and went to the Eagles/Giants SNF game thanks to Rachel. I don't really like football, but it was cool to go to a game (it was actually my 2nd professional game, saw the Lions/Eagles play when I was in Michigan. I've seen the Eagles more times than I've seen the Patriots). November ended with a great Thanksgiving, and my leg starting to get better.

December
My favorite month of the year - I love the holidays. Decorations, Christmas trees, being the one month it's socially acceptable to listen to "All I Want for Christmas Is You" on repeat, etc...Marathon training started again for the Museum team. I won't be running, but I'll train with them during the winter. Jess and I both ran the Somerville Jingle-bell 5K and got accepted into the NYC Half Marathon in March. Nick Druar and Miss Alison Hay and I did some awesome community service with Harpoon Helps and UMass got blown-out by BC at the Garden (that all happened on the same day). And of course, last week was CHRISTMAS! I got a sweet blu-ray player and a new pair of running shoes.

Whats on tap for 2011? FINALLY seeing Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark and the final performance of In the Heights in January, a trip to Spain in February, the NYC Half Marathon in March and a whole lot of other stuff.

My resolutions for 2011? I know this one has come up before, but this time I'll have help behind me, but my goal is to become financially responsible and get out of debt. I also have a goal to get back into my old running habits and try and do a half marathon a month, with the end goal being running Boston again in 2012. I think two is enough, and those are pretty major.

And what would a blog update be without some film chat? Here are some quick takes over the past couple months:

The Kids are All Right - wasn't impressed, and thought it was pretty MEH. C
The Town - Ben Affleck's sophomore directorial effort and it was excellent. One of my top 10 of 2010. A
The Social Network - pleasantly surprised at how much I liked this, Aaron Sorkin's dialogue is razor-sharp. I can't wait to see it again on blu-ray January 11th. A
127 Hours - Heart-stopping. Danny Boyle can do no wrong and James Franco was outstanding. A-
Black Swan - Don't even know where to start. I saw this a month ago and am STILL thinking about it. Natalie Portman is a revelation. Darren Aronofsky, you've arrived. A
The Fighter - Christian Bale gives a (pun intended) knock-out performance, as well as the rest of the leading cast. A-
The King's Speech - Good, not great. Colin Firth was excellent, but after all of the hype, I was expecting more. B+
Winter's Bone - Just caught this on DVD and I was riveted for most of it (it got off to a slow start). Jennifer Lawrence was great. B+

Seeing True Grit tomorrow and Blue Valentine sometime next week and my movie-going in 2010 will be complete. A couple of films to catch up on once they're on DVD/blu-ray, namely Animal Kingdom, Get Low and The Tilman Story.

That's about it for this re-start. My goal is to update once or twice a week in the coming year. Next post will probably be my top 10 of 2010, followed by a review of the highly anticipated (and highly problematic) Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark.

Happy New Year!

Climbin' in your windows...

two of the funniest videos ever. you need to watch them in order.



and



you can thank me later...happy friday!

Pacey-Con

True confession: in high school, I was a big fan of Dawson's Creek. I bought into the drama of being a teenager at Capeside. I got completely caught up in the lives of Dawson, Joey, Pacey, Jen and Jack. Didn't really watch through college, but, like a good viewer, I did watch the finale, and am still kinda pissed that Joey ended up with Pacey.

Today, I came across this from Funny or Die and laughed out loud.

Pacey-Con with Joshua Jackson from Joshua Jackson

Poor Joshua Jackson. Seriously though, this dude has had an amazing career and created some of the most memorable characters EVER - Charlie Conway, Pacey Whitter and Peter Bishop (I don't watch Fringe, but I hear he (and the show) is quite good). I'd go to Pacey-Con.

Paradox

Without question, the film that I was looking forward to most this summer is Christopher Nolan's Inception. Not a whole lot was known about the film before it's release except that it had an impressive cast, was a sci-fi thriller and had some incredible visual effects. The tagline on the poster, Your mind is the scene of the crime, didn't really help too much either. Nolan is notorious (try saying that 5x fast) for keeping his films top-secret, so why would Inception be any different.

There are few films I feel like I have to see the day they're released, and this was one of them. I knew people would be talking about it, there would be spoilers galore, my twitter feed would blow up with comments/theories and I don't have the self control to stop myself from reading them. It seemed my only option was to see a midnight screening.

I had a wedding to go to in Cleveland (that's a whole 'nother post) over the weekend, so midnight screening it was, but that didn't exactly pan out. Fortunately, I had 5 hours to kill on Saturday after the ceremony before the reception, so I found a movie theater near the hotel and spent the afternoon ready to be wowed. It. Was. Awesome.

Basically, Inception is Ocean's 11 meets The Matrix with a little bit of Alfred Hitchcock thrown in for good measure. The premise is fascinating; the idea that a professional "dream hacker" could break into your dreams and plant ideas into your subconscious that could eventually come to fruition in the real world. Leonardo DiCaprio plays said hacker, and assembles a team (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Ellen Page, Tom Hardy) to try and help Korean businessman Saito (Ken Wantanabe) defeat a rival company, headed by Fischer (Cillian Murphy). The group delves into Fischer's subconscious and a thrilling caper ensues.

There were cries that this film is a game-changer and could revolutionize cinema forever (hm..where have we heard that recently?). While I don't necessarily agree with that, because when you get down to it Inception is a glorified heist film, I do think that it's an incredibly well made film. The visuals are amazing, and the sheer originality of the script is borderline brilliant. Yet another marvel? Nolan's direction and Lee Smith's awe-inspiring work editing the film - he basically has the editing Oscar sewn up for simultaneously balancing the multiple levels of the film and keeping it totally coherent. There were a couple times where I could feel my heart beating faster during the more intense sequences, and it's been a while since I've become that involved with a film.

Another reason it's so great? It's inspired INTENSE debate and discussion, and you almost have to see it twice. I did. Initially for the visceral experience, and then again to actually appreciate it and pick up on things you missed the first time. It's a complete mind-bender, I'm sure you'll say (in your best Keanu Reeves voice) "whoa" more than once.

It's my favorite film of the year so far (How to Train Your Dragon is next) and I can easily see it scoring multiple Oscar nominations. Among them Best Picture, Director, Original Screenplay, Editing, Cinematography, Visual Effects, Score, and if there is any justice in my world, a Best Supporting Actor nom for Joseph Gordon-Levitt (and maybe one for Marion Cotillard too).

See it. See it twice. See it in IMAX. You won't be disappointed and you'll be talking about it for days.

Coming Attractions...

Ben Affleck's sophomore directorial effort is released this fall. It was shot in and around Boston. I cannot wait to see this - might even do a midnight screening.