2015 – All the things

I googled “pop culture” and this came up. Actually this came up because I googled “entertainment”.

I quite like both and I think I’ll be going with the “I’m feeling lucky” approach to images for the rest of the year because searching and formatting is such a huge time suck.

Last year – well it was last year. There was a huge dip in my consumption for a lot of different reasons we don’t need to get into here. In the spirit of the starting anew and clearing out the old I’m going to just list the movies and books of 2015. No reviews – otherwise this wouldn’t be happening at all. What I am going to do for 2016 is add the TV shows I’m watching/streaming because I am definitely watching a lot.

MOVIES
January

1 – Wedding Crashers
2 – The Odd Couple

March
3 – Singin’ in the Rain

April
4 – It Follows
5 – Woman in Gold

May
6 – Edge of Tomorrow
7 – Finding Vivian Maier
8 – Atari – Game Over
9 – Mad Max: Fury Road

June
10 – Best in Show
11 – Non-Stop
12 – Spy
13 – X-Files – Fight the Future

July
14 – John Wick
15 – Minions
16 – Inside Out
17 – Inside Llewyn Davis
18 – Stanley Kubrick – A Life in Pictures
19 – The Winning Season

August
20 – The Babadook
21 – Inside Man
22 – Drag Me to Hell
23 – The Giver
24 – Trainwreck
25 – Joan Rivers – A Piece of Work
26 – Man from U.N.C.L.E.

September
27 – Mission Impossible – Rogue Nation
28 – The Source Family
29 – Muscle Shoals

October
30 – Who Killed the Electric Car?
31 – Black Mass

November
32 – Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
33 – American Sniper
34 – The Martian

December
35 – Spectre

BOOKS

May – really, I didn’t read anything until MAY, the dates are when I finished
1 – Simon vs the Homo Sapiens/Becky Albertalli
2 – Mayo Clinic Guide to a Healthy Pregnance
3 – What to Expect When You’re Expecting
4 – The Messenger/Lois Lowry
5 – Wonder/RJ Palacio
6 – Son/Lois Lowry
7 – Diaper Free/Ingrid Bauer
8 – Stories I Only Tell My Friends/Rob Lowe
9 – A Wrinkle in Time/Madeleine L’Engle
10 – Love Life/Rob Lowe
11 – Ready for a Brand New Beat/Mark Kurlansky
12 – A Wind int eh Door/Madeleine L’Engle
13 – Modern Romance/Aziz Ansari

Out of this whole list the only entry I didn’t remember is Non-Stop. Liam Neeson is an air marshall trapped on a plane with a forgettable story line. There you have it. One big thing I check off my to do list. Happy New Year!

My Books – 2014

1 – State of Wonder/Ann Patchett
2 – Give Me Everything You Have/James Lasdun
3 – Run/Ann Patchett
4 – Let’s Explore Diabetes with Owls/David Sedaris
5 – Case Histories/Kate Atkinson
6 – Life After Life/Kate Atkinson
7 – In the Pleasure Groove/John Taylor (Duran Duran)
8 – Frankenstein/Mary Shelley
9 – The Picture of Dorian Gray/Oscar Wilde
10 – The Importance of Being Earnest/Oscar Wilde
11 – Fodor’s China
12 – Frommer’s Ireland
13 – Rick Steves’ Ireland
14 – Picture This – This is How Pictures Work/Molly Bang
15 – Hyberbole and  a Half/Allie Brosh
16 – The Book of Life/Deborah Harkness
17 – Two Weeks in the Midday Sun/Roger Ebert
18 – Bel Canto/Ann Patchett
19 – The Pot and How to Use It/Roger Ebert
20 – Wicked/Gregory Maguire
21 – The Giver/Lois Lowry
22 – Cat Sense/John Bradshaw
23 – Gathering Blue/Lois Lowry
24 – Yes Please/Amy Poehler

My Movies – December 2012

So this is how it ends. I think my December is a fairly good reflection of all the movies I like – classics, documentaries, heavy dramas, smart comedies and those movies I just never got around to before. I thought about coming up with something insightful and clever about my movie habits. But I don’t feel like it. I’m feeling very optimistic for 2013 and dwelling on 2012 seems antithetical to that purpose.

I will say this – I’ve never kept track of how many or which movies I watch. I always knew I saw more than most but even I am surprised to find that I watched 134 movies. That’s 11.16 movies a month, 2.58 movies a week. I’m surprised I’ve managed to do anything else. Because I know I also watch an awful lot of television and I’d like to think I read a fair amount. As a holiday bonus, I’m listing the books I read this year too. So here it goes – the last list for 2012.

120 – Street Fight – politics + race = scariness
121 – Trespass – Schumacher must stop
122 – 50/50 – not too goofy
123 – Waltz with Bashir – harrowing, frightening, gobsmacked
124 – Mulan (Disney) – cute little dragon
125 – Hitchcock – fun, light, entertaining
126 – Looking for Richard – Pacino’s gross ponytail
127 – The Killers – Lancaster is foxy
128 – Shaun of the Dead – smart, funny z-story
129 – State and Main – so that happened
130 – Lincoln – DDL is god
131 – Skyfall – best Bond cinematography
132 – This is 40 – it kinda is
133 – Life of Pi – reading the book
134 – Central Park Five – depressing power abuse

My Books – 2012 – Don’t Judge, It’s Just a List

1 – My Lucky Star/Joe Keenan
2 – E-Myth/Michael E. Gerber
3 – James and the Giant Peach/Roald Dahl
4 – Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?/Mindy Kaling
5 – The Graveyard Book/Neil Gaiman
6 – Spain/Rick Steves
7 – Tale of Sand/Jim Henson
8 – Shenzhen/Guy Delisle
9 – The Hunger Games/Suzanne Collins
10 – Moneyball/Michael Lewis
11 – Neverwhere/Neil Gaiman
12 – Divergent/Veronica Roth
13 – The Book Thief/Marcus Zusak
14 – Matched/Ally Condie
15 – Insurgent/Veronica Roth
16 – Eat, Pray, Love/Elizabeth Gilbert
17 – American Gods/Neil Gaiman
18 – A Discovery of Witches/Deborah Harkness
19 – Act Like a Man, Think Like a Woman/Steve Harvey
20 – World War Z/Max Brooks
21 – Shadow of Night/Deborah Harkness
22 – Fifty Shades of Grey/EL James
23 – I Feel Bad About My Neck/Nora Ephron

So about 2 books a month. Again, I don’t really know how much other people read but I feel pretty good about that number.

Overall I think 2012 was a better year for movies than 2011 and I generally liked the books I read this year. There are always some stinkers but I finished them all and liked more than I disliked. You can’t really complain about that.

2013 – bring it.

 

Casting Call: Angela Lansbury as Mags for Catching Fire Film

After compiling my personal ballot of candidates to play the role of Mags in the upcoming film adaptation Suzanne Collins’ Catching Fire, I knew I was still missing key players, even those in my relatively narrowed field: actresses over 80, like the character Mags, who could hold the

Casting Call: Mags in Catching Fire

How do you envision Mags?

So I’ve just read that Melissa Leo has been under consideration for the role of Mags, the oldest District participant in Catching Fire, the sequel to The Hunger Games.

In Suzanne Collins’ book, Mags is in her eighties and cannot speak due to a stroke. She needs help keeping up, though she’s still sharp as a tack despite her difficulty communicating and still knows how to survive in the arena. It’a a good role, not a great one, and it should go to a performer who is at least as

Echoes (S1e7): The Best Dollhouse Episode?

Dollhouse doesn’t have a lot of good times. Let’s celebrate this one, even though it’s provoked by the accidental and possibly catastrophic release of a chemical agent that has the potential of a weapon of mass destruction.

In working my way through a second viewing of the series Dollhouse, I believe I have now reached the point at which Mr. Lousy and I can finally now watch episodes in tandem.  This might be just the right spot for our summit.

“Echoes” is one of my favorite Dollhouse episodes.  I won’t say favorite because I’m re-evaluating as I make my second trip, and I don’t want to be presumptive, especially about my own tastes.

I know the episode has notoriety for its humor: everyone goes on a weird drug trip and it’s hilarious.

True and not true.  There is a lot more going on besides straitlaced control-freaks flipping out on something between highly potent weed and LSD.  The weaving of the comic, the tragic, character revelation, and partial exposition proves that the series could produce not only a fantastic episode, but also an episode that would move the

Hunger Games Casting – Here’s Buttercup

I was recently in London and went to the Harry Potter studio tour. This is the park that merchandising built, where they have preserved the actual sets, costumes, props and models from the Harry Potter films for fans to go gaga over for years to come. More on this later.

But I want to address something here. Crookshanks in the HP books is angry, ugly orange cat. There is a bulletin board with all the different Crookshanks from the HP films. So Hunger Games producers, here’s your chance to make Buttercup right. The Potter films are done. The cats need work. Since you couldn’t manage to find an orange cat in the States, maybe you need to extend your search overseas. It happens. American television is littered with secret Brits.

They’re all here. All you have to do is pick one. You’re welcome.

 

Time and TV: Viewing Damages as a Cheating Zeitgeist

Why am I so irritated with the fourth season of the series Damages, the legal drama starring a Rasputinesque, Machiavellian Glenn Close as ruthless attorney Patty Hewes, and a lovely, doe-eyed, not-as-guileless-as-she looks Rose Byrne, on whom I

The Hunger Games – Color Blind Choice not Always the Best

Much has been made of the shocking tweets about the race of the girl who portrayed Rue. It has been discussed plenty so I won’t go into detail. But I am referring to the slew of racist tweets from angry idiots that a black actor played Rue even though her character in the book is described as being “dark-skinned”. I am not aware of any official comment made by Suzanne Collins on this topic. While I can appreciate that she would not want to add fuel to this ugly fire, I think only she has the clout to tell these dummies to shove it. As Doris W. said, “It was disheartening.”

Kathryn Bigelow – Tribute for Hunger Games Director

I recently found out that Gary Ross is out as director for any Hunger Games sequels. The names of a few directors in the running reported by the LA Times are Alfonso Cuaron, David Cronenberg and Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu. I really like all these directors but there was one name that immediately popped into my head when I heard the director’s chair was open – Kathryn Bigelow.

I have been a Kathryn Bigelow fan since Near Dark, one of my favorite vampire movies. It was the first vampire movie I saw that portrayed vamps not as gorgeous glam sophisticates but rather just a gang of trashy thugs. It’s visceral, darkly funny and