Month: March 2016

Zootopia (2016)

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I’m a big Disney fan, but I never find trailers for new Disney animated films particularly appealing. Maybe it’s because the trailers are more marketed towards kids and I’m still mentally stuck in a place where I’m trying to be highbrow enough to understand crazy “art” films like Knight of Cups. (Probably won’t happen…) I still remember the first trailer I ever saw for Wall-E, one of my favorite Pixar films of all time, and being pretty bored and turned off by it, because it was a one-minute clip of Wall-E collecting trash. And that was the whole trailer.

So, when a Disney animated feature film comes out, I usually don’t get particularly excited until afterwards, when the adults get hyped. In the case of Zootopia, I didn’t know much about it before the movie came out except that it was about a rabbit cop voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin and a fox voiced by Jason Bateman. Basically, everything I knew about Zootopia came from that first teaser about anthropomorphic mammals and that DMV sloth scene.

BUT, when Disneybound founder Leslie came back from an early screening raving about the amazing message behind the movie, I was really curious. All Disney movies have a good message behind them, but people don’t usually come away from watching them thinking, “Man. What a GOOD message.” However, that seemed to be the consensus after watching Zootopia, so I took Ben to see it when we had a free evening last week.

https://i0.wp.com/cdn.collider.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/zootopia-movie-poster.jpg

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Knight of Cups (2016)

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For those who are familiar with and love Terrence Malick’s work, I am sorry.

https://i0.wp.com/cdn1-www.comingsoon.net/assets/uploads/gallery/knight-of-cups/czlm7uvvaaayh1f-jpg-large.jpg

I really couldn’t stand Knight of Cups and all of its “experimental” splendor. To me, it made a concerted effort to be deep and profound, but these profundities were either force fed to us or floated past audiences under the pretenses of art. And I think that was what was frustrating to me, was how Emperor’s New Clothes this movie felt to me. If I didn’t get it, then it was because I’m too crass and unrefined to understand this high art.Read More »

Draft Graveyard (i)

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During my first ever FaceTime (what is this Apple technology??) session with Christine last night, we realized that not only do I have an obnoxious number of drafts, but I should probably get rid of a lot of them because they are just dead weight. They consist of nothing more than a title, most of the time, and have since become un-timely to post ever. Christine thought it’d be funny for me to share a few of these draft titles before I trash them forever, so here we go!

Draft GraveyardRead More »

New Apps, New Me

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I am a bit of a latecomer to the smartphone game. Even as everyone around me actively tried to convince me to get one, I stuck by my slider phone to the bitter end. All I needed was phone calls and text messages, with the occasional blurry photo. I really did not want to be connected to the world 24/7, and plus, those smartphones were not going to fit in the sad excuses for pockets that clothing companies sew into women’s pants.

But alas, even my trusty slider phone couldn’t hold out forever. Around the time that I had my wisdom teeth removed, my phone stopped working and our provider offered to give me a new smartphone for free because I had not upgraded my phone in so long. When I tried to replace my phone with another not-smart phone, I was asked to fork over money. 😦

Photo by Gilles Lambert

So, fast forward 2 years to the present day. I am still using the same phone but my phone habits have changed a lot. I use Twitter enough to have downloaded the app. I have several photo-taking and -editing apps. Some apps have been with me since the beginning, but yesterday, I decided I needed a change.

Previously, I was using WeatherBug for my weather, Any.DO for to do lists, and Cal (by the makers of Any.DO) for my calendar needs. I still like them, but I found myself wanting something different (and – dare I say – just a bit better?) by means of UI (user interface). WeatherBug had a great widget and notifications bar status, but the app was starting to feel cluttered to me even though it had a lot of information. I had recently switched to Any.DO and Cal about a year ago because I liked the design, but I was tired of it and getting frustrated with some of the features or lack thereof.

So, a few months ago, I decided it was time for a change. Here are the apps I’m using and loving right now that replaced the above 3 (which I would still recommend, by the way):Read More »

The Tsar of Love and Techno (2015)

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After reading Christine’s glowing review for Anthony Marra‘s latest, The Tsar of Love and Techno, I immediately requested my own copy to read.

tl;dr Anthony Marra has written some of the most gorgeous prose I’ve ever read, and he has used it to craft a stunningly beautiful story. 

Book cover: The Tsar of Love and Techno | Anthony Marra | New York Times Bestselling Author of A Constellation of Vital Phenomena
Henceforth also to be referred to as TLT for brevity.

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