The reason I took my little hiatus was because I suddenly was thrown into GMAT cramming. To accommodate deadlines I had just learned about 30 minutes after talking to my boyfriend, I was suddenly given the insanely short 3 weeks to study for a test that I had almost zero familiarity with at all. (Sorry for lying, Mom!)
Well, I thought I had 3 weeks, but one week into studying, I was derailed by the fact that there were no test dates available for the week I wanted. In order to make a deadline — which, to remind you, I had only learned about one week prior to this — I needed to register for the test coming up in 7 days.
I had 2 weeks to study and I had already spent one of those weeks not really feeling too confident. I only had 7 days to get my score up. I didn’t have time to even think about if I was going to apply for grad school because I had to give myself the luxury of making that decision by pwning the GMAT.
Because my test appointment was at 4 PM, the latest I have ever taken a standardized test (and I have taken many), I was a nervous wreck. It was maybe the worst test anxiety I’ve ever experienced, if only because it was over such a long period of time. Even when I had calmed down listening to “Bring ‘Em Out“, it was only noon and I managed to ruminate myself into nausea just 2 hours later. By the time the test started, however, I felt more at ease. I had taken nearly 20 standardized tests before this one (holy moly) and the stakes were low. I knew what kind of score I was capable of getting.
I came just shy of getting a score I would have been able to walk away satisfied with, but I fulfilled my New Year’s resolution! I didn’t think I would have check that off for months, but 3 weeks into 2015 and it’s done. 🙂
I feel really proud of myself for what I accomplished, not only overall but in 15 days, with a huge push during the last 7 days. You guys, if I can do it, SO CAN YOU.
Hi all, so sorry to do this YET AGAIN but I am doing a very last minute personal improvement project with a deadline that is rapidly approaching. As I didn’t sign up for this little project of mine until very recently, I am scrambling a lot so I don’t know if I’ll be able to stay on schedule. I will try to use my procrastination time (of which there is sure to be plenty) to post some goodies up for you all but I must ask for your forgiveness as I possibly disappear for a week or 2.
Thanks and I hope your resolutions are all going well!
I got to attend a screening of Inherent Vice thanks to Cloture Club this past Wednesday. (It had a limited release late last year and will have a wider release today.)
I didn’t know too much about the movie going into it. I’d only just started seeing some trailers and commercials, and they didn’t tell me much about the actual story. (Much like how I felt about the Interstellar promotions.) (ALSO I’m going to talk about Interstellar soon. If I don’t, bug me about it.) The initial impression I got from this was a very American Hustle-esque vibe of nostalgia for an older time with some investigative hijinks? Also, check out that cast list, it is not to be trifled with. We have an awards-season gunner here.
Going into the movie, I suspected it wouldn’t be my cup of tea. I mean, here’s the description I was given before the screening:
“Inherent Vice” is the seventh feature from Paul Thomas Anderson and the first ever film adaption of a Thomas Pynchon novel. When private eye Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady suddenly out of nowhere shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend whom she just happens to be in love with, and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a looney bin…well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the psychedelic `60s and paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is another of those words going around at the moment, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s being way too overused – except this one usually leads to trouble. With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover, and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists… Part surf noir, part psychedelic romp – all Thomas Pynchon.
Are you confused? I sure was.
And to be honest, I was still confused coming out of the movie. One thing I will say off the bat is that Paul Thomas Anderson did a really wonderful job of transporting us back to that late 60s/early 70s time in American life. It’s not only the obvious costuming and set design, but the camera work and the editing. Lots of tight angles, a nostalgic grainyness… if you had not seen a movie in the last 40 years, this movie would seem very familiar stylistically to you. In one of the opening shots, we see Katherine Waterson, who plays Shasta Fey, looking so incredibly mod and the stylizing of the shot makes her look even more authentically mod.
This still is brighter and clearer than this scene was in the film.
Joaquin Phoenix delivers a great performance, as usual. He is also rocking some really incredible sideburns.
Them muttonchops put Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine to shame.
Also, for fans of Walk the Line, we see Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon reunited.
This morning… with her… having coffee…
Before I attempt to talk about the plot (which I really barely understood…), I’ll just go over some thoughts:
Do not see this movie with your family unless your family has a special bond that allows you to see a movie with a lot of nudity, sex, and excessive use of the phrase “pu**y eater”. (I mean it.)
There is also a lot of drug use in this movie. It’s important to the plot and the themes of the film, but not important enough to warrant how much it’s mentioned or shown in the film.
The movie is narrated by Sortilège, a chracter who is in the film as one of Doc’s friends but otherwise… serves no real on-screen purpose? Unless I’m missing something? I don’t know why there was a need for her to be this on-screen character who is a friend to Doc for about 5 minutes total of the film. She was a good narrator, don’t get me wrong, but having her be an on-screen character confused me a bit. I think it was meant to make her seem like part of the story, but she was maybe the only character who had just nothing to do with any of the interwoven storylines.
Owen Wilson always plays Owen Wilson. I would like to see him challenge himself as an actor to not play Owen Wilson.
Also, you will get certain cravings in this movie:
Pizza
Fudgesicle (which actually turns out to be a frozen chocolate-covered banana)
Frozen chocolate-covered banana
Pancakes
All in all, this movie wasn’t really for me. At all. I would compare it to Burn After Reading. If you liked that, you’ll likely enjoy this. It has a similarly nonsensical, all-over-the-place plot, and even a similar theme of paranoia. Not my cup of tea, as I said before.
That being said, there were a few shining moments for me. Some very random moments that were just really funny, very randomly emotional moments. It wasn’t a complete waste on me, but I just walked out of the theater not sure how everything started, ended, or what was really going on in between. It felt like just as the weirdness had plateaued, something else crazy would happen. Again, I am sure this was intentional but it’s not something I personally enjoy in movies.
This trailer actually includes most of my favorite moments from the movie:
In trying to keep with my annual resolution to read more books, I’ve decided to do a little virtual book club with Christine and Karen.
It seems that, by a happy accident, the theme of the month is BOSS. We will be reading 2 books:
#GIRLBOSS – Sophia Amoruso
Long recommended to me by fans of Lean In and my friends who are more tuned in to the fashion world is Nasty Gal founder and CEO Sophia Amoruso’s manifesto, #GIRLBOSS.
“It’s easy to get the sense, reading Lean In, that Sandberg is writing for women who’ve already made it. #GIRLBOSS is for those who haven’t, which means it is aimed at people who have nothing to lose, which makes it a much riskier and more enjoyable manifesto.”
–New York Magazine / The Cut
In an age where more and more women are demanding what they are owed and what they deserve, I’m so happy to see books like Lean In and #GIRLBOSS get popular and women’s success becomes less of an anomaly and more what should be.
Bossypants – Tina Fey
I would argue that Tina Fey’s hugely successful memoir launched a wave of memoirs and other publications from our current era of TV comedians. (See: Mindy Kaling, Amy Poehler, BJ Novak for just a few.) We all know that Tina Fey is a fantastical human being, and I’ve heard nothing but great things about Bossypants. The only reason I haven’t read it yet is that I’ve always been #57 or higher on the waitlist at my library for this book BUT they have it on hold for me right now so I cannot wait to delve into this!
“Tina Fey’s new book Bossypants is short, messy, and impossibly funny (an apt description of the comedian herself). From her humble roots growing up in Pennsylvania to her days doing amateur improv in Chicago to her early sketches on Saturday Night Live, Fey gives us a fascinating glimpse behind the curtain of modern comedy with equal doses of wit, candor, and self-deprecation.”
– Amazon Best Books of the Month April 2011 (Kevin Nguyen)
I’m really excited to read these two books. Not only are they by two great women, but it’s been nice for me to start reading non-fiction! I used to be a strictly YA fiction kind of girl, so branching out like this without it being terrible is not unpleasant!
Let us know if you decide to read along with us!
If you’ve read these books already, tell us what you thought!
Ever since I gave up TV for Lent last year, I stopped watching many shows that I used to watch really regularly and I haven’t caught up since. (I know how Legend of Korra ends but I have no real context for it and that kills me…) Instead of catching up on all the shows I stopped watching during Lent, I just decided to go into the fall 2014 TV season with a mostly cleared plate and ready for new shows that were all great.
In addition to keeping up with the shows that will be coming back in the spring (#BringBackSelfie), I’m looking forward to a few new shows that are slated to have their series premieres, with the spring premiere season starting TODAY:
Galavant
Sundays at 8PM on ABC
Okay, I’m really scared this will be terrible. (Abby, tell me it’ll be okay??) The premise sounds too good to be true: it’s a fairy-tale themed musical comedy. Music by Alan Menken! I mean come on, it’s basically everything that I love in one show , so how could it possibly live up to the hype? I’m just going to keep expectations low so that, if it isn’t what I dreamt, I don’t feel crushing disappointment.
No, but really, this should be great. We have an Indian-Chinese actress who was described by her director as the “brown Jennifer Lawrence” (?!) and it’s a musical, you guys. This is meant to be the filler replacing OUAT (aka my guilty pleasure show), as OUAT doesn’t come back until March. So my Sunday 8 PM slot is still filled.
Galavant premieres Sunday, January 4th at 8:00 PM on ABC.
Marvel’s Agent Carter
Tuesdays at 8PM on ABC
So I never started watching Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (bad, bad Marvel fan) but I have been so excited about Agent Carter ever since it was announced. I loved the one-shot and the whole premise makes me so pumped. Hayley Atwell is great, Peggy Carter is a great character, and I’m just so ready for a story that focuses on her, a woman who isn’t a superhero but is super and is a hero[ine].
This is meant to act as the filler for Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.(I am not going to do all of those periods every time, I’m sorry) before that comes back, so brace yourselves for this! Hoping Marvel has figured out how to better pace a TV show after what I heard was a kind of rough start to the pilot season of AoS.
Marvel’s Agent Carter premieres Tuesday, January 6 at 8:00 PM on ABC.
Fresh Off the Boat
The show I’ve been excited about for the longest is Fresh Off the Boat. Based on famous restaurateur Eddie Huang’s memoir, it will feature an Asian-American family that, with any luck, isn’t a caricature and will use humor that doesn’t come at the expense of an entire social identity, which I happen to be a part of. If you’re not familiar with the premise, think Everybody Hates Chris with a Chinese-American family that has moved from DC to Florida. Yup, you can see yourself laughing already.
Fresh Off the Boat premieres on Tuesday, February 10 at 8:00 PM (with a preview on Febuary 4) on ABC.
Clearly, I’m really happy with ABC this year and the new shows they are putting out this year, both for spring and in the fall. They’ve just been doing a lot of good things in the comedy space, upping their game and pushing the limits to see how much audiences can take. And audiences are ready for this. We can take it. We want this. Bring us moar.
A show whose season premiere I’m excited for is Hannibal on NBC!
Not too much confirmed for season 3 yet, so expect to see a lot of promotional materials come out soon.
I really was scared to start watching this show, but it is amazing. If you loved Pushing Daisies, director Bryan Fuller returns with a visual scheme that is the same except the opposite chromatically. It’s a gorgeous show and seriously one of the best shows on television, I mean it. Even though it’s about serial murder and things can get rather graphic, it’s all done with this amazing visual poetry that I am able to stomach it. Me, ultimate scaredy cat. Plus, the food styling is so amazing on this show. You know it’s not actually human meat, so just enjoy how great all of this food looks. The food stylist even has a beautiful blog (courtesy of Janice Poon) and you can make non-human alternatives for the dishes.
Be excited. This is an excellent time to get caught up on the previous 2 seasons if you haven’t watched this yet. It is my #1 most recommended show. SRSLY.
What new shows are you most excited about this spring? What season premieres are you excited for?
Sip of Starrshine 