Media Diet: 2012 Edition
I finally accepted that I won't be adding anything to this list soon. I have always had a list of what I read/watched in some form or another. It used to be that books have trumped and/or were neck and neck with movies. It has been some kind of a competition among friends to see who read/watched more, but with the dissolution of the blog, priorities rearranged, life un/happening, or maybe just I am just not in a race with anyone anymore, the contents of the list sure have changed. I mean, I don't really have an active public blog anymore.
And so I present what I've consumed this past year 2012:
54 Movies + John Carter of Mars (which I saw during a long bus ride and which I still regret) + Snow White and the Huntsman = 55 56 movies*
8 Plays (excluding Phantom but including Manang Lea)
2 concerts (The Cranberries and Lady Gaga)
1 e-book (Tina Fey's Bossypants)
and many many hours of television which may or may not include 4-5 back seasons of NCIS.
Also, I started the Media Diet last year, after seeing Soderbergh's list. Boy, that man was busy filming 2 movies (Haywire and Contagion) and still watched and read a whole bunch. I've seen Haywire and Magic Mike, but have not gotten around to Contagion yet.
Also, I realize this year's 55 movies is trumped by 2011's 73 movies. But I've been busy.
The ones that I liked:
The Hunger Games. I haven't read the books, and I was prepared to hate it, but Katniss Everdeen kicks ass.
Young Adult made me afraid that I will one day be like Charlize Theron, but without the fabulousness of her outfits in Snow White and the Huntsman.
Heartbreaker. Romantic comedy that I thought was a bit more Hollywood than the usual French fare.
Ang Nawawala is this year's Rakenrol, in that it gave me that feeling of recognition while watching, but also a kind of time frame confusion: Is this happening right now or in the late 90s/early 2k?
People were always complaining that indie movies = poverty porn. This time you get something that's not, and it is refreshing.
Give Up Tomorrow. Justice delayed is justice denied, etc etc, but what if we sent the wrong guy to jail?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I'm starting to think I'm really an adolescent at heart.
But really, the best movies I saw this year (like last year) both had Nora Aunor in them: Bona (which I watched before the play) and Himala and the documentary Himala Ngayon. I suspect if I had seen the remastered Oro, Plata, Mata that would have made the grade as well. What does it mean when the best Pinoy movies I saw this year are 30 years old?
Worst movie experience this year: John Carter of Mars, Panday 2, The Boy Pick-Up movie except for the parts with Pepe Smith in it.
Runner up: The Healing. I suspect Ate Vi just wanted to do a horror/possession movie, but this one had too many crazy eyes going.
WTH happened movie: Corazon, Ang Unang Aswang, the first film shot on Instagram. It will make you sad, specially if you had seen Yanggaw, which works with the same ideas but infinitely better and more horrifying, in a good way.
It should have remained as Proof of Concept movie: My Kontrabida Girl, which I really wanted to like. The first 15 minutes was really funny. But everything went downhill after Rhian Ramos was hit/grazed by a car. No amount of rain machines and shirtless Machete boys can compensate. I still prefer My Amnesia Girl, or until the next My ______ Girl movie comes along.
Best Television Discovery: Scientist-Gardener and Ethnobotanist James Wong from Grow Your Own Drugs. I've never seen anyone so hyper and glad to have found pitcher plants. Easy on the eyes, too.
*This number is apparently liable to change, since I only remembered about SWATH after I listed Young Adult. That entire chunk from June to October was largely a blank as I was running on crank then.
And so I present what I've consumed this past year 2012:
54 Movies + John Carter of Mars (which I saw during a long bus ride and which I still regret) + Snow White and the Huntsman = 55 56 movies*
8 Plays (excluding Phantom but including Manang Lea)
2 concerts (The Cranberries and Lady Gaga)
1 e-book (Tina Fey's Bossypants)
and many many hours of television which may or may not include 4-5 back seasons of NCIS.
Also, I started the Media Diet last year, after seeing Soderbergh's list. Boy, that man was busy filming 2 movies (Haywire and Contagion) and still watched and read a whole bunch. I've seen Haywire and Magic Mike, but have not gotten around to Contagion yet.
Also, I realize this year's 55 movies is trumped by 2011's 73 movies. But I've been busy.
The ones that I liked:
The Hunger Games. I haven't read the books, and I was prepared to hate it, but Katniss Everdeen kicks ass.
Young Adult made me afraid that I will one day be like Charlize Theron, but without the fabulousness of her outfits in Snow White and the Huntsman.
Heartbreaker. Romantic comedy that I thought was a bit more Hollywood than the usual French fare.
Ang Nawawala is this year's Rakenrol, in that it gave me that feeling of recognition while watching, but also a kind of time frame confusion: Is this happening right now or in the late 90s/early 2k?
People were always complaining that indie movies = poverty porn. This time you get something that's not, and it is refreshing.
Give Up Tomorrow. Justice delayed is justice denied, etc etc, but what if we sent the wrong guy to jail?
The Perks of Being a Wallflower and I'm starting to think I'm really an adolescent at heart.
But really, the best movies I saw this year (like last year) both had Nora Aunor in them: Bona (which I watched before the play) and Himala and the documentary Himala Ngayon. I suspect if I had seen the remastered Oro, Plata, Mata that would have made the grade as well. What does it mean when the best Pinoy movies I saw this year are 30 years old?
Worst movie experience this year: John Carter of Mars, Panday 2, The Boy Pick-Up movie except for the parts with Pepe Smith in it.
Runner up: The Healing. I suspect Ate Vi just wanted to do a horror/possession movie, but this one had too many crazy eyes going.
WTH happened movie: Corazon, Ang Unang Aswang, the first film shot on Instagram. It will make you sad, specially if you had seen Yanggaw, which works with the same ideas but infinitely better and more horrifying, in a good way.
It should have remained as Proof of Concept movie: My Kontrabida Girl, which I really wanted to like. The first 15 minutes was really funny. But everything went downhill after Rhian Ramos was hit/grazed by a car. No amount of rain machines and shirtless Machete boys can compensate. I still prefer My Amnesia Girl, or until the next My ______ Girl movie comes along.
Best Television Discovery: Scientist-Gardener and Ethnobotanist James Wong from Grow Your Own Drugs. I've never seen anyone so hyper and glad to have found pitcher plants. Easy on the eyes, too.
*This number is apparently liable to change, since I only remembered about SWATH after I listed Young Adult. That entire chunk from June to October was largely a blank as I was running on crank then.