(no subject)
2008
Grand Totals: Movies- 66, Books -35
January Media
Movies:
1) Enchanted- We saw this on New Years Day due to the criteria that it a) was playing at a good time, b) wasn’t so loud it would hurt my hungover head, c) wasn’t so gory it would affect the pregnant lady. Surprisingly, we both quite enjoyed it.
2) Husband For Hire - I had to watch it. It was not very good.
3) War - Eventually I will realize that watching a shitty Jason Statham movie will not get me any closer to having sex with Jason Statham. In fact, if he keeps pushing these pieces of shit on me, I may not even WANT to have sex with him anymore. This movie = unbearable.
4) 27 Dresses - surprisingly adorable.
5) She’s The Man- already seen it, but I heart Amanda Bynes so it was worth a TIVO’s second viewing. And Channing Tatum? HOT.
6) The Game Plan- oh my. The Rock, what on earth were you thinking? And did I REALLY tear up at the end? Allergies, must have been allergies, I wouldn’t tear up at a holy crap terrible “family” movie…
7) Sydney White - see, I told you I loved Amanda Bynes.
Books:
1) Leaving Microsoft to Change the World - John Wood - Amazing. Words can’t express how this book affected me.
2) Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert- you are all WELL aware of my feelings towards this book. THIS BOOK MUST DIE.
3) Temporary Insanity - Leslie Carroll - took this from the free book pile at work - it was a total piece of shit, which was exactly what I needed after friggin Eat Pray Love.
4) Open House - Elizabeth Berg - Nic lent this to me, she’s been pushing Elizabeth Berg for years. I remember reading one of her books and liking it, but never went on for whatever reason. And Augusten Burroughs LOVES her, so how could she do wrong?
February Media
Movies:
8) Picture Perfect - this movie really did not hold up over time. Or did it suck back in the 90’s too?
9) Step Up - also not as good as I remembered it. Huh.
10) Out of Sight - OK, I fell asleep at the very end, but I watched MOST of it, so it counts, right? That’s what I get for trying to watch a movie on a teeny tiny jetblue screen.
Books:
5) Range of Motion - Elizabeth Berg - not as enjoyable as the last Berg book I read, but I think that is due to the subject matter. It might have been too soon for me to read a hospital book.
6) 2cool2betrue- Simon Burke - just as awful as it sounds. I snagged it from the free book pile at work when I needed something quick for the plane ride to LA. Holy MOLY did it suck.
7) The Watchmen - Robert Crais. Finally, a crappy book that was actually GOOD crappy. Robert Crais is perfect subway reading.
March Media
Movies:
11) Step Up 2: The Streets- as a GOOD movie, it was quite bad. AS a BAD movie, it was quite good. Make sense? Also? Quite possibly the least subtle movie I have ever seen in my life. Like, smack you upside the head subtlety.
12) Hell on Wheels - A documentary about the start of girls roller derby. Was it interesting? Yes. Was it a good film? No. But boy did it make me feel scads better about my own.
13) No Reservations - Words can’t express how unenjoyable this movie was
14) Live Free or Die Hard Now, the movie was just as entertaining as I remembered it. But the DVD? What the hell! The only bonus features are an unrated version or commentary? You have a Justin Long movie with no outtakes? A Bruce Willis movie without any “The making of the stunt sequences”? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?
Books:
8) The Book of Joe - Jonathan Tropper - man did I rave about this like crazy when I read it the first time. Second time? It was fine.
Huh.
April Media
Movies:
15) August Rush- Thank god I saw this movie on a plane so I couldn’t BAWL MY FREAKIN EYES OUT while I watched. Damn was this movie a thousand times better than I thought it would be (actually, I thought it would suck, so yay for them for not sucking).
16) Rank This was an IFC documentary on Bullriding. It was very interesting, I definitely learned a lot, but man, for a subject I am fascinated about…I got way too bored. While as a former film student I understood the artistry of what they were trying to accomplish, I really just wanted to yell PICK UP THE PACE!
17) Michael Clayton OK, that’s a lie. I got no more than halfway in before I wanted to claw my eyes out. And I was on a plane, so you know if I turned it off it was THAT boring.
Books:
9) High Profile - Robert B. Parker - Perfect plane book
10) Fried Twinkies, Buckle Bunnies, & BullRiders - A Year Inside the Professional BullRiders Tour - Josh Peter- Yo, this book ROCKED. I learned a TON about the PBR - what the back numbers mean, the insurance hell, which bullriders are sluts...all the good stuff!
11) Try - Lily Burana - Another selection from the free book pile at work. It was a weird kind of fate when I saw it - it’s about a girl who gets dumped by her hipster boyfriend and falls in love with a cowboy, and follows him on the rodeo circuit. While reading about life out west was interesting, and I picked up a lot of buckle bunny knowledge…I kind of think the author really needs to get laid. I never actually thought I would say that about an author...
12) Dispatches from the Edge : A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival - Anderson Cooper I saw a lot of myself in Anderson Cooper, for reasons that are far too difficult to explain in this brief space. But I never really thought about him whatsoever, so it was intriguing to me. I might have to check him out a bit more. Also? Man, that poor guy has seen way more than anyone should ever have to see in their lifetime
May Media
Movies:
18) Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay - Definitely not as good as the first one, I think because they weren’t really stoned this time. Hate to say it, but H&K are funnier when stoned. But I will watch Neil Patrick Harris playing “Neil Patrick Harris” any day of the week. Bring on the branding iron, NPH!
19) Lars and the Real Girl - only Ryan Gosling could pull off a character like that. I don’t even want to say more for fear of spoiling it for anyone, but I will say it was such a charming movie. I hate that word, but it really was...charming.
20) Darius Goes West A documentary about a 15 year old boy with muscular dystrophy who had never left his town- his friends took him on a road trip to a) let him experience life (that scene of him in the ocean for the first time...oh my god) b) raise awareness about muscular dystrophy (it kills an insane amount of kids! I had no idea!) and c) showcase what parts of America are wheelchair accessible (you can get into Carlsbad caverns, way under the earth, but you can’t get to the top pf the arch in St. Louis? Really? Dude.) Great doc.
21) Into the Wild Definitely the most beautiful movie I have ever seen - I mean literally, visually stunning. Also made me want to do things I really shouldn’t let myself think about, but I fully expected that.
Books:
13) Charm City - Laura Lippman - all the reviews used phrases like “laugh out loud funny”. I thought it would be the prefect plane book. Except...not only did I not laugh, I was bored silly! I DREADED picking it up every day. Damn you reviewers!
14) The Wonder Spot - Melissa Banks - I swear I thought I liked her last book, but maybe I was smoking crack. This one started out boring, became vaguely uninteresting, morphed into minorly entertaining, to about 3 pages of decent, before becoming boring again. What a piece of crap.
15) The Woods - Harlan Coben Finally! A good book! An entertaining book! A book I couldn’t put down! Thanks Harlan, for being so awesomely consistent.
June Media
Movies:
22) The Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants - had to watch it before I could watch the second one coming out in August, except...it wasn’t really as good as I remember, which seems to be a recurring theme. Not that I WON’T see the new one, but I may not rush to see it in the theatre. So Netflix may have just saved me $12.
23) Sex & The City - It was good. That’s pretty much it. I liked the show, and the movie was basically a REALLY long episode of the show, so what’s not to like?
24) The Object of My Affection . I know I must have seen this when it came out, but I had no memory of it whatsoever. Now having watched it again…I still have absolutely no memory of having seen it. Weird.
25) Mad Money Fine for watching it on a plane. A piece if crap if you were to watch it anywhere else.
26) Chaos I know I SAID I understood that watching terrible Jason Statham movies won’t get me any closer to having sex with him, yet I still keep watching terrible Jason Statham movies. And this one was TERRIBLE . When will I learn?
Books:
16) Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich - My mom gave this to me to read when I went to visit her. I thought it looked familiar, but I was bored enough to keep reading it. About 10 pages in I realized, yup, I had already read it, and it wasn’t all that good. But it kept me busy on a few plane rides, so it’s fine in my book!
17) Shoot Him If He Runs - Stuart Woods It was a typical Stuart Woods book. If you haven’t read him, that means nothing, but it kept me entertained and awake on the subway. Sometimes that’s all you can ask for.
18) The Other Side of The Story - Marian Keyes I swear I used to like her books. Did she start sucking? Or did my taste in literature improve? Cause really, this was kinda shitty
July Media
Movies:
27) Definitely, Maybe - Not nearly as good as I wanted it to be, but it was Ryan Reynolds, so really...how bad could it be?
28) Wanted - Angelina has never been hotter. And I didn’t hate James McAvoy, which is saying a lot.
29) The Bucket List now on my Top 10 list of Worst Movies Ever.
30) In Bruges I’m obsessed. Obsessed I tell you. I had to run out and purchase the DVD because I need to have In Bruges on hand AT ALL TIMES. Just in case. “Bottle!!”
31)Fool’s Gold I got this specifically to take and watch on the plane. And that is exactly what it is good for. Nothing else. Trust me.
Books:
19) How To Talk To A Widower - Jonathan Tropper -Ladies & Gentlemen, a passage illustrating just how much I adore Jonathan Tropper:
“The sky is fucking with me. It’s one of those militantly perfect spring days, the kind that seems to be trying just a little too hard, the kind you want to smack in the face...”
the kind you want to smack in the face Seriously. This is why I had the release date in my calendar for months…
20) Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovitch . My mom gave this to me when I was home, and I read it in a day. I haven’t done that in a while. Nicely played, Ms. Evanovitch.
21) Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer Is it weird that I kind of want to try climbing now?
22) Chasing Darkness - Robert Crais Definitely not my favorite Robert Crais book, but still thoroughly enjoyable
August Media
Movies:
32) Vantage Point- left me exhausted
33) The Dark Knight - much better than I thought it would be, but it still could have been an hour or 10 endings lines shorter
34) Death Race Continuing my quest to see every Jason Statham movie, no matter how awful. And this one was pretty darn awful.
35) Everest (IMAX Documentary) Oddly, the bonus features were 10 times more fascinating than the actual movie.
36) What Happens in Vegas I think there was about a minute somewhere in there where I enjoyed it. The rest of it friggin sucked.
37) Tropic Thunder Eh. I was on "That ain't Vietnam!" alert far too much to enjoy it. And there was a lot of boy jokes I just didn't find funny. But it was a'ight.
Books:
23) sTORI telling - Tori Spelling -it was for work. That’s the only excuse I can give.
24) Size 12 is not Fat - Meg Cabot I had been reading this other book for about 6 weeks now, the kind of godawful book that everyone swears is so good, so I TRIED, I really TRIED, but I just hated it more and more every time I picked it up. I would get through 5 pages, and then give up for a week. And then force myslef to read another 5 pages. After 6 weeks of that b.s., I picked up this Meg cabot book and blew through it in a day and a half.
25) Size 14 is not fat either - Meg Cabot Then I picked up this one and read it in one evening on my terrace. Then I threw the other piece of shit book in the trash. Crappy novels win the day!!!!!
September Media
Movies:
38) 27 Dresses a good movie to pass the time on a rainy Sunday
39) Dan in Real Life Just as good the second time. I love this movie.
40) Reality Bites Really weird to watch at age 31. Huh. It’s like a time capsule of my 18 year old self...
41) Righteous Kill Booooooooooooring. Let me reiterate. Booooooooring. The credits came up and half the audience BOLTED.
42) Baby Mama eh. Considering the cast, this should have been a LOT more entertaining
43) Rent - Filmed Live on Broadway I still don’t understand how they got so CLOSE to all the action, yet I never saw one camera! It doesn’t make sense!
44) My Best Friend’s Girl Ahhhh, Dane Cook. He can do no wrong in my eyes…
Books:
26) Bringing Down the House Good, entertaining, easy read. I wish I had more to say about it, but...I kinda don’t. Man, books were LAME to me this month. Every time I tried to read one they turned out to be turds.
October Media
Movies:
45) Made of Honor I am convinced too many romantic comedies have ruined me for any successful future relationships.
46) Forgetting Sarah Marshall I thought this was supposed to be hysterically funny or something? What did I miss?….
47) Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist I have not fallen in love so quickly with a movie since Garden State. I have not LOVED a movie so much since Garden State. I have not related so much to a movie since Garden State. (I wonder if I should watch Garden State again? It’s been years…) I loved the soundtrack, the cast, the story, the acting. I hated that PG thought it was “good”. Everyone else…go see this movie. Go love this movie. And if you want, take me with you :)
48) Run, Fat Boy, Run Do. Not. Watch. This. Movie.
49) Rachel Getting Married The acting was great. Some of the random story ideas (an Indian wedding? Why exactly?) bugged me, as did the shaky camera work and randomnly chosen camera angles (is this now the Blair Witch Project?) I think if this movie had been done by the team who did Dan in Real Life, this would’ve been a hell of a movie.
50) Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden The latest documentary from Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me fame). I liked this doc for a lot of reasons, many of which are probably not quite what Morgan wanted viewers to take away. I liked that he spent a lot of time with translators, as it gave me some ideas of how to shoot our doc in Vietnam since we will be spenidng a lot of time with translators. I loved seeing gorgeous shots of the Middle East, as opposed to the typical news footage. I loved seeing him chatting and laughing with people who would be shown as terrorists in some bad action movie purely because of their hair and what they were wearing. I love how Morgan’s films always teach you something, but it is done in such a fun way that you don’t realize you are learning.
51) Aliens So for Halloween, I promised PG that I would watch a scary movie with him. He chose Aliens, thinking I would like it better than a typical “scary” movie. Unfortunately, I found this movie more silly than scary. Why did the aliens look like crabs and lobsters? Was the writer allergic to shellfish? Was this his attempt at payback?
Books:
27) After All These Years - Susan Isaacs This book made me ANGRY it was so bad. All the blurbs on the back were like “funniest book in the history of the world! You will laugh until your insides fall out!” BULLSHIT.
28) Big Boned -Meg Cabot Man. I totally thought I had found a new shitty book author to entertain me when I wanted to read silly girl drivel. But instead, this book was just…shitty.
29) Senior Year - Dan Shaughnessy Part memoir, part chronicle of his son’s senior year of high school, this book was essentially a love letter to baseball (and to small town life). Having grown up idolizing Dan Shaughnessy I will admit I was disappointed in this book as it lacked the humor I had grown up loving from his Boston Globe columns, but overall a good book.
30) All The Flowers Are Dying - Lawrence Block It was OK. Not the really funny Lawrence Block, not the uber- suspenseful Lawrence Block (I totally knew what was going on way before I was supposed to…) but still decent Lawrence Block. Which is automatically a good book.
November Media
Movies:
52) God Grew Tired of Us - I wish I had written about this when I first saw it, and not procrastinated and tried to write it a month later, because holy crap was this documentary amazing. I have gushed about it to everyone, and I don’t plan to stop. Watch this film!
53) Center Stage: Turn It Up - I can pretend I watched this because I had to for work, but I totally didn’t. I wanted to watch it. Call me crazy.
54) Role Models - Funny! We totally went because we needed a stupid laugh, and that’s exactly what we got. Totally recommend this for when you are having one of those days…
55) Get Smart - Way funnier than I thought it was gonna be! I was shocked! I know that sounds crazy, but I thought this movie was gonna SUCK, and I only watched it cuz I was in the middle of the 23 hour flight to vietnam and I was bored silly. But it was funny! I even laughed out loud once and felt like an idiot!
56) Hancock - First half: entertaining. Second half: moronic.
57) Mamma Mia- Oh dear god. Even on that 23 hour flight, watching this made me want to rip my hair out. I think it may have even made the flight seem longer, if that is possible.
Books:
31) But Enough About Me - Jancee Dunn - I hate her. So why I felt the need to read her book is beyond me. But I did. And I still kind of hate her. Sorry.
32) Gone But Not Forgotten - Philip Margolin - PG gave me this book to read. It started slow, but got better. Not great, but kept me busy on a bunch of subway rides and that damn 23 hour plane ride.
December Media
Movies:
58) Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 - Wow. This movie was not good. Once again, I was on a 23 hour plane ride. And once again, this movie made that ride seem, somehow,…even longer. Sad. I was SO looking forward to this movie!!
59) Jerry Maguire - Huh! This remarkably stood up over time! Not too shabby, Jerry Maguire!
60) Ghost Town - I would only ever watch this movie on a longass plane ride.
61) The Transporter 3 - Yay! My boyfriend Jason Statham is back and just as kick-ass as ever! There were some AWESOME stunts in this movie.
62) Quantum of Solace - Boooooooooring. No one should EVER have to call a James Bond film boring.
63) Good Will Hunting - Still good! Yay! I started watching this halfway through in a hotel room in LA and got pissy when it got late and I had to turn it off, so I came home and TIVO’d it and watched the whole damn thing all over again.
64) Marley & Me - Much better than I thought it would be, actually. I would even maybe consider reading the book.
65) Step Brothers - No. Just…No.
66) The Bank Job - I had this DVD for almost 6 months before I finally watched it. I had some sort of weird emotional attatchment leaving me unable to return it or watch it. And after all that? It was kind of boring.
Books:
33) Agnes & The Hitman - Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer - A ridiculously stupid book only good for reading on a beach. Luckily, that is what I did. I then left it at the hotel in Bali so some other sucker could read it on the beach.
34) The Ridiculous Race - Steve Hely , Vali Chandrasekaran - AMAZING. This book’s first ten pages made me laugh so hard I think Chelsea thought I was slowly going mad. I mean, I was SNORTING with laughter. It got less laugh out loud funny, but it never got any less GOOD. Totally read this book.
35) The Lifeguard - James Patterson & Andrew Gross - Borrowed this from PG’s family on Christmas, and read it on the subway over 3 days. Don’t get me worng, that doesn’t mean it was a good book. It just means it was an easy, quick read.
If anyone has any recommendations for books to read in '09...pass them on please!
Grand Totals: Movies- 66, Books -35
January Media
Movies:
1) Enchanted- We saw this on New Years Day due to the criteria that it a) was playing at a good time, b) wasn’t so loud it would hurt my hungover head, c) wasn’t so gory it would affect the pregnant lady. Surprisingly, we both quite enjoyed it.
2) Husband For Hire - I had to watch it. It was not very good.
3) War - Eventually I will realize that watching a shitty Jason Statham movie will not get me any closer to having sex with Jason Statham. In fact, if he keeps pushing these pieces of shit on me, I may not even WANT to have sex with him anymore. This movie = unbearable.
4) 27 Dresses - surprisingly adorable.
5) She’s The Man- already seen it, but I heart Amanda Bynes so it was worth a TIVO’s second viewing. And Channing Tatum? HOT.
6) The Game Plan- oh my. The Rock, what on earth were you thinking? And did I REALLY tear up at the end? Allergies, must have been allergies, I wouldn’t tear up at a holy crap terrible “family” movie…
7) Sydney White - see, I told you I loved Amanda Bynes.
Books:
1) Leaving Microsoft to Change the World - John Wood - Amazing. Words can’t express how this book affected me.
2) Eat Pray Love - Elizabeth Gilbert- you are all WELL aware of my feelings towards this book. THIS BOOK MUST DIE.
3) Temporary Insanity - Leslie Carroll - took this from the free book pile at work - it was a total piece of shit, which was exactly what I needed after friggin Eat Pray Love.
4) Open House - Elizabeth Berg - Nic lent this to me, she’s been pushing Elizabeth Berg for years. I remember reading one of her books and liking it, but never went on for whatever reason. And Augusten Burroughs LOVES her, so how could she do wrong?
February Media
Movies:
8) Picture Perfect - this movie really did not hold up over time. Or did it suck back in the 90’s too?
9) Step Up - also not as good as I remembered it. Huh.
10) Out of Sight - OK, I fell asleep at the very end, but I watched MOST of it, so it counts, right? That’s what I get for trying to watch a movie on a teeny tiny jetblue screen.
Books:
5) Range of Motion - Elizabeth Berg - not as enjoyable as the last Berg book I read, but I think that is due to the subject matter. It might have been too soon for me to read a hospital book.
6) 2cool2betrue- Simon Burke - just as awful as it sounds. I snagged it from the free book pile at work when I needed something quick for the plane ride to LA. Holy MOLY did it suck.
7) The Watchmen - Robert Crais. Finally, a crappy book that was actually GOOD crappy. Robert Crais is perfect subway reading.
March Media
Movies:
11) Step Up 2: The Streets- as a GOOD movie, it was quite bad. AS a BAD movie, it was quite good. Make sense? Also? Quite possibly the least subtle movie I have ever seen in my life. Like, smack you upside the head subtlety.
12) Hell on Wheels - A documentary about the start of girls roller derby. Was it interesting? Yes. Was it a good film? No. But boy did it make me feel scads better about my own.
13) No Reservations - Words can’t express how unenjoyable this movie was
14) Live Free or Die Hard Now, the movie was just as entertaining as I remembered it. But the DVD? What the hell! The only bonus features are an unrated version or commentary? You have a Justin Long movie with no outtakes? A Bruce Willis movie without any “The making of the stunt sequences”? Who the hell thought that was a good idea?
Books:
8) The Book of Joe - Jonathan Tropper - man did I rave about this like crazy when I read it the first time. Second time? It was fine.
Huh.
April Media
Movies:
15) August Rush- Thank god I saw this movie on a plane so I couldn’t BAWL MY FREAKIN EYES OUT while I watched. Damn was this movie a thousand times better than I thought it would be (actually, I thought it would suck, so yay for them for not sucking).
16) Rank This was an IFC documentary on Bullriding. It was very interesting, I definitely learned a lot, but man, for a subject I am fascinated about…I got way too bored. While as a former film student I understood the artistry of what they were trying to accomplish, I really just wanted to yell PICK UP THE PACE!
17) Michael Clayton OK, that’s a lie. I got no more than halfway in before I wanted to claw my eyes out. And I was on a plane, so you know if I turned it off it was THAT boring.
Books:
9) High Profile - Robert B. Parker - Perfect plane book
10) Fried Twinkies, Buckle Bunnies, & BullRiders - A Year Inside the Professional BullRiders Tour - Josh Peter- Yo, this book ROCKED. I learned a TON about the PBR - what the back numbers mean, the insurance hell, which bullriders are sluts...all the good stuff!
11) Try - Lily Burana - Another selection from the free book pile at work. It was a weird kind of fate when I saw it - it’s about a girl who gets dumped by her hipster boyfriend and falls in love with a cowboy, and follows him on the rodeo circuit. While reading about life out west was interesting, and I picked up a lot of buckle bunny knowledge…I kind of think the author really needs to get laid. I never actually thought I would say that about an author...
12) Dispatches from the Edge : A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival - Anderson Cooper I saw a lot of myself in Anderson Cooper, for reasons that are far too difficult to explain in this brief space. But I never really thought about him whatsoever, so it was intriguing to me. I might have to check him out a bit more. Also? Man, that poor guy has seen way more than anyone should ever have to see in their lifetime
May Media
Movies:
18) Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay - Definitely not as good as the first one, I think because they weren’t really stoned this time. Hate to say it, but H&K are funnier when stoned. But I will watch Neil Patrick Harris playing “Neil Patrick Harris” any day of the week. Bring on the branding iron, NPH!
19) Lars and the Real Girl - only Ryan Gosling could pull off a character like that. I don’t even want to say more for fear of spoiling it for anyone, but I will say it was such a charming movie. I hate that word, but it really was...charming.
20) Darius Goes West A documentary about a 15 year old boy with muscular dystrophy who had never left his town- his friends took him on a road trip to a) let him experience life (that scene of him in the ocean for the first time...oh my god) b) raise awareness about muscular dystrophy (it kills an insane amount of kids! I had no idea!) and c) showcase what parts of America are wheelchair accessible (you can get into Carlsbad caverns, way under the earth, but you can’t get to the top pf the arch in St. Louis? Really? Dude.) Great doc.
21) Into the Wild Definitely the most beautiful movie I have ever seen - I mean literally, visually stunning. Also made me want to do things I really shouldn’t let myself think about, but I fully expected that.
Books:
13) Charm City - Laura Lippman - all the reviews used phrases like “laugh out loud funny”. I thought it would be the prefect plane book. Except...not only did I not laugh, I was bored silly! I DREADED picking it up every day. Damn you reviewers!
14) The Wonder Spot - Melissa Banks - I swear I thought I liked her last book, but maybe I was smoking crack. This one started out boring, became vaguely uninteresting, morphed into minorly entertaining, to about 3 pages of decent, before becoming boring again. What a piece of crap.
15) The Woods - Harlan Coben Finally! A good book! An entertaining book! A book I couldn’t put down! Thanks Harlan, for being so awesomely consistent.
June Media
Movies:
22) The Sisterhood of The Travelling Pants - had to watch it before I could watch the second one coming out in August, except...it wasn’t really as good as I remember, which seems to be a recurring theme. Not that I WON’T see the new one, but I may not rush to see it in the theatre. So Netflix may have just saved me $12.
23) Sex & The City - It was good. That’s pretty much it. I liked the show, and the movie was basically a REALLY long episode of the show, so what’s not to like?
24) The Object of My Affection . I know I must have seen this when it came out, but I had no memory of it whatsoever. Now having watched it again…I still have absolutely no memory of having seen it. Weird.
25) Mad Money Fine for watching it on a plane. A piece if crap if you were to watch it anywhere else.
26) Chaos I know I SAID I understood that watching terrible Jason Statham movies won’t get me any closer to having sex with him, yet I still keep watching terrible Jason Statham movies. And this one was TERRIBLE . When will I learn?
Books:
16) Metro Girl - Janet Evanovich - My mom gave this to me to read when I went to visit her. I thought it looked familiar, but I was bored enough to keep reading it. About 10 pages in I realized, yup, I had already read it, and it wasn’t all that good. But it kept me busy on a few plane rides, so it’s fine in my book!
17) Shoot Him If He Runs - Stuart Woods It was a typical Stuart Woods book. If you haven’t read him, that means nothing, but it kept me entertained and awake on the subway. Sometimes that’s all you can ask for.
18) The Other Side of The Story - Marian Keyes I swear I used to like her books. Did she start sucking? Or did my taste in literature improve? Cause really, this was kinda shitty
July Media
Movies:
27) Definitely, Maybe - Not nearly as good as I wanted it to be, but it was Ryan Reynolds, so really...how bad could it be?
28) Wanted - Angelina has never been hotter. And I didn’t hate James McAvoy, which is saying a lot.
29) The Bucket List now on my Top 10 list of Worst Movies Ever.
30) In Bruges I’m obsessed. Obsessed I tell you. I had to run out and purchase the DVD because I need to have In Bruges on hand AT ALL TIMES. Just in case. “Bottle!!”
31)Fool’s Gold I got this specifically to take and watch on the plane. And that is exactly what it is good for. Nothing else. Trust me.
Books:
19) How To Talk To A Widower - Jonathan Tropper -Ladies & Gentlemen, a passage illustrating just how much I adore Jonathan Tropper:
“The sky is fucking with me. It’s one of those militantly perfect spring days, the kind that seems to be trying just a little too hard, the kind you want to smack in the face...”
the kind you want to smack in the face Seriously. This is why I had the release date in my calendar for months…
20) Fearless Fourteen - Janet Evanovitch . My mom gave this to me when I was home, and I read it in a day. I haven’t done that in a while. Nicely played, Ms. Evanovitch.
21) Into Thin Air - Jon Krakauer Is it weird that I kind of want to try climbing now?
22) Chasing Darkness - Robert Crais Definitely not my favorite Robert Crais book, but still thoroughly enjoyable
August Media
Movies:
32) Vantage Point- left me exhausted
33) The Dark Knight - much better than I thought it would be, but it still could have been an hour or 10 endings lines shorter
34) Death Race Continuing my quest to see every Jason Statham movie, no matter how awful. And this one was pretty darn awful.
35) Everest (IMAX Documentary) Oddly, the bonus features were 10 times more fascinating than the actual movie.
36) What Happens in Vegas I think there was about a minute somewhere in there where I enjoyed it. The rest of it friggin sucked.
37) Tropic Thunder Eh. I was on "That ain't Vietnam!" alert far too much to enjoy it. And there was a lot of boy jokes I just didn't find funny. But it was a'ight.
Books:
23) sTORI telling - Tori Spelling -it was for work. That’s the only excuse I can give.
24) Size 12 is not Fat - Meg Cabot I had been reading this other book for about 6 weeks now, the kind of godawful book that everyone swears is so good, so I TRIED, I really TRIED, but I just hated it more and more every time I picked it up. I would get through 5 pages, and then give up for a week. And then force myslef to read another 5 pages. After 6 weeks of that b.s., I picked up this Meg cabot book and blew through it in a day and a half.
25) Size 14 is not fat either - Meg Cabot Then I picked up this one and read it in one evening on my terrace. Then I threw the other piece of shit book in the trash. Crappy novels win the day!!!!!
September Media
Movies:
38) 27 Dresses a good movie to pass the time on a rainy Sunday
39) Dan in Real Life Just as good the second time. I love this movie.
40) Reality Bites Really weird to watch at age 31. Huh. It’s like a time capsule of my 18 year old self...
41) Righteous Kill Booooooooooooring. Let me reiterate. Booooooooring. The credits came up and half the audience BOLTED.
42) Baby Mama eh. Considering the cast, this should have been a LOT more entertaining
43) Rent - Filmed Live on Broadway I still don’t understand how they got so CLOSE to all the action, yet I never saw one camera! It doesn’t make sense!
44) My Best Friend’s Girl Ahhhh, Dane Cook. He can do no wrong in my eyes…
Books:
26) Bringing Down the House Good, entertaining, easy read. I wish I had more to say about it, but...I kinda don’t. Man, books were LAME to me this month. Every time I tried to read one they turned out to be turds.
October Media
Movies:
45) Made of Honor I am convinced too many romantic comedies have ruined me for any successful future relationships.
46) Forgetting Sarah Marshall I thought this was supposed to be hysterically funny or something? What did I miss?….
47) Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlist I have not fallen in love so quickly with a movie since Garden State. I have not LOVED a movie so much since Garden State. I have not related so much to a movie since Garden State. (I wonder if I should watch Garden State again? It’s been years…) I loved the soundtrack, the cast, the story, the acting. I hated that PG thought it was “good”. Everyone else…go see this movie. Go love this movie. And if you want, take me with you :)
48) Run, Fat Boy, Run Do. Not. Watch. This. Movie.
49) Rachel Getting Married The acting was great. Some of the random story ideas (an Indian wedding? Why exactly?) bugged me, as did the shaky camera work and randomnly chosen camera angles (is this now the Blair Witch Project?) I think if this movie had been done by the team who did Dan in Real Life, this would’ve been a hell of a movie.
50) Where in the World is Osama Bin Laden The latest documentary from Morgan Spurlock (of Supersize Me fame). I liked this doc for a lot of reasons, many of which are probably not quite what Morgan wanted viewers to take away. I liked that he spent a lot of time with translators, as it gave me some ideas of how to shoot our doc in Vietnam since we will be spenidng a lot of time with translators. I loved seeing gorgeous shots of the Middle East, as opposed to the typical news footage. I loved seeing him chatting and laughing with people who would be shown as terrorists in some bad action movie purely because of their hair and what they were wearing. I love how Morgan’s films always teach you something, but it is done in such a fun way that you don’t realize you are learning.
51) Aliens So for Halloween, I promised PG that I would watch a scary movie with him. He chose Aliens, thinking I would like it better than a typical “scary” movie. Unfortunately, I found this movie more silly than scary. Why did the aliens look like crabs and lobsters? Was the writer allergic to shellfish? Was this his attempt at payback?
Books:
27) After All These Years - Susan Isaacs This book made me ANGRY it was so bad. All the blurbs on the back were like “funniest book in the history of the world! You will laugh until your insides fall out!” BULLSHIT.
28) Big Boned -Meg Cabot Man. I totally thought I had found a new shitty book author to entertain me when I wanted to read silly girl drivel. But instead, this book was just…shitty.
29) Senior Year - Dan Shaughnessy Part memoir, part chronicle of his son’s senior year of high school, this book was essentially a love letter to baseball (and to small town life). Having grown up idolizing Dan Shaughnessy I will admit I was disappointed in this book as it lacked the humor I had grown up loving from his Boston Globe columns, but overall a good book.
30) All The Flowers Are Dying - Lawrence Block It was OK. Not the really funny Lawrence Block, not the uber- suspenseful Lawrence Block (I totally knew what was going on way before I was supposed to…) but still decent Lawrence Block. Which is automatically a good book.
November Media
Movies:
52) God Grew Tired of Us - I wish I had written about this when I first saw it, and not procrastinated and tried to write it a month later, because holy crap was this documentary amazing. I have gushed about it to everyone, and I don’t plan to stop. Watch this film!
53) Center Stage: Turn It Up - I can pretend I watched this because I had to for work, but I totally didn’t. I wanted to watch it. Call me crazy.
54) Role Models - Funny! We totally went because we needed a stupid laugh, and that’s exactly what we got. Totally recommend this for when you are having one of those days…
55) Get Smart - Way funnier than I thought it was gonna be! I was shocked! I know that sounds crazy, but I thought this movie was gonna SUCK, and I only watched it cuz I was in the middle of the 23 hour flight to vietnam and I was bored silly. But it was funny! I even laughed out loud once and felt like an idiot!
56) Hancock - First half: entertaining. Second half: moronic.
57) Mamma Mia- Oh dear god. Even on that 23 hour flight, watching this made me want to rip my hair out. I think it may have even made the flight seem longer, if that is possible.
Books:
31) But Enough About Me - Jancee Dunn - I hate her. So why I felt the need to read her book is beyond me. But I did. And I still kind of hate her. Sorry.
32) Gone But Not Forgotten - Philip Margolin - PG gave me this book to read. It started slow, but got better. Not great, but kept me busy on a bunch of subway rides and that damn 23 hour plane ride.
December Media
Movies:
58) Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants 2 - Wow. This movie was not good. Once again, I was on a 23 hour plane ride. And once again, this movie made that ride seem, somehow,…even longer. Sad. I was SO looking forward to this movie!!
59) Jerry Maguire - Huh! This remarkably stood up over time! Not too shabby, Jerry Maguire!
60) Ghost Town - I would only ever watch this movie on a longass plane ride.
61) The Transporter 3 - Yay! My boyfriend Jason Statham is back and just as kick-ass as ever! There were some AWESOME stunts in this movie.
62) Quantum of Solace - Boooooooooring. No one should EVER have to call a James Bond film boring.
63) Good Will Hunting - Still good! Yay! I started watching this halfway through in a hotel room in LA and got pissy when it got late and I had to turn it off, so I came home and TIVO’d it and watched the whole damn thing all over again.
64) Marley & Me - Much better than I thought it would be, actually. I would even maybe consider reading the book.
65) Step Brothers - No. Just…No.
66) The Bank Job - I had this DVD for almost 6 months before I finally watched it. I had some sort of weird emotional attatchment leaving me unable to return it or watch it. And after all that? It was kind of boring.
Books:
33) Agnes & The Hitman - Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer - A ridiculously stupid book only good for reading on a beach. Luckily, that is what I did. I then left it at the hotel in Bali so some other sucker could read it on the beach.
34) The Ridiculous Race - Steve Hely , Vali Chandrasekaran - AMAZING. This book’s first ten pages made me laugh so hard I think Chelsea thought I was slowly going mad. I mean, I was SNORTING with laughter. It got less laugh out loud funny, but it never got any less GOOD. Totally read this book.
35) The Lifeguard - James Patterson & Andrew Gross - Borrowed this from PG’s family on Christmas, and read it on the subway over 3 days. Don’t get me worng, that doesn’t mean it was a good book. It just means it was an easy, quick read.
If anyone has any recommendations for books to read in '09...pass them on please!