December 2011
assorted thoughts inspired by the oncoming yearly transition
pretty sure everything has some sort of cosmic significance.
last night i wore yellow pants and had my hair in braids on the top of my head, but i didn’t photograph as well as i had hoped.
one day, i would like to have my face fixed.
why am i no wiser than before?
why do i keep having recurring dreams about dropping acid?
BARDIPARTY BEST OF 2K11
FAVORITE MOVIES
- “The Future” d. Miranda July
- “Weekend” d. Andrew Haigh
- “Drive” d. Nicolas Winding Refn
- “Young Adult” d. Jason Reitman
- “Bridesmaids” d. Paul Feig
- “We Need to Talk About Kevin” d. Lynne Ramsay
- “Terri” d. Azazel Jacobs
- “Project Nim” d. James Marsh
- “Moneyball” d. Bennett Miller
- “Hanna” d. Joe Wright
Basically, I like movies with challenging protagonists, movies with challenging FEMALE protagonists, movies that play with and subvert genre, and movies that elicited emotional responses from me (I cried during The Future, Weekend, and Moneyball)
BEST UNRELEASED MOVIE
- “The Confabulators” d. Sean Dunn and Luke Jarvis
MOVIES THAT MADE ME GO “UGH”
- “Martha Marcy May Marlene” - misplaced tension, easy directorial decisions, bland script…felt like they were exploiting Lizzie Olson
- “The Artist” - didn’t transcend its gimmick, dragged on in the middle, thought the actress was annoying, total Oscar bait
- “Transformers: Dark Side of the Moon” - not even funny bad, felt totally exhausted afterwards, couldn’t stop focusing on Rosie Huntington-Whitely’s shoe continuity
- “Cave of Forgotten Dreams 3D” - 3D felt totally unnecessary
- “Crazy Stupid Love” - Stupid, unfunny, plot holes. Still love Emma Stone, though
- “A Dangerous Method” - boring, felt stagey and theatrical instead of cinematic, not nearly campy enough (Keira was pulling her weight, though)
MOVIES THAT MADE ME GO “UNFFF”
- “XMen: First Class” - Michael Fassbender, James McAvoy, Nicholas Hoult, Kevin Bacon AS A VILLAIN
- “Senna” - RIP but Ayrton Senna was a BABE
- Not a movie, but Ryan Gosling’s publicity tour this summer for “Crazy Stupid Love” and “Drive”
BIGGEST MOVIE DISAPPOINTMENTS
- “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo” - Fincher can do better. Source material sucked (yes, I read the book), but his direction was solid. Tension in the climactic torture scene was great, and the chemistry between Rooney Mara and Daniel Craig was ~palpable
- “Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy” - Difficult to follow, and also difficult for me to care about any of the characters (Except Benedict Cumberbatch). Stakes didn’t seem high enough. Loved the look of the film, though.
- “A Dangerous Method” - see above in the “ugh” section
SORRY, BUT NO, DIDN’T DO IT FOR ME MOVIES
- “Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives” - would’ve loved some sort of cultural context before seeing the movie. Would’ve been a great movie to watch in class. Not so great seeing it with Nick Nicoludis
- “The Tree of Life” - I’m not so into psychedelic drugs, nor do I have daddy issues, so I didn’t “feel” this as much as I should have
MOVIES I HAVEN’T SEEN
- Another Earth, Margaret, A Separation, Certified Copy, Warrior, Melancholia, Le Havre, Tyrannosaur
BEST MUSIC
- Frank Ocean - “Nostalgia,ultra”
- Real Estate - “Days”
- The “Drive” soundtrack
- Drake - “Take Care”
- “Watch the Throne” was honestly just okay for me, but I love how amped up everyone gets when “Niggas in Paris” plays
- Washed Out - ”Within and Without”
- St. Vincent - “Strange Mercy
- All of Beyonce’s singles from “4”
- THE CITY IS MY CHURRRRCH (agree with p4k, best single of 2k11)
- Kurt Vile - “Smoke Ring for My Halo”
BEST TV
- “Louie”
- “Parks & Recreation”
- “Portlandia”
- Loved all of the think-pieces about what Whitney Cummings means to tv/feminism/humor/etc
- “PBS American Masters: Woody Allen”
BEST MOVIES I SAW FOR THE FIRST TIME THAT WEREN’T NEW RELEASES
- “Blow Out” d. Brian DePalma, 1981
- “Le Rayon Vert” d. Eric Rohmer, 1986
- “Fish Tank” d. Andrea Arnold, 2009
- “The Purple Rose of Cairo” d. Woody Allen, 1985
BEST FOOD
- Lunch @ Eleven Madison Park
- Brunch @ M. Wells
- Eggs Benedict & Bloody Mary @ Prune
- Garlic chicken & vinegar spare ribs @ Lucky 8 in Sunset Park
- Carne asada burrito from the Calexico cart on Wooster
- Banana cream pie @ Billy’s Bakery
- Alex Keipper’s brie-en-croute
BEST/MOST ENTERTAINING TABLOID STORIES
- Courtney Stodden
- Mildred Patty Baena
- J.Bieber babydaddy drama
- Weston Cage
- Is Beyonce really preg?
- Paz de la Huerta
- Lindsay Lohan (all time champ, AMAZING showing at ny fashion week this year)
- Chet Haze
BEST SPORTS HIGHLIGHTS
- Tom Brady’s Ugg commercial
- jimmer jimmer jimmer jimmer jimmer
- Unkle Rumple
- Tim Tebow always n forever
- NBA postseason 2k11
- Delonte West on twitter
- The “Fab Five” documentary on ESPN
BEST MOMENTS IRL
- First taste of internet fame while interning at Gawker
- Justin Bieber Never Say Never in 3D with Jeremy Gordon
- When Caroline and I met RJ Berger at Welcome to the Johnsons and he came over to my house
- EATING NEXT TO MADONNA AT JOSEPH LEONARD WITH CAROLINE
- Graduation
- Staying in the penthouse at the Soho Grand
- Devin freaking out at Omni-party
- Rob and I ending up at Jazz night @ Mona’s
- EPIC GOODBYE AVERY NIGHT
- Moving to Park Slope/fam moving to DC
- Getting a legit full-time job that I love
- Meeting James Earl Jones
- That one night in Williamsburg where I ran into EVERYONE
- Going to DC and Nahant with Sean
- GKD Karaoke
- Sean’s Christmas present to me
