7.02.2012

June 2012 - Things I Read, Things I Watched & Things I Decided I Want to Read

Well, I read more this month than I have the last couple of months. So that's nice.

Previous posts - April & May / March / February / January
Books I read - Making Mischief: A Maurice Sendak Appreciation / Sitcom Style / Allure / The Elephant to Hollywood
How Sassy Changed My Life / The Last Invisible Boy / The Rescuers
Now for the books I discovered this month that I'd like to read some day - People's Pops: 55 Recipes for Ice Pops, Shave Ice, and Boozy Pops from Brooklyn's Coolest Pop Shop.
Now for the things I watched this month.

I watched Being There again on my long bus ride to New York.
A saw a few movies in the theater this month, and I enjoyed watching each of them (partially because of the intense air conditioning) but at the same time - they were all flawed in my opinion. You know, the sort of movies you wouldn't want to own (yeah - I still buy tons of dvds: if you lived in the woods like I do, you wouldn't want to depend on having an internet connection to watch things). 

I loved Charlize & Michael Fassbender in Prometheus. I wish there would be a sequel that consisted of Noomi carrying around the head. 

Also - the part at the very beginning with the engineer on the cliff? All I could think of was "This is what Edward is supposed to look like!". I have TONS of problems with the Twilight books, but one of my big issues is that all these girls wish they could get with Edward and I want to scream - "HE FEELS LIKE HE'S MADE OF STONE!" Stephenie Meyer states that fact over and over and OVER AGAIN! Why on EARTH would you want to make out with someone whose lips don't have any give? I don't go to museums and look at a statue and think - "Oh yeah! I want to spoon with that!" If you are attracted to Edward, you basically want to make out with a movable version of the David statue. I mean, he's basically as old as the David statue, so there's another similarity for you. 

Anyway - that was a long tangent just to say that when I saw the engineer I thought he looked like he was made of stone and that the make-up people working on the Twilight movies should have done something similar with Edward's look that if they wanted to be accurate.
Seeking a Friend for the End of the World. The ending sort-of ruined it for me, but I enjoyed the first hunk a lot. Lots of people hate on Kiera Knightley, but I like her. Sorry? I prefer her version of Pride & Prejudice to the mini-series version. Sorry again?

It was very weird seeing her & Steve Carrell put their lips together, though. BUT - give me Steve Carrell any day over some vampire dude that's supposed to feel like he's made of stone!!

The dog (named Sorry) is delightful.
I literally went to see this movie just because it was super hot and I wanted to escape it, but I ended up really liking Snow White and the Huntsman. I wish that I had been able to watch it when I was younger: I would have watched it on repeat along with the other fantasy movies I loved as a child.
I finished my rewatch of Six Feet Under at about 4am this past Friday. I got home that night and decided that there would be no better way to prepare for bed than to watch the series finale and SOB UNCONTROLLABLY. Sob louder than Ruth did at Nathaniel's grave in the first episode. But that's so satisfying! Sobbing over fiction. 

Favorite tv show ever..... even though I think I loathe Nate more every time I watch it. 

The only good thing about finishing it is that I won't be thinking about death / being really morbid as much as I have been the past few months or so.
Finally, I just started watching The West Wing for the first time. I got in to a small argument with my sister because she doesn't like Allison Janney in this or in anything else she's in. How!?! Why?!?! I don't understand.

Also - right now I'm listening to Christina Hendricks & Robert Morse do a commentary for an episode of Mad Men from season two (yeah, I do things like that when I'm putting together blog posts - tv show / movie commentaries & podcasts) and Robert Morse is talking about what a nut Vincent Kartheiser is & it's great. Basically everything Robert Morse is saying is great. What a gem stone.

Also - I recently decided that I want to watch a comedy that features Bryan Cranston & Jon Hamm as brothers. I'd also like Jonah Hill to be in a period piece that takes place in like the 1500s or something. Also - I want to watch Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Christian Bale in a happy movie in which they play gay fathers. Because they're almost never happy in movies! And I want them to be! And I was thinking about how they could be in a quality family comedy, and I figured - why not just kill two birds with one stone and have them be together in this hypothetical movie. Instead of in two separate ones.  


I have lots of other "movies I'd like to see specific actors in" (obviously, considering that I just mentioned guys and didn't even start to list my dream roles for various ladies), but I'll restrain myself from presenting them to you. Anyway, get on that, Hollywood! Love, Mallory.


But one more thing - if Emma Stone and Michelle Monaghan never play sisters it is a TRAGEDY. They look and sound alike. It needs to happen.

16 comments:

  1. Hahaha - so true about Edward! Except what I always zone in on is the fact that he's stone-hard and COLD. Like marble, like ice. Since I'm always cold anyway, this is not appealing, give me oven-hot Jacob any day. (And there are dirtier things I could comment on with regards to his cold-all-over body - euugh!)

    I LOVE your "movies actors should be in" ideas (Christian Bale! Why haven't you been happy since Newsies?!) and if you ever do a whole post full of them I will approve heartily.

    Alsooo I love Six Feet Under and now when I walk by all the funeral homes in my neighborhood, I am not scared. I've only seen up through season 2 though...I'm scared to watch the rest because of the aforementioned fiction-crying that will ensue. (Same reason I'm hesitant to watch Serenity, even though I just finished Firefly. I take my TV way too seriously.) But now I feel like I should, liiike why do you hate Nate, oh no! Must find out.

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    1. Right?!?! I mean I guess she likes to make the contrast between Edward being icy and Jacob being hot, but - to me - all that made me think was "Well, obviously anyone would choose Jacob! Who wants an ice cube!?!". Nonsensical.

      And I'm glad you agree with me about Christian Bale! He was happy at points in The Fighter - but that was only because he was on drugs! Drug induced happiness doesn't count. I understand not wanting to take roles in which you're not just a normal dude and wanting to challenge yourself, but doing a comedy would be a whole NEW challenge! A light hearted challenge. People always say comedy can be harder acting-wise than drama.

      So much fiction-crying, Sally! I honestly don't think that any series has ever ended in a more sob-worthy and beautiful way. So you should watch the rest even though you will cry and you may end up disliking Nate. I hate Nate because I vehemently disagree with almost every relationship choice he makes. I was reading or watching an interview with Alan Ball (who created the show) and he talked about how at first everyone thought that Nate was going to be the "hero", but it didn't turn out like that. And I agree.

      Plus, I just love David Fisher so very much.

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    2. Completely agree with Sally, need to start a post of series, "movies actors should be in." I'd still love Christian Bale even if the only acting he ever did was that business card scene in American Psycho

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    3. Christian Bale has had a special place in my heart ever since I saw him in Little Women in 1994.

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  2. People's Pops is great, and Beautiful Ruins is absolutely fantastic, I thought. Loved it, and thinking about using it in one of my classes this fall. Age of Miracles is waiting for me on request at the library right now--have to get it later on!

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    1. Well now I want to read Beautiful Ruins even MORE.

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  3. I like your movie/TV show ideas. Hollywood, get to work!

    Also, Six Feet Under and The West Wing are like my two all time favorites. That's weird about your sister, because I thought everyone always liked Allison Janney in everything? She's especially great in this. CJ is my favorite. And when you get to Stockard Channing she is also very awesome!!! Like, I know that Aaron Sorkin is definitely a sexist jerk IRL, but he writes really awesome strong female characters so I don't really understand how/why that happens.

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    1. Right?! She's crazy & Allison Janney is the best.

      Stockard Channing has only been in one episode so far & she was sporting quite a bit of cleavage. More cleavage than I ever saw Hillary, Michelle or Laura sport... but I support it. First ladies have boobs & they shouldn't have to hide them.

      I don't have HBO & I'm too lazy to illegally get shows on the internet so I haven't watched The Newsroom yet, but judging from your tweet earlier Aaron Sorkin must have written a good part for Allison Pill, I'm guessing? I love her - mostly from when she played Anne Kronenberg in Milk, and I liked her character on the show In Treatment a lot. So that's basically why I plan to watch The Newsroom eventually.

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  4. I'm on the same EXACT page as you, Mallory, with regards to Keira Knightly! I used to loooooooathe her (probably because she's so skinny and beautiful and I didn't buy into her acting), and then I saw her in Joe Wright's Pride & Prejudice and now I looooove her. I guess it helps that Joe Wright is awesome (LAAAVE Atonement, looking forward to Anna Karenina), and I loved Matthew Macfayden's Mr. Darcy (not going to lie, kind of couldn't stand Colin Firth's...SACRILEGE!). You know what, I think I'm in the mood to rewatch it now...

    And I love the new sight design/posts!

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    1. Megan!

      I'm glad that you're looking forward to Anna Karenina too. When the trailer came out I saw like 4 people I follow on twitter going "ughghggg terrible" and I sat there silently enthused.

      I didn't like Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy either. I've only seen Bridget Jones's Diary once, but I remember liking him as Mark Darcy much more than the ACTUAL Mr. Darcy. That being said - I really like Colin Firth in other things. So. Yes.

      & I'm also glad that you like the new blog-ish-ness. Thank you!

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  5. Haha! Oh my gosh. I love your idea for a movie with Christian Bale/Phillip Seymour Hoffman! Picturing them together cracks me up.

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    1. It needs to happen! They're both such good actors... and very private non-celebrity-type actors - I feel like they'd get along.

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  6. OMG - I cannot wait to see Seeking a Friend for the End of the World!! Ever since Love Actually I have loved Kiera Knightly too! Have you seen the preview for Moonrise Kingdom?? I can't wait to see that one either.

    :) - chassie

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    1. I have! I've been wanting to see Moonrise Kingdom for ages but it only JUST started playing in Maine and only in a theater that's like 40 minutes away so I haven't gotten to go yet.

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  7. Oh my God, I had the uncontrollable sobs watching the Six Feet Under finale too - SOOOOO GOOD THOUGH! Best television finale ever, just thinking about it is making me teary again, but in a good way.

    I like the look of Michael Caine's book. Love him, and I love autobiographies. I'll be tracking that one down.

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    1. I really enjoyed Michael Caine's book a lot. He does NOT hold back as far as telling Hollywood gossip goes. He also isn't ashamed to write about embarrassing things that happened to him - even, um.... "bathroom" troubles. Or lack-of-a-bathroom problems. You'll see if you read the book, haha.

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Thanks for your comment you wonderful person you.