Whales and the Best Movie I've Seen in Awhile.

Last night Brian and I rented Boyhood to watch after going out to dinner. We wanted to see it since all the Oscar buzz surrounding it has our interest, and the concept seemed pretty original: the same cast, filmed over 12 years, following a boy and his family through hard, real, and mundane seasons of life. Mason, the protagonist, maintains a level head and a tender heart through the tumultuous childhood he's given. On a more aesthetic note, the soundtrack choices and small inclusions of pop-culture to help mark the time (Gameboy Advanced, 20 Questions, Pokemon, Britney Spears) were perfection.

Brian and I had the same favorite part. When visiting his dad on the weekend, right before they fall asleep, Mason asks him a question. It goes like this:

Mason: Dad, there's no real magic in the world, right?
Dad: What do you mean?
Mason: You know, like elves and stuff. People just made that up.
Dad: Oh, I don't know. I mean, what makes you think that elves are any more magical than something like a whale? You know what I mean? What if I told you a story about how underneath the ocean, there was this giant sea mammal that used sonar and sang songs and it was so big that its heart was the size of a car and you could crawl through the arteries? I mean, you'd think that was pretty magical, right? 

The best thing about the movie, I think, is how it elevates what we Americans might call a "regular" or "normal" childhood to expose it for what it is: incredibly rocky and tough to go through, something that should be celebrated when it's conquered. We've heard the story a million times: a kid's parents get divorced (or never get married), his mom struggles to raise him and his sister as she moves from one drunken jerk of a husband to another, and is constantly clawing her way through for herself and her family. She attends night class, gets a better job, and yet, still, even when the bills start to get paid on time, the brokenness follows. We watch Mason go from a six-year-old boy who gets in trouble for putting rocks in the pencil sharpener at school to a mature, introspective teenager who goes through love, heartbreak, and asking the big questions about what he is supposed to do in this life and why this whole rig is here in the first place. Through the lens of this film, this kind of childhood, although common, is no longer normal. Or just regular. It's real and hard. Kids go through it and kids survive it. I think Mason's survival is amazing. Boyhood champions a not uncommon (but not unimportant) story, bearing witness to its struggles, and pointing ahead to opportunities still to come.

I suppose you could call it a classic coming of age story, but I've never seen one quite like this before. I think it was well worth the 2 hours and 45 minutes; I almost wished it were longer! Movies like this remind me why I love to think about things like worldview, purpose, perspectives, and of course, magic.

Transformium?

We went to see a cheap movie at the old school theater that shows out of date films with Karley and Sam this weekend, and naturally we chose the gaudy, ridiculous Transformers: Age of Extinction. The premise of this one was literally built on the concept of a theoretical mineral called Transformium. No, really.

I equated the experience of watching the Michael Bay film to the sensation a child diagnosed with severe ADHD must have when locked inside of a rotating kaleidoscope for 157 consecutive minutes. The movie kind of went like this:

METAL!SPECIALEFFECTS!MISSILES!MORESPECIALEFFECTS!

...cheesy throwaway tough guy one liner...

MOREMETAL! MISSILES! ROBOTSDOINGSOMERSAULTS!

LINKINPARKMUSIC!!!!!!!

...another one liner to conclude "character development"...

(repeat.)

Throw in some gratuitous shots of Mark Wahlberg's out of control biceps and that random blonde hot girl's mile-long legs (How ever DOES she manage to reapply pink lipstick in the middle of an apocalyptic robot uprising? Amazing...), pepper with a pot-bellied autobot manifestation of John Goodman, top it off with a fleet of freshly-tamed dinosaur-robot-dragons, and you have every 12-year-old halo addict's dream come true.

That, or our Saturday night. Brian and I are now sitting in our quiet apartment staring at nothing, just to detox.

Lost and Found

I have to tell you about how I just watched an amazing movie. I suppose I should say I just watched an amazing FILM, because FILM is the term you use when a movie turns into something more than just a movie. FILM is also a term you use when you want to sound like a snobby-indy-flick-type, but I digress. I'm out here in D.C. visiting Alex and Heidi and we three watched it tonight after the Easter festivities died down.

It's a documentary called Searching for Sugar Man, and it tells the poignant story of Rodriguez, a musician who produced two albums in the early 1970's that completely flopped in America, but were underground megahits in apartheid South Africa. Long story short, this flick tells the tale of a music journalist who tracked him down in 1997, 20 years after his records released, and found him living modestly in Detroit working manual labor. His anti-establishment message spoke to the South Africans who were under a tightly censored regime at the time, and circulated from a bootlegged copy of his album Cold Fact. It spread like wildfire through the nation, inspiring fellow musicians to make music with similar free-thinking messages. His album was censored but still sold over a half million copies in spite of the ban. In South Africa he was considered to be in the same ballpark as Simon and Garfunkel, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan, yet no one knew anything about him. All they had was his photo on the album cover. Urban legend told the story of how he had supposedly died by a dramatic on-stage suicide and that was that. But that wasn't that. He was alive and well, living in obscurity in Detroit, the victim (I presume) of some sleazy record company people who didn't pay dues to where dues should have been paid. But there he was, all the same, unaware of his superstardom across an ocean. They flew him out in 1998 to perform in a half dozen sold out shows, where he was finally accepted and adequately recognized for his remarkable talent. Rodriguez was back from the dead and performing in front of sold out crowds at last. What a story.

What got me the most was the where is he now? element of the documentary? This movie had him wrapped in mystery the whole time; we didn't get to actually meet him until over halfway through the footage. Now we've finally found him! He's alive, performing music, and gaining recognition! Roll out the Beverly Hills mansion and new record deal, right? Wrong. The guy still lives in Detroit in the same house he's lived in for over 40 years. He gave the proceeds from his sold out shows and promotions to his friends and family. He continues to work hard in construction and renovation. I'm not saying that people who embrace their financial success are doing something wrong. But I am saying that it is a wonderful thing to see a true talent who loves what he does for the sake of what it is and not for the purpose of what it can get him. He is a thoughtful, sensitive, profoundly humble guy.

There's something about a poet or singer or writer or artist that can get at the real heart of stuff. I found Rodriguez to be a heartbreakingly great human being. The film ended with a shot of his walk home to his rundown residence in Detroit. Out of a pretty wretched place shines a brilliant talent. It makes me want to be in the business of helping to tell stories like this. We all need to hear stories about truth breaking through the hardship and darkness, giving way to a beautiful song.

Fam-a-lam

My two favorite things. 

This weekend was full of family. Not the whole shebang all together (didn't get to see my dad unfortunately) but a lot of wonderful people who happen to be related to me. On Friday night, I rocketed out of school to go to my cousin Kristin's house with Steph, Karley, and Liz for a good old-fashioned sleepover. Without the sleepover. We ate together, had cute drinks, made junk food, and watched When Harry Met Sally. It was my first time seeing it and oh my goodness I love that movie. As weird as it sounds, I sort of found Billy Crystal attractive in that one. I know, it doesn't seem right to me either. But when he said "I came here tonight because when you realize you want to spend the rest of your life with somebody, you want the rest of your life to start as soon as possible," I just melted. Classic. Saturday was spent with my Mom, Alex, Steph, and Sawyer on a shopping excursion for my mom's ensem for Alex's wedding (which is quickly approaching!) which was not very enjoyable for me. The company was great, but I happened to be all stuffed up and hazed over from a weird cold I came down with halfway through the day on Friday. I'm blaming the second-graders. I distinctly remember one kid sneezing DIRECTLY in my face on Wednesday or Thursday, and I'm thinking that's what did me in. On the bright side, after this year I plan on having the immune system of an ox. (Do oxen have good immune systems? I'm not sure. It just seemed right to say.) Either way, the shopping all blended together in a weird cloud and I just nodded and smiled to things I couldn't hear as my eyes watered all afternoon.

Saturday night was absolutely great, because THE Liz VanDrunen herself came to visit me in Pilsen. We walked up Halsted to University Village where there was a cute Mexican restaurant for margaritas and appetizers (I literally could have margaritas and chips and salsa every time I go to a restaurant and be happy about it). Then we walked back to the apartment and chatted about teaching (her first year teaching 4th grade starts up very soon), weddings (she also has a million to attend this summer, including a sibling), and beginning our real lives. Don't judge me for this one, but we finished the night by watching one of the most feel-good movies I've seen in awhile: Big Miracle. Yes, it's about saving the whales. Yes, I realize that seems very lame. But it spoke right to my heart and I was charmed. John Krasinski didn't hurt either. Anyway, if you are looking for some good-clean-whale-saving fun, watch the movie. And to all of you who just wrote me off as a moviegoer with no taste, please have a little faith. Fargo, Ferris Bueller, and Fight Club still top the charts in my book.

Speaking of movies, I'm realizing that this summer has been sadly void of movie-watching. Usually I'm at the theater at least 5 times a summer along with redboxes and rentals constantly. This year, with TFA Institute, moving, and crazy schedules, movies have been off the agenda. This saddens me deeply because I am a movie freak. It embarrasses me to say I STILL have not seen Dark Knight Rises. For now, I'm just going to make a list of books and movies to catch up on when I have free time from this teaching thing. I'm thinking that will be in December. Can't wait.

Progress

Sometimes with studying and e-mailing all day for Teach For America stuff, I feel like I don't make much tangible progress. I know I'm technically making progress on the time I'm supposed to be putting into the prep work, but still. So I've been making lists on my phone purely so I can cross stuff off of it. One longstanding item on the list has been to work on organizing my clothes and bedroom. To give you an idea of the chaos, here is a before picture....

And an after picture...

Dude, working through that mess felt like I was machete-ing (just made a verb I think) my way through the Amazon rainforest. I even killed a deadly jungle spider today that was crawling on my ceiling. I also vacuumed my room for the first time in far too long. It's just that you couldn't see the floor before, you know? But now it's got those fresh vacuum lines that we all love. I obviously had to clear more junk out of there to even see the floor. Have you ever counted how many t-shirts you have? After four years of high school, four years of college, and playing on sports and intramural teams the whole way, you pick up truckloads of t-shirts. I got rid of over fifty of them and still have piles left! So needless to say there's a fairly large donation headed its way to the local thrift store...

Being in my room at my parents' house when I can actually see the room is kind of cool. We moved here before my freshman year of high school and I got to choose the paint colors. OBVIOUSLY 14-year-old-Anna chose orange AND yellow, and my 15-year-old dear friend Clara came over to help me paint. I covered the walls in VanGogh prints and others that I liked, including this one...

I think I just really fancied the idea of strolling through London in the rain in 1890. Or something. I don't know, but it's a goodie that I've always loved. As a trophy for this huge room accomplishment, I've rewarded myself with having this movie on while I work on my TFA homework...

While now I will always check for a colonial woman dressed in traditional garb churning butter on the wing of every plane I board after watching this movie, I love it. Making progress is a beautiful thing. 

Midnight Obsessions

I have a few obsessions that I pick up here and there. I've jumped on a few bandwagons in my day. It all started with Giga pets, my 1996 Air Jordans, Beanie Babies, and Doodle Bears. The rest is history. These days my obsessions include bangs, chocolate silk soy milk, Zooey Deschanel and her TV show, high-waisted skirts, and this thing that you're reading - blogging. Tonight, I will indulge in TWO of my obsessions at THE SAME TIME: preteen book-to-movie series and midnight movie theater excursions.

I love movies. I love movies even more when there is a book that I can read before I see it. I love movies even MORE when in said book there is a vampire, werewolf, and an angsty annoying female main character. Yes, I am all-aboard the Twilight train. You may consider me a Twihard. I also love seeing movies at midnight. Since doing so in high school for the Pirates of the Caribbean, I've been dying to see every major movie come out at midnight. Harry Potters, Twilights, and the mother of all midnight showings: The Dark Knight in the summer of 2008. That was one of the best nights of my life. So when there is an opportunity for a midnight showing, I'm all in.

And yes, of course, I've jumped aboard The Hunger Games bandwagon, much later than most of my friends. So tonight, at 12:15 a.m., I will eagerly await the vision of Katniss as she gloriously readies that killer bow and arrow of hers.

Let me also clue you into why I love The Hunger Games: I'm a sucker for those spunky girl protagonists. Let me remind you that you are reading the blog of a girl who isn't always that normal. So, yes, when I like a character, I imagine that I myself am actually that main character. This happens a lot. I think I'm Skeeter Pheelan in The Help, using my journalistic skills to write a bestselling book to tell the story of oppressed locals. I think I'm Scout Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird, a tomboy who believes in the goodness of people while also understanding their capacity for evil. I think I'm Elizabeth Bennett in Pride and Prejudice, who fights social expectations and continues to be her witty self while finding her true love. I also happen to now believe that I am Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games, who is brave, smart, and just plain badass all the time. Obviously this is me revealing my deepest, nerdiest habits to you, so please don't judge. Just let the English nerd do her stupid thing.

And while you might laugh at me now, just wait until The Capitol picks you in the reaping along with me. Then you'll be sorry.

That Tim Allen is Full of it Man

(Yep. Dumb and Dumber reference.) We had plans this weekend. BIG plans.

Karley, Karyn, and I had plans to set out on Friday after class for Hudsonville, Michigan and see the beautiful Liz VanDrunen herself. Then on Saturday we were going to watch Trinity's track team rock the house at a meet at Grand Valley State University. And THEN we were going to watch Calvin's air band lip sync competition with one of my faves, Ann Marie, with the possibility of seeing my other high school friends later that night. Well. All of those plans and dreams kind of crashed and burned. Due to storms and snow Friday night, we decided to leave early Saturday morning (Write this down...I woke up at 5:45 for that!). We left with high hopes of Pure Michigan from all those Tim Allen commercials. He's the tool guy, after all. You should be able to trust him, right?!

We were going along, singing Taylor Swift, minding our own business, when suddenly, about halfway there,  this is what our drive looked like:

Bear in mind, we are three lame college girls who aren't very useful in most emergency situations. We turned Taylor down to a 3 on the volume knob (that's when you know it's getting serious), stared silently ahead for outlines of the road and other objects, and kept cheerfully (but nervously) telling Karley (who was driving) that we can totally figure this one out.

This is the first time in my life I've been happy to be stuck behind a semi truck because those were the only vehicles we could actually see through all that lake effect snow. We inched along at 0 miles per hour (I know it sounds impossible according to the laws of physics, but that's what happened. Just telling you the facts.), past countless cautionary tales that ended up in the ditch on either side of the highway and even seeing an accident happen a few hundred feet in front of us. Finally, after 3 miles and 30 minutes, we took the next exit, happily into the parking lot of a Cracker Barrel. How fortunate, we thought. Now THERE is a place in which we could spend all day! (That was a joke. Kind of.)

Karley beat the game! 

Their great candy selection. So colorful! 

As you can see, whilst in Cracker Barrel we had breakfast, played old Amish games, and looked at their beautiful selection of delicious candy. The other thing we did was call our trusty sources for advice. I called my brother Rudi, who looked up the weather (huge warning telling people to only travel in emergencies) and told me that turning around would be a good idea. We got the same advice from Karley's dad, my uncle, who is a truck driver himself and familiar with this stretch of driving in the winter. So we borrowed a shovel from the nice Cracker Barrel Candy Lady, shoveled our way out of our parking spot, got super brave, and headed back home, thus ditching our friends, our exciting plans, and all that colorful candy.

Shoveled out and ready to go.

Karley and Karyn

The cousins, ready to turn around for home again.

Back in Palos, catching a flick. 

And there we were at 1:15 in the afternoon, weekend plans kind of down the drain, but laughing due to the series of events that brought us back to Palos Heights 6 hours after we left it. It's funny though, because while you would think that we were in a terrible mood, going through that together was one of those odd bonding experiences. Like living in South Hall with no air conditioning in August as a freshman in college. I now know I can survive a snowpocalypse. Look, Dad, I'm building character! To salvage what was left of our free day, we decided to go see The Vow in the nearest movie theater to catch a matinee. (Sorry everyone, I thought it was awful.) It turned out to be a great weekend anyway. In the last 24 hours I've lived and learned one thing: Tim Allen is not to be trusted.

Snowy Days and Fridays

You know how the old Carpenter's song goes, right? Well, it wasn't raining, it was snowing. And it wasn't Monday, it's Friday. So I had to improvise.

And boy did it SNOW. The Facebook stati (statuses? statodes?) on the topic of snow were in full force today. They ranged from "OMGOSH I luvvv snow!!! xxoxoxoxoo" to "What is this white stuff?! I hate it I'm moving!" While I appreciate the gravity of the impact that a foot of snow can have on your day, let me let you in on a little secret: It's January and it snows in Chicago. Additionally: It ALSO snows in Wisconsin. Basically, let me just say:


You live in the midwest and it's winter. Snow is pretty, but it's not a huge surprise. And it's also not a tragedy. Stop tailgating everyone like a loser and drive safely. Now go build a snowman. 


I had plans with some of my roommates to hit up a Mexican restaurant about 30 minutes from here for delicious tacos and killer margaritas. Well, the weather interfered but also created a fabulous night anyway. We braved the block and a half to the nearest grocery store to purchase ingredients to make our own tacos and margaritas. (And let's not forget some place-and-bake cookies!). All of my roommates and our friend Ali stayed in and ate dinnner, watched movies, and laughed all night. It was fabulous. Obviously to enjoy these selections you need to be able to look past the usual Hollywood trash that can infiltrate most movies, but they were funnier than most romantic comedies.

Hilarious moment where her hair extension
starts on fire

We watched "What's Your Number" with Anna Faris and Chris Evans first. It was pretty entertaining with the classic Anna-Faris--wide-eyed-ditzy style of humor. Then we watched, what else, Bridesmaids, for our weekly fix of Kristen Wiig. "Oh you live in Milwaukee? Oh I'm sorry!"  

This weather produced a fun night. Along with this, however, is a lack of cuteness for my ensembles. I can't be donning dainty flats in 12 inches of freezing white powder. Why do that to your toes? These are what my winter outfits are turning out to be these days:

For the record, my shirt is from a thrift store somewhere, is paper thin, and features a cross legged moose saying "Yuh not from 'round here, are yuh?" Classy. Hopefully I can step up the outfit situation in the next few weeks to provide you with some confidence in my maturity once again. It's getting there, I promise.

Tomorrow I set out on quite the little road trip. I head to Washington D.C. with a pro-life group to march in protest against the ruling of Roe v. Wade (its anniversary is this time of year). I am really excited to tell you about it, but please also know that if your opinions differ, I'm really interested to hear those too! My blog is not about slamming you over the head with my thoughts when it comes to politics. But it is about my experiences, and part of that includes offering what I believe to be true, right, and important. I love people who don't agree with me, and also those who do. So have no fear. Stay tuned and wish Karyn Koopmans luck. She has to spend many hours on a bus next to me and I am afraid for her sanity - pray that she still wants to be my friend when we return early on Tuesday morning. It might be cutting it close.

Christmas at the Movies

I am almost embarrassed to admit this. But let me tell you something: I've been to four movies in the theaters in the past month.

 Some might ask why the waste of money...I ask why not the investment of money in my happiness? (I know, so Bobby Kennedy-esque of me.) In the past few years I've contracted a love of watching movies during holiday weekends. It just makes everything feel more special and festive. Depending on your taste in movies, I'd highly recommend any of these four. Let's start with my favorite and most recent: Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows. 

I went to see Sherlock Holmes this afternoon with my parents. (Jealous?) Going to a movie on Christmas Eve is a tradition I want to continue. If I could also guarantee as good a movie as this one each year I would be one happy girl. Guy Ritchie hit a home run with this one (again). It was brilliant all the way down to the costumes, the witty dry humor throughout, and my personal favorite, the clangy musical score that sounds like some sinister old British man is plunking away on a 150-year-old piano. The Robert Downy Jr./Jude Law dynamic is hilarious as ever. While, I'm sure, much more cartoony and with more of that in-your-face quality than Arthur Conan Doyle's literary character on whom the movie is based, the movie adaptation entertains you start to finish and is completely worth seeing in theaters. Let me tell you an amazing fact about this movie: both of my parents loved it. Now that is a Christmas miracle. Go see it.

On to movie number two: New Year's Eve

I watched this with my sister-in-law Stephanie last week. Okay, disclaimer, I am a girl. And I like me some RomComs from time to time. But let's not write this off completely. Guys, if you must be dragged along to something, I'd pick this one. At the very least, it's got plots that you can follow! Oooooo, a plot. Something we girls aren't always looking for in our movie selections. It's got a zillion celebrities, a zillion intertwining stories, and a few twists that may surprise even you. I won't give anything away, but I will say that my favorite storyline involves Robert DeNiro's character. (I'm a Goodfellas fan, okay? It can't be helped.) It successfully entertained me and even gave me those "It's a new year!" warm fuzzies. 

I'm excited to tell you about the third: The Muppets. 

This is just a silly, clever, good time. I went on Thanksgiving weekend with my two brothers, sister-in-law, girlfriend-in-law, and my niece Sawyer (just shy of 3 years old) for her first experience in a movie theater. This one just left me feeling good. And how can you not love Jason Segel? Tell me. How? You can tell he is a huge Muppets fan himself and is loving every one of those 103 minutes on screen. You get some funny new songs along with a fabulous performance of my old favorite. Basically, you leave this movie with a renewed sense of hope in humanity. And muppetity. Working together. Side by side. The future is looking up.

Finally, I suppose I must come clean and also talk about the fourth movie...okay no judging...Twilight: Breaking Dawn.

Yes, I am a secret twi-hard. I went with some friends from Trinity for, yes, the midnight showing on opening night. Yes, I was wearing a "Team Jaward" shirt (because who wants to choose between Jacob and Edward? Why not both?) that I puffy painted myself. But I digress. Obviously, if you don't want a healthy dose of angsty, predictable, idealistic romance between vamps/humans/werewolves then just continue to keep your distance. I, on the other hand, sometimes just gotta get my fix. I read all four books a long time ago and can't help myself. The Edward/Bella wedding was gorgeous and there were a few gems in the soundtrack: Christina Perri's and Angus and Julia Stone's songs being my favorites. 

While you may not support my movie-going antics on the fourth selection, one thing you should conclude from this post is that there are tons of fabulous movies in theaters right now. Get out there!

(And Merry Christmas Eve! Woohoo!)