Monday Mondays: Memento

This week's movie monday is pretty awesome. It's [another] one of those wonderful little mind-bending classical-hollywood-cinema-twisting indie gems that really makes you think. It's got a great director/screenwriter (christopher nolan) and an equally great cast (Guy Pearce, Carrie-Anne Moss, and Joe Pantoliano) that really make this movie one of a kind.

Memento is unique in that it goes backwards in time, kind of. Basically you watch ten minutes of the movie and then the scene changes to ten minutes before the previous ten minutes, and once it reaches the beginning of the 10 minutes you already saw it switches to ten minutes before that... I realize that probably makes no sense at all but trust me that it's awesome.

The reason for this strange time structure is that the main character, Leonard (Pearce) has suffered head trauma which has caused him to lose his short term memory. He basically can only remember ten minutes at a time, so by editing the film in this way nolan simulates the confusing and fractured sense of time that Leonard experiences.

This short term memory loss provides for some really interesting and awesome character traits in Leonard. For instance, he takes polaroids of everyone he meets and writes notes about them so that he can refer back to the pictures when he encounters someone he can't remember. He has also gotten tattoos all over his body with interesting reminders or facts that he would otherwise forget.

So what's the plot, then? Well, leonard is on a search for the man who broke into his house, raped and killed his wife, and knocked him out (causing his short term memory loss). Supposedly this is the last event Leonard can remember, and he has made it his life's purpose to find the intruder and kill him. As the mystery unravels, so do the intricacies of Leonard's character and his relationship with the other people in the film.

I'm one of those people that really enjoys (for lack of a better expression) mind-fuck movies that make you sit there and think and then want to watch the film over again- so if you are too, this is the film for you. Here's the trailer:

30 Day Challenge- 15

Today was the first day of me waking up at 5:30 am and heading to the gym in time for it to open at 6:00 am. Go me!! It wasn't that difficult waking up, despite the fact that I feel like I got zero hours of sleep last night. You know those nights where you just lie there almost sleeping but for some reason just can't nod off? It was one of those. So very frustrating. I'm sure tonight will be better though since I'll be exhausted :)

Anyways, after about an hour at the gym I came home and made some tea and breakfast for stew and I. We ate in bed and now he's getting ready for his 9:10 class which I'll drive him to in a few minutes. I don't have class until two so I have plenty of time to get tonight's homework out of the way^^

Listen to me- am I productive or what?! I have no idea what has happened to me lol, waking up at 5:30 for the gym and doing my homework in advance. It's a wild world.

I've got a movie monday lined up for later today, and i'll post stew's and my hiking date, but for now I'll take care of the 30 day challenge.


Day 15 - 5 people in your life right now who mean the most.

These are in no particular order of importance, of course.

1. Stewart- of course! We are always together and we always have so much fun. Of course we bicker from time to time but for the most part I think we keep each other calm, sane, and happy.

2 & 3. My Parents- I love them both so much. They are so compassionate, intelligent, understanding, and fun. I miss them every day and I feel so blessed that I wound up as their daughter.

4. My Sister- Jenny is my best friend! I love her with all my heart and I'm so happy we are so close. She's amazing!!

5. This spot is difficult to fill because it's not as obvious as my family or my boyfriend. So, I'm going to choose to let it represent the few close friends that I've kept over many months or years, who I still speak to and see as often as possible- This includes most of the people I worked with last summer, Natalie, Ruby, Sharney, Brian, Jaimie, Marby, and others :) You are all amazing and you are all immensely important in my life.

update and 30 Day Challenge- 14

Eek, so I suck at this a little bit. I really did try to stick to the 30 day challenge schedule, but i'm so darn busy! I seriously feel like I have zero free time... in fact, I feel like I need more hours in the day! I'm always at school, doing homework, cleaning, or cooking, and yet I still have chores that I don't get done and I'm hard-pressed to find a spare 20 minutes to get online to blog. What a pain! I hope it calms down soon. Even this weekend has been crazy busy... on friday stewie and I ran all around town doing errands- I went to staples to get copies of my passport made, we went to goodwill and bought a food processor and a cookie jar, we went to the running shop to buy me some new running shoes (which I love, love, love!), then we drove out to the mall so I could buy some forever 21 sports bras, and finally we drove out to an even FURTHER mall to buy some nike fitness pants. Which I also love. Remember how forever ago I was talking about how I really needed new workout clothes? I finally have them, hooray!! I'll put up a pick showing how astronomically better they are soon :)

Anyways, after all that shopping stew and I went to dinner at szechuan omei (a restaurant my parents- who lived in tucson for quite a while- recommended. it was really yummy!), and then came home and made a couple yummy pina coladas and watched white oleander and about 10 million episodes of xxxholic before going to bed. On saturday we went for a hike through pima canyon, planned two weeks of meals, and then went grocery shopping- which is no simple feat. When stew and I go grocery shopping we go to a minimum of three stores, sometimes four. We weren't finished until well after sundown. Afterward we came home and made some yummy mango salsa and watched the new Sherlock Holmes (I have to write a paper on it for a media arts class). I baked some awesome 3 layer grasshopper brownies and then we went to bed.

And today is homework day! I shouldve been doing homework all weekend but I've been so busy with other things. I have a LOT of reading to do, a film to watch, some reasearch to work on, and a french composition to write. It'll be ok though, I really like my classes and I don't mind the work so much.

Tomorrow I'm going to start my new schedule of waking up at 5:30 am and going to the gym!! I'll get back home at seven, just in time for stew and I to eat breakfast, drink a couple mugs of tea, and start getting ready for the day. I'm turning in my complete study abroad packet tomorrow and I couldn't be more excited to get things rolling.

Anyways, that's what I've been up to these past few days. I took some pics of stew's and my hike as one of our 100 dates, so that will be up soon!! I'm also going to start baking something to keep in my new cookie jar every couple weeks, and I'm also going to try a new, interesting, and moderately difficult recipe each week so I'll probably post a bunch of cool recipes for you guys.

Ok enough of that, onto the 30 day challenge. I'll just pick up where I left off..

Day 14 – A photo of a cherished memory.

 

This is a photo of the friday after thanksgiving, 2008. I was a senior, stewie and I were close but not dating yet, and the girl next to me, megan, was my best friend. The three of us hung out practically every day. We did awesome things like making a giant pot of stone soup, complete with a stone, building campfires in the driveway after school and roasting marshmallows, and dancing around on the futon to Gogol Bordello's "start wearing purple". 

On this day, Megan and I came over to the apartment pretty early, like 10 am. Stewie's roommate, Josh, was at work, so the three of us just sat around and watched a bunch of episodes of xxxholic. I had never seen it before and I absolutely loved it. We ate thanksgiving leftovers and in the afternoon bought some forties and played Drenga while listening to modest mouse. It was so, so, so much fun. Later in the evening more people came over of course, and in the  picture above I'm on the phone talking to our friend Marby and asking him to bring us half-off sushi (he worked at monsoon, a japanese restaurant in Prescott). 

This is one of my favorite memories, though, because it reminds me of the way the three of us were back then before stewie and I had started dating, before megan had started dating her ex, before I moved away, before everyone stopped hanging out at that apartment. The friendship the three of us had was really amazing and I miss it all the time. It was experiences like those that made my senior year so great :)

30 Day Challenge- 13

Day 13 - Somewhere you’d like to move or visit.

 I don't remember when exactly my obsession for Greece began... maybe around the same time the original Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants came out. That would have been when I was about 14, and ever since then I've desperately wanted to go to Greece. I love greek food, greed culture, greek history, greek architecture... and there's just something about those beautiful, white walls nestled into a mountain next to the crystal blue ocean that fills me up with longing and beauty and serenity. It's just so friggen gorgeous.

Since before I even was writing out college applications, I had made up my mind that I would study abroad in Greece at some point. And now, I'm actually going to!!!! I'm going on a summer trip during the month of June during which I'll  visit Athens, Peloponneseus, and some of the greek islands. It's going to be SO amazing!

Spring semester, Here we go....

 I haven't done a update lately so I thought I'd just stop in and tell you all what's been going on these days.
The spring semester of classes started about 1.5 weeks ago, and so far is going very well! I like all of my classes, although going to french four times a week is going to wear on me I'm sure. I've been keeping up with my homework (even doing assigned readings!!) and going to all the lectures. My professors all seem great and the work load isn't going to be too intense... And best of all I'll be done with school before my birthday, May 10th :)

Last weekend stewie and I drove up to Casa Grande for my grandmother's memorial service. It was very difficult and sad, but it was also so nice to see all of my family. My sister, her boyfriend, and stewie and I stayed in a hotel room together and stayed up late playing silly riddle games. The next morning My dad, stewie, and I drove up to prescott (my mom drove up later in the day) and stew and I went to lunch and coffee with our friend marby and then stopped by my darling friend natalie's apartment and surpirsed her. We then headed over a house that some of my old work friends live in and we basically hung out with them for the rest of the night, aside from going to Maya for dinner and stopping by to see my parents. It was a really, really fun night!

The next morning stewie and i stopped by goodwill and I bought a bunch of shoes and he bought a toaster oven. I guess buying shoes from goodwill is kind of gross but they always have a ton of cute ones and theyre so cheap! I'm not made of money, people :)

Anyways, we got back to tucson late sunday night. A friend from highschool has been staying with us for the last week and a half- it's fine having him here but I'm excited for when everything will be back to normal and the living room will be a living room, not an extra bedroom haha. I also can't wait for stewie and I to move out altogether and find a place of our own- I have had it with roommates!!!!!! I just want to have a fridge that is full of just OUR food, a kitchen that only WE use and ALWAYS clean up... ugh... i just can't wait.

On a more annoying note, I'm kind of frustrated right now because a friend of mine has just recently decided to blame me for something which I had nothing to do with, and then take that opportunity to blame me for all sorts of other things that don't pertain to the issue at hand. I'm being made a scapegoat without a doubt, but it's so frustrating to me to not be able to defend myself (because my defenses mean nothing since this person has already made up his/her mind) Not only is it aggravating, it's hurtful because I don't feel I have done anything wrong but I am having all this anger and blame projected onto me. Hell, I've been out of the town, out of the state, and out of the COUNTRY for the past month... and yet somehow things that happened while I was gone are still my fault >.< Even so, I've been apologetic and polite... and yet this person still feels the need to lash out and concentrate all of his/her anger onto me.

Ugh, that was just me venting for five minutes... sorry to project all that onto you guys. I wish that I was content just knowing that I have nothing to be blamed for, but I always wish that I could make the other person realize this too haha. typical stubborn taurus... we just want people understand our point of view! I know I should just drop it and that's probably what I'm going to do, but it's always a shame to lose a friend, especially this way. What do you guys do when someone turns you into a scapegoat?

Anyways, enough of that. I'm reading Eat, Pray, Love right now- as you can see from the pic above- and it always makes me feel calm, happy, and at peace with the world. I'm about 1/3 of the way through it right now and I'm sure I will enjoy reading the rest.

It's off to french class in 10 minutes, so i'd probably go get my stuff together. I hope you all have a wonderful rest of the week, and I'll be back later tonight with that 30 day challenge business!

30 Day Challenge- 12

Day 12 - Bullet your whole day.
I'm going to do a typical tuesday, even though I realize today is not over yet :)

7:00 AM Wake up. Go make some tea, maybe some oatmeal for stewie. Grab some fruit, come back to bed to drink tea and eat.
7:30 AM Shower/Wash face, brush teeth, floss, put in contacts
7:45 AM Makeup, hair, dress
8:20 AM Go on computer for a bit
8:40 AM leave for 9 AM class (bike)
9:AM Classics 329
10:15 AM bike back home, do homework or mess around on the computer (like i'm doing right now) until stewie gets back from his class
11:00 AM make and eat a simple lunch
11:30 AM-1:40 PM blog, run errands, clean, read, do homework, relax
1:40 PM Bike to class
2:00-2:50 PM French 202
3:00-3:55 PM Hang out on campus reading, on computer, etc.
4:00-6:30 PM MAR 100B Screening
6:30 PM Bike home
6:40 PM Make Dinner
7:30 PM Eat dinner
8:00 PM do homework, cleaning, or computer things
9:00 PM watch a movie or show with stewie
10:00 or 11:00 PM Bedtime

<3

Movie Mondays: Ink

 Ok, winter vacation is officially over, seeing as today was the first monday of school. That means it's time to get back to regularly scheduled programming... meaning movie mondays! I'm such a dork haha.

Today I'm going to be telling you about a very interesting and moving movie called Ink. Stewie and I watched it a few months ago and I kept forgetting to feature it, but it's really a wonderful film!

This is one of those cool mind-bending films that delves into dreamland and the inner psyche... and it's also incredibly touching. I was definitely crying at the end.

The plot revolves around Emma, a young, playful girl, and her father John, who is consumed by work and sadness after his wife (and Emma's mother) dies.

Usually when everyone goes to sleep they are watched over by kind, somewhat hipster-looking beings which supply good dreams. Sometimes, though, other creepy-glowing-glasses-wearing beings emerge who force nightmares into the minds of sleeping individuals.

One night, a creature that is neither of these (but wants to become one of the creepy guys) breaks into Emma's bedroom and steals her within the dream world. I know that sounds kind of confusing but basically her subconscious is taken away from her body, leaving her in a comatose state. In her dream, though, she is forced to travel with this strange, misshapen creature through dreamland as he tries to take her to the headquarters of the nightmare things.

I probably sound like I'm high trying to explain this lol. It's kind of complicated because it's so abstract but it is really interesting to watch.

The movie has a lot to do with deteriorating families, the strength of love, and the weight of desperation. It really is a wonderful and intriguing film.

Here's a trailer:


It's on netflix instant stream. If you like movies like donnie darko, pans labyrinth, and eternal sunshine of the spotless mind, you will probably like this movie :)

<3

30 Day Challenge- 11

Day 11 - Put your ipod on shuffle and write 10 songs that pop up.

1. Foals- Mathletics
2. Vampire Weekend- Campus
3. Paramore- Use Somebody cover
4. Passion Pit- Live to Tell the Tale
5. U2- With or Without You
6. Gogol Bordello- Through the Roof 'n' Underground
7. Pink Floyd- Run Like Hell
8. Regina Spektor- 20 Years of Snow
9. Red Hot Chili Peppers- Easily
10. Modest Mouse- Guilty Cocker Spaniels

  

100th post!

Hooray, this is the 100th post on Go1000f! Since I never got around to doing a 2010 review, I thought I'd commemorate my 100 posts by making one now, since I started this blog just a couple months into 2010. Yay! This may be image-heavy.

January

 Stewie and I pretty much spent my whole winter break together. We brought in the new year with a bunch of our friends at the old apartment, drinking champagne and mojitos and playing drenga and card games. I left mid-month to go back to portland, where I started my job as a telethon caller for my school. It was only 7 hours a week- 2 shifts sitting in the basement of one of the dorms in a tiny cubicle with a computer and a headset, making cold calls to parents, alumni, and friends of the college and asking for donations. It was not the best job I ever had.

February

 February was not a big picture-taking month for me. It rained, a lot. I spent my time at work, at the gym, and curled up in my dorm vidchatting. On valentines day I worked, and when I got off stewie and I opened each other's presents on skype. It was a cold, quiet month.

March

 During March I went home for spring break. I also started this blog! I arrived on st patty's day and right away got to work on a film class project that involved making a 12 frame digital photo storyboard. It was a lot of fun and a lot of work. When I was done with that, Stew and I headed to our friends' house for a st patrick's day party, which was super fun! we spent the rest of the break going to movies, dinners, and hanging out with various friends... it was a great break. I went back to portland a week later and got back to work and school, blegh.

April

 One great thing about portland is that everything stays green year round and flowers start blooming really early... like in february. By April, lots of the roses outside my dorm had already fallen to the ground, but they all bloomed again a few weeks later. My mom came to visit me for a long weekend to help me pack up all my stuff. We stayed in a very nice lakeside hotel in lake oswego and spent the weekend walking around portland and hitting up some of my favorite places, like voodoo donuts and stumptown coffee.

May

 I got home for summer on cinco de mayo. We hung out at our friends  bri and random's apartment and did some low key celebrating. Later in the week I threw an end of school party at the local park which a surprising number of people showed up to. It was very fun, although people mostly failed at the whole potluck thing. I turned 19  and Stewie and I went down to tucson to check out the scene. We really, really liked it- mid may weather is some of the best tucson weather, I'd say. I got my job at mama eddas and started working a whole bunch! We went camping a couple times (ignore how spectacularly unattractive I am in that picture and just focus on the fact that we are quite obviously camping^^)... it was a great start to summer.

June 

 June was full of summer activities. We went to quite a few pools, took several trips to frog falls, and took even more trips to the salt river to go tubing. Stewie turned 20, my sister turned 22.

July

 July was a very, very busy month. I took about 2.5 weeks off work and stewie and I went to california to see my sister and our friend marby and go to sufi camp. We spent some time in costa mesa, sherman oaks, newport beach, and laguna beach before driving up to mendocino/fort bragg. It was a great time! Also in July I threw a garden party and made cute little things like caprese bites and a watermelon shell full of assorted melon balls. It was very cute. I also went on a trip down to the pointe hilton in phoenix with some of my girlfriends. We had such an amazing time floating in the lazy river all day and drinking girly soda-like drinks. Also in July, my friend margaret, stewie's older brother brian, and I celebrated the 211'th day of the year. 211 is the address of the old apartment we used to live in. At the time, there was only one apartment being inhabited and that person wasn't home, so we sat on the roof and the rocks outside and drank 211 steel reserve while remembering all the fun times we had had there.

August

 During August I cherished my last few days working at mama eddas. One of my best friends Natalie and I went down and gave out pizza on the square for one of the last rounds of Prescott idol. Nat and I also had an epic 13 day streak of hanging out and having amazing times... Her friend from alaska came to visit and marby came back for a couple weeks. We took one final salt river trip, watched a meteor shower together, played all kinds of fun games, took a trip to jerome hours before I was supposed to work, and basically had a really amazing final few weeks in prescott. I moved down to Tucson around the 20th and started school about a week later.

September

 September was mostly just school. The coolest thing that happened was the VW festival in Jerome! We stew and I drove up for the weekend and spent a few nights camping with tons of other vw lovers. There were some really awesome cars and we had a really spectacular time. I love camping!

October

 October was good fun. Stewie and I took a brief trip up to Prescott for his Grandpa's funeral and we did a lot of typical prescott-fall stuff, like walk on the square and get coffee and st michaels and cuppers. We also picked apples, made an apple pie, visited a pumpkin patch, and threw a small dinner and boardgames party. Later in the month I wrote my five days of halloween post, in which stew and I ate and drank some fun halloween treats, carved pumpkins, made our costumes (captain morgan and the absinthe fairy, not pictured), and went to a couple fun parties.

November

 Stewie bought a fun build-as-you-play boardgame called zombies which we played a few times. We took yet another trip to prescott for thanksgiving, and spent some time walking around the square and to our old hangouts. We had a nice thanksgiving dinner with my family, my grandpa on my dad's side, my grandma on my mom's side, and my aunt and uncle. It was very nice.

December

 December was a very lovely month. My finals were pretty much quick and painless, and I even got an A+ on an extremely dull and boring research paper. I was very proud. I drove up to prescott by myself and it was very cold and rainy. A few days later my family drove to california, where we celebrated christmas. We got a christmas tree, decorated cookies, made gingerbread houses, and made gifts for each other. It was a really wonderful time. I spent the next week and a half at my sisters house, spending some time with her and her friends and my friend marby. New years was nice and quiet... 6 of us drank mimosas and played scattergories all night haha. Very low key and fun.

It's been a great year! And 2011 is already off to a wonderful start. Happy 100th post to me! Thank you to all of you who follow and/or read this blog... knowing people enjoy reading what I write makes everything twice as fun!! I hope all of you had a wonderful 2010, and I hope your 2011 is even better.

101st post coming soon!

<3,
Em