The act of observing changes that which is observed

[bironic]

I thought it would be fun to keep track of the movies I watch so at the end of the year I can remember what they were and to see how many I actually go through. What happened alongside this endeavor is that my decision-making process and my behavior immediately changed. I started trying to watch more to make the list longer. This week it occurred to me to switch from a numbered list to bullets. We'll see how that goes.

Here we are for Jan. 1 - Feb. 6:

1. Sherlock: The Abominable Bride
2. Star Trek III: The Search for Spock (rewatch)
3. *In Defense of Food
4. Lost in Space (rewatch)
5. Blade
6. Men in Black (rewatch)
7. Men in Black III
8. Men in Black II
9. *Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show
10. *Chaos on the Bridge
11. Diary of a Teenage Girl ♥
12. *The Pearl Button (El botón de nacár)
13. *Get a Life!
14. Cat on a Hot Tin Roof ♥
15. *Best of Enemies
16. Refuge
17. Tangerine
18. A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night ♥
19. Oscar-Nominated Shorts: Animated ♥
20. Demolition Man
21. The Lives of Others (Das Leben der Anderen) ♥
22. Even the Rain (Tambien la Lluvia) (rewatch)
23. A Dangerous Man: Lawrence After Arabia (rewatch)
24. The Mummy (1932) ♥

*Documentary/nonfiction
Seen in a theater

(For the record, 6 of those were for vid research)

+ TV seasons: Mozart in the Jungle 1-2

...

Thanks for your feedback yesterday on Pride & Prejudice & Zombies. I decided to bail and picked up The Golem and the Jinni instead. Three pages in and it's already a pleasure to read. In fact, I'm debating whether to sit on it for a week and a half and bring it on the plane to/from Vancouver.

Speaking of which, went on a quest today for an outfit suitable for a gallery opening. Found this very pretty dress but it fit like a box, alas. Oh, haha, there was also a collection of dresses suitable for Star Trek cosplay. Will probably wear what I wore to cinco's wedding, then, or my gray plaid skirt + black top if that's not too casual; hard to tell. The trip was not entirely in vain, however; I got a green and blue gradient sweater.

We had a beautiful snowfall on Friday -- storybook icing on the tree branches once the winds died down, followed by a pink and orange sunset. All of our million inches of snow last winter was powder; none of it stuck like this. Boston Globe curated some shots. More forecast for tomorrow. Good luck to every one of us trying to get home from work in the middle of it!

Comments

[thedeadparrot]

Oooh, I really liked The Golem and the Jinni. I didn't love it as much as some people did, but it's definitely a pleasurable read.

[bironic]

Yay! If I end up continuing this week because it's so lovely, I'm going to have to find something comparably lovely afterwards for the plane ride. Tricky!

[laurashapiro]

I dig that sweater. If only the blue were at the top, I'd buy it myself.

OMG THAT TREK DRESS IS RAD.

Tell me about In Defense of Food?

[bironic]

>>THAT TREK DRESS

:D They had it in magenta sleeveless, too! There's also a jumpsuit version, according to the website, but alas, only in white. Hee.

>>In Defense of Food?

:/ I had mixed feelings about this, as has been true of other documentaries about food sourcing and the Western diet. It's tough because Pollan makes points I agree with, or in some cases want to agree with, but he undermines his argument by citing the same kind of correlational and/or small and/or flawed studies and "common sense" ideas that he and others have attacked when they're used as evidence by/for the opposing side.

It feels trendy -- "we know" this, "we know" that, when what we "know" is still a guess, and he's just spent an hour describing other things we've "known" that ended up debunked. Even though much of what he's saying makes sense, you just want some evidence to support it, you know? Nutritional science is so difficult to conduct properly and difficult to report accurately, and that's still a weakness with this film.

Also some parts of it aren't new for people who follow food news & politics, so his explanation of the rise of "nutritionism," for example, isn't as remarkable as it might have been when his book was new. But I'm probably not the target audience there.

The big ag stuff and the other ways in which national politics have compromised people's understanding of health are well presented. And there are the usual optimistic stories about communities that have taken matters into their own hands, setting up local farmers markets in urban food deserts, teaching kids about vegetables, etc.

That's what I remember from a month ago, anyway. :)

[laurashapiro]

I like sleeves. Damn, I'm actually thinking about getting it...

Interesting about the documentary. I liked Fed Up, but it was very much a Michael Moore-style scare-the-shit-out-of-you propaganda piece. What science there was was fairly well-documented, as I recall.

These days I take Pollan with a huge pinch of salt because he totally fails at intersectional analysis. It sounds like his doc would only annoy me.

[bironic]

Possible! Also, insert nutrition joke here about pinches of salt + high blood pressure.

[laurashapiro]

LOL. I set that up pretty well, didn't I?

[bironic]

:D

[jetpack_monkey]

I'm glad to see that you liked The Mummy! It's one of my favorites from that era.

[bironic]

It was great! I brought it to a friend's last night (who is also a big Hammer fan*) to watch after A Dangerous Man, and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Filled a gap in my film history education re: early horror landmarks; enjoyed gazing at Boris Karloff with his eye makeup and elegant carriage and diction; was interested in the ways the plot construction and pacing differed from what you'd get today; had fun analyzing the Brendan Fraser adaptation in reverse; and got a kick out of realizing that Hank Azaria as the ancient pharaoh in Night at the Museum II was surely channeling Karloff in this role and not just Jeremy Irons in general.

*I know this was Laemmle Jr., but just to indicate our overlapping interests in b&w horror of a certain type :)

[lilysea]

I loved The Golem and the Jinni.

It was one of the books I most enjoyed that year.

[bironic]

Hooray! I'm looking forward to it even more now, with all these positive comments from friends.

[grammarwoman]

"Showrunners: The Art of Running a TV Show" caught my eye - how was that?

That ombre sweater is lovely; I may have to hunt that down.

[bironic]

Lemme know if you want a link - it was from Kohl's. :)

Showrunners was pretty interesting. As a TV fan who's passably knowledgeable about the process just from being in fandom all these years, it wasn't revelatory, but it was neat to get a glimpse into more writers' rooms and see what certain well-known showrunners are like (for better & worse) and hear gossip about how certain shows came together, or didn't.

[cinco]

I wish I could stick to documenting what I watch, but I always forget, so my journal and desk are littered with short lists. Sigh.

I'm terribly fond of Demolition Man, although I would never lie and say that it's a great film. :D

I hope you have a wonderful time in Vancouver! I think the dress you mentioned or a skirt and top are both perfectly appropriate. And I like all the clothes you linked! What a tragedy about the first dress not working out, I really like the color/ombre effect. (And I agree with the person upthread who wished the sweater was blue at the top--I doubt I can pull off that green. Le sigh.)

[bironic]

It's convenient how they chose a model with bleach blonde hair so her head could continue the effect, no? Heh. But thanks for the well wishes & sympathy on the pretty purpley cocktail dress & affirmation that the other outfits might be suitable. This dress code thing is very unclear. ♥

>>I always forget, so my journal and desk are littered with short lists.

Yeah, same here for other stuff. In some cases, OCD-like listmaking pleasure + Evernote Web = tracking stuff from anywhere.

>>I'm terribly fond of Demolition Man

:) Dee is a fan too. It took 5 years and a vid project to get around to seeing it. Was better than expected! Similar to stuff like Idiocracy and Zoolander, I guess.

[stultiloquentia]

What did you think of Mozart in the Jungle? I just noticed it exists, and got excited because I know a lot about that world, but scared because I don't want it to be bad.

[bironic]

It's.... hm.

(+) Gael Garcia Bernal's face
(+) Classical music in a TV show
(+) Sporadically funny or moving
(+) Lots of celebrity/musician cameos (Lang Lang, Emmanuel Ax, Gustavo Dudamel, Joshua Bell, etc.)
(+) Bit of personal NY nostalgia

(-) Long stretches of unremarkability
(-) Many characters are stereotypes/caricatures (prob partly bc this is a comedy & based on an exposé book)
(-) There's a lot of 'women fawning over accomplished older white men,' especially in the beginning
(-) No single character, including the protagonist oboist, is particularly compelling. TBH I didn't even like most of them.
(-) Was not interested in many of the sex/drugs/rock 'n' roll plots

There was enough good stuff to keep me going through the 20 eps, and I'm not sorry I watched it. Just not sure how exactly to recommend it, especially to someone who has more experience behind the scenes!