They say 'Live in the Now'...

Well, quite frankly, the "now" is not all that exciting. Yes, I love my job and my friends, and school is going well. I'm really doing very well right now, and I'm proud of myself for coming this far in just 6 months. That being said, I just have all these exciting plans ahead of me. I like to think about how Arizona is going to be, and even things beyond that. I have started to think about things that will be great experiences for ME and that I really want to do. I'm not going to let outside influence guide me anymore. Going to Arizona is really what I need to do to achieve my goals.

I was watching the first season of Glee the other day, and they (mostly Rachel) were talking about making your dreams a reality and really pursuing your passion. That got me thinking... what are my goals? I haven't exactly figured out what I want to do in the film industry, but it is my biggest dream to be a part of an Oscar-winning movie someday. I don't really know how I will be involved, nor do I really care. Doing that would mean that I was really contributing to the film world. Thinking about it just makes me so excited. So, now that I have really thought about my goal, I am so excited to get out to AZ and get going. I've been thinking about what classes I want to take and what things I'm going to get involved in. Also, I'm thinking that next summer I'm going to do a Film in Rome study abroad program through ASU. It seems like a great opportunity and I'm really excited just thinking about it. Then after that, during the summers, I'm going to work on getting internships. I am very motivated right now to really put in the work to make this happen. The film industry is really hard to break in to, but I am more than willing to do what it takes.

So shoot me, I can't stop thinking about the future. Right now I just feel like I'm coasting-- not really being challenged enough, so I'm thinking of things that are bigger and better, and I can't wait until I get there.

I don't know exactly what made me want to do this post, but I just felt like it.

Water for Elephants

First let me begin by saying that I have been looking forward to this movie since I first saw a trailer for it. And I am very excited to say that I absolutely loved it. From the very first scene to the ending credits I was completely captivated. This movie is kind of similar to The Green Mile in that it's a flash back movie, and it's set during the depression. Jacob (Robert Pattinson) tells his story of life in the circus. The thing I loved about this movie is that it is visually stunning. It just looks fantastic the whole time, especially when it came to shooting the circus and the acts. When the workers first put the circus together there is a feeling of wonder. That is true with all of the circus scenes; they did a really great job of really bringing the feeling of a circus to life. I believe this has a lot to do with the way it was shot. While watching, it was just like I was there, and I was completely amazed by the acts. I also loved the way it looked as far as a period piece, especially Reese Witherspoon. Her hair, makeup, and wardrobe were just so cool. Everything looked extremely authentic, including the circus sets.
The acting in this movie is extremely impressive. We all know that Reese Witherspoon is very talented and very versatile. This role in particular seemed completely new for her. It wasn't like anything I've seen her in before, and that was nice. She did a great job in this movie, just like every other movie. This movie just made her even better in my book. Christoph Waltz was absolutely FABULOUS. In Inglorious Basterds, he was great, as well. But I feel like for this part, he was perfect. August is a great character in general, but Waltz did a great job of portraying August's ups and downs and craziness. Another great surprise was Robert Pattinson. He can actually act. In the Twilight movies, he is definitely the best actor in the movie, but still not very impressive. Maybe he is brought down by Kristen Stewart's lack of talent. He was very good in Remember Me, but that was also just a broody character like Edward, so I wasn't quite convinced. But this movie has officially convinced me that I like him. The animal actors were good, too. They brought humor to the movie, and Rosie the elephant was like the coolest and most beautiful thing ever. Basically, this movie was really really good. It made me want to go out to read the book, and also buy an elephant. What a great friend for Carl. :)

Busy Busy Busy

Yeah I know. It's been a while. I have just been so busy these past couple weeks, and truth be told, haven't been watching very many movies. School is winding down, so of course that means there is a TON of work to do. My Anatomy class is taking up my life, and my final project for Photography is taking a lot of time, too. My photography project is very enjoyable, however. I have to make a portfolio with 8 photos. They have to be professionally matted and printed, have a theme, and I have to write an artist statement. I am super proud of what I've done so far, and I love my theme. I am recreating iconic things from movies! I really love my pictures and I'm waiting to show everyone until everything is finished. I want it to be a surprise and for it to be seen all at once. So I have been shooting almost constantly when I'm not working, sleeping, or going to school it seems like, and now I have been matting, writing my statement, AND I have to work on a presentation for that class. Like I said, I'm very very busy, but I'm enjoying it.

A lot of other stuff has been going on lately, too. A week ago I turned 20. (Woo!!) I had a pretty good birthday. Got to see all of my friends and got an awesome gift from my parents and had the BEST birthday cake. Right now it's not letting me put pictures, but if you click on my flickr link to the right, you can see pictures of it. My dad made it for me, and that's a big deal because the last time he made me a birthday cake, I was 9 and there were pokemon on it. (Tomboy??) Anyways, went to dinner at Outback for prime rib (of course they didn't have any), ate cake, had lunch with my good friends Elizabeth and Britton, had a light show at work, Jordan got me Coldstone, and Elizabeth, Britton and I went to Macomb to see Erin. It was a lot of fun and I FINALLY got prime rib. (Outback, you were bested by a steakhouse in Macomb) annnd we ate more birthday cake. haha. Besides my birthday celebrations, we did the first half of closing on my house in Arizona on Friday. I feel so accomplished and grown up. It's weird. Arizona is actually becoming real again, and that makes it all the more exciting and nerve-racking. Just so much exciting (and not-so-exciting) stuff going on right now. 

Anyway, back to the point of this post. School will be over soon, and I will finally be able to get back in to watching movies again. I've got an extremely long Netflix queue, plus there are a lot of movies coming out this summer that I'm super excited about. Just have to make it through three more weeks!

Found a Pretty Cool Game

Clockbusters

Its pretty fun. My score was 41/50

I Have a Confession...

So... this past weekend I went with my mom to go see Insidious. They must not have had ANY advertising campaign because I had never even heard of it until last week. Anyways, my interest was really peaked when Entertainment Weekly gave it an A. I think it was very well deserved. It's about a boy who is haunted by demons....kinda. I don't really know how to explain it without taking forever and ruining the whole movie. But I thought it was really good. I mean, you have to take these types of movies for what they are. It's not going to be realistic, and it's probably going to have a predictable story line. That being said, the scares were awesome. Just the whole entire movie I was in suspense, and even when I knew something was going to happen, it STILL got me. I will give it credit for having some really original scares; it definitely caught me unsuspecting a few times. The images are like burned into my mind...which leads me to my confession: I have had to fall asleep with the TV on two nights in a row because I am freaked out by this movie. And I also had to run through a dark room because I got scared. THAT's how I know that this movie was at least decent, if you're into this type of movie. For me, I'm always looking for some movie to really scare me, because it is very rare. It's happened twice before that I can really remember: once with Nightmare on Elm Street when I was like 10 or 11, and then Reincarnation when I was a sophomore in high school (a FANTASTIC movie by the way--check it out). Anyway, now Insidious is on that list. It was definitely surprising; when the movie first started I just kept thinking to myself, "This is just Paranormal Activity with a real budget," and it was, but not really in a bad way. All in all, this movie was fun to watch...and that's really what's most important.


P.S- After just finding that poster... same producers as Paranormal Activity. Go Figure. haha