February 5, 2012

Sad Core

I've recently become captivated with this performance.  I was told by one of my professors to never refer to a song as 'haunting' because it's overused and usually undeserved.  But this is haunting - not only for its creepy undertone, but also the minimal instrumentation that accompanies her breathy vocals.  My favorite moment is the crescendo at 4:04 and how she leaves us with a whisper.

David Letterman seems to agree with me, but he could be doing that because he wants to sleep with her.


February 1, 2012

Twenty Eleven

My Favorite Albums
10) Meg & Dia - Cocoon
9) Cults - Cults
8) The Vaccines - What Did You Expect From The Vaccines?
7) Marianas Trench - Ever After
6) Augustana - Augustana
5) Saves The Day - Daybreak
4) AWOLNATION - Megalithic Symphony
3) Yellowcard - When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes
2) Manchester Orchestra - Simple Math
1) Eisley - The Valley U+21B4.svg
Eisley are like the Dixie Chicks if they were all sisters and a rock band instead of country trio.  Take a listen and you just might hear the voices of angels.

One more video of a band (not on my list) whose performance of this song I .

My Favorite Movies
1) Win Win - Robbed of a screenplay nomination, this is the best movie of 2011 that nobody's heard of. And it's also just the best movie.

Swoon. 
2) Young Adult - Liked it so much I saw it twice in theaters. The funniest film of the year for me, with one of the most comic parts being how they tried to make Charlize Theron unattractive (and failed).

3) 50/50 - Amidst the typical Seth Rogen humor was a really touching film about the deeply personal and often solitary experience each person with cancer has to undergo.  

Double swoon.
4) Drive - Killer soundtrack. And lots of killing.

5) The Tree of Life - No, I'm not going to pretend I understood this movie (and anyone who claims they do is probably lying).  But this film embodies filmmaking - it really showed the beauty that can come from this medium.  Along with Drive, I felt like I was beholding art more than I was watching a film.

6) My Week With Marilyn - A charming story. It reminded me of those precious few awesome moments when the most popular girl in school paid attention to you. (My story: We were paired as seat partners and she showed me her new blue g-string.)

7) A Better Life - Such a simple story but executed so well.  Suspenseful and wonderful.

8) Crazy Stupid Love - I loved this movie like McAdams loves Gosling.

9) The Ides of March - Yes, I have three Ryan Gosling movies in my top 10.

10) Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - Often the buildup in a mystery is better than the conclusion, but I found the answers in this to be just as satisfying as the journey was.  

My Favorite YouTube Video

RIP Michel.

My Favorite Books
  Non-fiction                                                  Fiction

***
2011 is probably my last year ever as a student (since at the moment I am not planning on going to grad school).  I'm off to face the real world.  Here's to hoping I don't fall flat on my face.