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.

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 

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.

#humblebrag?

Text I recently received from my sister:

Hollys mom Julie dalton
just saw ur pic in the xmas
card and dead serious 
goes is that mcjagger or 
your brother.

Sometimes, the fact that we're the rising generation scares me.

New Year's Spectacular

I celebrated New Year's by going to a very rich person's house.  In this house, there is a full-size gym, which is where I was playing dodgeball with some kids.  I thought we were getting along quite well until one of them, a 6-year-old girl, asked, "Why are you playing with us? Why don't you get a girlfriend...or a life?"

2012 - off to a great start!

Why I Probably Had A Better Day At Work Than You

I saw this woman today.

J

Conversation at Work Today

Boss: Do you watch Saturday Night Live?

Me: Yes.

Boss: Do you know Stefon - the character played by Bill Hader?

Me: Yes.

Boss: You remind me of him.

This is Stefon.

I need a haircut.

Things I Wish I Wrote

The Shortest Horror Story Ever Written 

by Frederic Brown

The last man on earth sat alone in a room. There was a knock on the door.

The Dog Days of Veterans Day

It was 6 years ago today that my drama class did a terrible performance to commemorate Veterans Day. It wasn't offensive or anything, it was just skinny misfit kids shooting air rifles and falling dramatically to the ground.

For something more emotionally moving on this day, may I recommend these clips of soldiers returning home and their dogs' spirited reactions. I'm not sure if it's that time of the month or what, but the last one had me misting up. Isn't it just so cool that dogs remember us?

This one is basically a real-life version of the dog from Up!

Listen to those high pitched barks!

♥

Brad and I

I recently saw my first movie alone. I have eaten lunch and gone to concerts alone, but never a movie. Until last Friday.

I found the perfect movie - Moneyball. It had been out in theaters so long that everyone I know had already seen it (and there were good odds I could have a theater all to myself). It's also somewhat artsy, making it feel like a movie that is more OK to see alone than say, Footloose. Plus, as an A's fan I couldn't wait for the DVD release and consider myself a true fan.

I found a matinee that I could go to after work (I only work a half day on Fridays to be clear, I know the experience is not as socially acceptable if you're going alone on a Friday night). Unfortunately, that Friday the 22 minute trip ended up taking 45 minutes (I'm sure some part of hell involves waiting in LA traffic that never moves). I was already 15 minutes late when I arrived, so I hurried to the ticket counter, but my efforts were stymied by two grannies I got stuck behind in line. They had had arrived nearly an hour early to go see Footloose (notice, however, that they weren't alone).

By the time I raced to Theater 6, the movie had already started - the exact opposite of what I wanted (ideally, I would arrive a minute before previews so the lights would go down soon after but not so quick that I couldn't cast a few looks and fake a phone conversation pretending I was waiting on someone...just kidding, I'm not that insecure). I MIGHT HAVE SENT A FAKE TEXT THOUGH

It was so dark that I couldn't see any of the seats in the back section. Knowing if I sat on someone that would be the end of my solo moviegoing experiences, I panicked and sat in the first seat I saw. It ended up being the first seat on the left aisle of the back row of the front section. So everyone saw me come in. And everyone saw I was alone. Here's a graphic representation of what I imagine was going on in there:

Being so close, I had trouble enjoying the movie because my neck was at a 45-degree angle the entire time. Any action that took place on the right side of the screen I basically missed.

One day I'll do something that doesn't leave me soaked, drenched in awkwardness.

Oh Sheep!

This is a Photoshop project I did for class. Look for it at Redbox.

(click on it to see the full size)