well that's embarassing

confession: i just watched never been kissed.

ag! i know. it's drowning in bad acting, terrible wardrobe, predictability, plot holes, etc. but i somehow convinced myself that it would be better coupled with my french homework. it wasn't.

but a small discovery was: it was james franco's first film! i noticed him lurking in the background in a black leather jacket looking all cute and james dean-y. and so i immediately imdb-ed. and yes! james franco's first film, everybody. take it or leave it.

unhealthy relationship music vids

anyone else notice the similarities between these two music videos?

the one that got away

we found love

of course katy perry's is cuter, and rihanna's is grittier. but still. you see it right?

i prefer the katy perry. johnny cash ref? diego luna? sold.

rihanna's is unsettling. (yeah, i mean the ass tat that says, "mine." is unsettling.)

lady jane

oh heyyy 1986.

i just spent the last half of my night watching the historical biopic lady jane. trevor nunn (a theatrical director with little film credit besides this) interprets the true historical account of lady jane grey, queen of england for nine days sometime in the 1500s, as a love story. but a tragic one--as in england, in the 1500s, political intrigue often leads to beheadings, and so it does here. but in this case it apparently also leads to cary elwes (as her husband, guilford) making faces like this:

hotttt.

most of the 2 hours and 20 minutes of lady jane are helena bonham carter (who stars as jane) lookin' like an awkward bird. at this stage in her career, she hasn't fully grown into her acting skills or her face. sometimes she's just a pair of eyebrows. but in this role, i think it works. the character [jane, that is] is an awkward, bookish, sheltered young girl who finds herself both married and in line for the throne of england in a very short amount of time.

for me, the best part was the first half, which i found to be cinematographically brilliant. the movie opens with an extended winter hunting scene that is achingly beautiful, reminiscent of the bayeux tapestry or breugel's hunters in the snow. it sets the perfect tone for the rest of the film.

somewhere in the middle there is a time that captures the spirit of the best part of jane and guilford's fictionalized life: the time when they were together, and in love, and alone. in one scene, jane wears a nightgown and man's boots in the dining room, where the lovers pass up their obligations and smash glass goblets for wishes. it's beautifully executed; the young actors somehow portray both the intensity and the silliness of their situation.

however, some parts seemed awkward or stilted, particularly the dialogue thorughout. but, like helena bonham carter's early acting skills, it worked. a sexually tense scene finds helena bonham carter explaining protestantism to cary elwes while he stares unabashedly at her breasts. but when they kissed i still found it sweet and true.

after they inevitably fell in love, my interest in the plot lagged and mingled with the usual sense of dread that comes with watching a movie based on irreversible historical fact. it was still, surprisingly, interesting, though, shifting the focus towards the short, idyllic reign of jane and guilford. they run about the palace giggling, they give the royal wardrobe to the poor, and they re-issue the shilling with its former worth in silver. they live out the political ideals they once smashed goblets for. it's revolutionary, a little, like secretly they were sort of hippies long before their time.

in they end they, of course, die, as we all knew going in they would. and the question i ask myself everytime i watch a movie like this is answered by a line uttered by jane, "well still." so the lovers die and the throne is taken by bloody mary, who will undo what good has been done, but jane and guilford were together and they changed things and they smashed goblets and ran around a palace and made promises and loved. well still.

3.5/5 stars. it's worth the experience. and if you aren't convinced to watch it now, consider this:

cary elwes is unapologetically adorable. also it's on netflix instant play.

EER!

Why isn't eer a word? There's eerie... but no noun version of it. I don't want to say "I like eerie things." I want to say "I like eer." I guess it would sound like "ear" when spoken and people would wonder why you like ears and then wonder why you said ear (singular) instead of ears. And then you would be that weird kid.
But, we are weird here at the trope, so I'm going to say it:
I like eer.
Aaand, since Mollie wrote a lovely post that was not about halloween and it's way past halloween (so now is obviously the time to post halloweeny things) I'm going to list some of the eerie things I like. (Also, I'm officially giving up on the idea that our posts won't be in list format)

*Twin Peaks- Duh. I figured I'd just go ahead and put that first since I'm sure you already knew it was coming and would just have been waiting for it. And what's the best way to enjoy Twin Peaks? (other than with your secret lover, obviously) With Twin Peaks-themed food, of course! Heavenly pie, damn good coffee, and creamy brie on baguette. Ok, so that last one was only in one episode, but it just sounded absurdly delicious. And so that's what I did! I could've probably used some donuts, too, but I am not a policeman--just a Dale Cooper and Peaks enthusiast.

*Travel Channel shows on America's "spookiest" and "most haunted" places. Pun-filled narration + vague visuals + over-dramatization + ??ghosts?? = quality TV for *any* season! To be honest I'm not entirely sure why I love these so much. The narration does amuse me quite a bit actually, and it's interesting to hear the backstories to these supposed ghosts. One of my favorite places they often list and discuss is...

Be careful with the door to nowhere!

*The Winchester Mystery House- While this is less of a story of a ghost than it is of a woman who believes in a haunting, the whole of it is really interesting.  The story goes that Sarah Winchester, a woman with a wealthy husband and beautiful daughter in the late 1800s, was so distressed after the sudden death of her husband and child that she sought out a medium in Boston.  The medium told her that the deaths of her loved ones were caused by spirits that haunted her family and fortune.  These were the spirits of men that had been killed by Winchester rifles--American Indians, Civil War soldiers, and others.  The medium stated, though, that there was a way to keep the spirits at bay.  Mrs. Winchester must move west and build a great house for the spirits, the construction of which must never stop or Mrs. Winchester's life would be in danger.  Sarah Winchester did just that, moving to San Jose, California and hiring construction workers to build a maze of a house without stopping even on weekends or holidays.  It is said that Mrs. Winchester conducted seances to decide what the construction plans would be.  The mansion is full of doors that open into walls, stairs that hit the ceiling, and secret passageways. If you want to see one of the travel channel segments about it, it's right here.

pants and bemoaning

i spent my first november weekend pants shopping and bemoaning the lack of smart, classy, well-read boys on my campus via watercolor doodles [as seen above]. (but srsly WHERE ARE THEY? i gotta spend more time in the library or something.)

i highly recommend girly notebook doodling as an antidote. i don't consider myself a girl with "boy problemz" but it sure is nice to have a crush.

in other news, i did find some pants that i plan to wear for the next three weeks without washing or removing.



(i wish that was a joke.)