February

Things that are lovely about February:

• Not having to worry about my transfer application, as it has been sent off. When I say "not having to worry," I mean, "panicking an insane amount but knowing that it is out of my hands." Or something. Right.
• Visiting the campus of my hopefully third (and last) university. (No, I'm not going to say which it is.)
• Loads of great films. 
• I turn 20.
• The Academy Awards.
• Edinburgh.
• Something I ordered will arrive and it's really exciting (blog or video to come.)
• The fact that it is no longer January which is universally, by Rosianna and I, acknowledged as the worst month of the year.

Not a hugely long list, but at least it's not January anymore. Such a barren month, you know? Speaking of barren, here are some pcitures I took today in the cold, wants-to-be-snowy air.

Train journeys this year: 4.
Flights this year: 1. 

Videos posted this year: 8.

January Things

Just some things that I like, want or crave.

Train journeys this year: 4.
Flights this year: 1. 

Videos posted this year: 4.

Oscar Nomination Choices

Alright, the Oscar nominations were released today and I thought I'd do what I did for the Golden Globes and post who I would like to win. These aren't my predictions, just my opinions. You can click the tabs above to see which films I've seen to get a better idea of why I made these choices. Let me know your top picks in the comments! I'm particularly excited to see Hugo up there so many times. Have a great day! x

Actor in a Leading Role
    •    Demián Bichir in "A Better Life"
    •    George Clooney in "The Descendants"
    •    Jean Dujardin in "The Artist"
    •    Gary Oldman in "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy"
    •    Brad Pitt in "Moneyball"
(Though I'd love to see Oldman receive an award; I just have ashamedly not yet seen Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy. I know. For shame.)

Actor in a Supporting Role
    •    Kenneth Branagh in "My Week with Marilyn"
    •    Jonah Hill in "Moneyball"
    •    Nick Nolte in "Warrior"
    •    Christopher Plummer in "Beginners"
    •    Max von Sydow in "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close"
(Extremely Loud has yet to come out over here, but Sydow is my top pick, followed by Plummer.)

Actress in a Leading Role
    •    Glenn Close in "Albert Nobbs"
    •    Viola Davis in "The Help"
    •    Rooney Mara in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo"
    •    Meryl Streep in "The Iron Lady"
    •    Michelle Williams in "My Week with Marilyn"

Actress in a Supporting Role
    •    Bérénice Bejo in "The Artist"
    •    Jessica Chastain in "The Help"
    •    Melissa McCarthy in "Bridesmaids"
    •    Janet McTeer in "Albert Nobbs"
    •    Octavia Spencer in "The Help"

Animated Feature Film
    •    "A Cat in Paris" Alain Gagnol and Jean-Loup Felicioli
    •    "Chico & Rita" Fernando Trueba and Javier Mariscal
    •    "Kung Fu Panda 2" Jennifer Yuh Nelson
    •    "Puss in Boots" Chris Miller
    •    "Rango" Gore Verbinski

Art Direction
    •    "The Artist" 
Production Design: Laurence Bennett; Set Decoration: Robert Gould
    •    "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" 
Production Design: Stuart Craig; Set Decoration: Stephenie McMillan
    •    "Hugo" 
Production Design: Dante Ferretti; Set Decoration: Francesca Lo Schiavo
    •    "Midnight in Paris" 
Production Design: Anne Seibel; Set Decoration: Hélène Dubreuil
    •    "War Horse" 
Production Design: Rick Carter; Set Decoration: Lee Sandales

Cinematography
    •    "The Artist" Guillaume Schiffman
    •    "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Jeff Cronenweth
    •    "Hugo" Robert Richardson
    •    "The Tree of Life" Emmanuel Lubezki
    •    "War Horse" Janusz Kaminski

Costume Design
    •    "Anonymous" Lisy Christl
    •    "The Artist" Mark Bridges
    •    "Hugo" Sandy Powell
    •    "Jane Eyre" Michael O'Connor
    •    "W.E." Arianne Phillips

Directing
    •    "The Artist" Michel Hazanavicius
    •    "The Descendants" Alexander Payne
    •    "Hugo" Martin Scorsese
    •    "Midnight in Paris" Woody Allen
    •    "The Tree of Life" Terrence Malick

Documentary (Feature)
    •    "Hell and Back Again" 
Danfung Dennis and Mike Lerner
    •    "If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front" 
Marshall Curry and Sam Cullman
    •    "Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory" 
Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
    •    "Pina" 
Wim Wenders and Gian-Piero Ringel
    •    "Undefeated" 
TJ Martin, Dan Lindsay and Richard Middlemas

(I haven't actually seen any of these!)

Documentary (Short Subject)
    •    "The Barber of Birmingham: Foot Soldier of the Civil Rights Movement" 
Robin Fryday and Gail Dolgin
    •    "God Is the Bigger Elvis" 
Rebecca Cammisa and Julie Anderson
    •    "Incident in New Baghdad" 
James Spione
    •    "Saving Face" 
Daniel Junge and Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy
    •    "The Tsunami and the Cherry Blossom" 
Lucy Walker and Kira Carstensen

Film Editing
    •    "The Artist" Anne-Sophie Bion and Michel Hazanavicius
    •    "The Descendants" Kevin Tent
    •    "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Kirk Baxter and Angus Wall
    •    "Hugo" Thelma Schoonmaker
    •    "Moneyball" Christopher Tellefsen

Foreign Language Film
    •    "Bullhead" Belgium
    •    "Footnote" Israel
    •    "In Darkness" Poland
    •    "Monsieur Lazhar" Canada
    •    "A Separation" Iran
(Haven't seen these, either!)

Makeup
    •    "Albert Nobbs" 
Martial Corneville, Lynn Johnston and Matthew W. Mungle
    •    "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" 
Nick Dudman, Amanda Knight and Lisa Tomblin
    •    "The Iron Lady" 
Mark Coulier and J. Roy Helland

Music (Original Score)
    •    "The Adventures of Tintin" John Williams
    •    "The Artist" Ludovic Bource
    •    "Hugo" Howard Shore
    •    "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Alberto Iglesias
    •    "War Horse" John Williams

Music (Original Song)
    •    "Man or Muppet" from "The Muppets" Music and Lyric by Bret McKenzie
    •    "Real in Rio" from "Rio" Music by Sergio Mendes and Carlinhos Brown Lyric by Siedah Garrett
(But really, though? Ugh. Haven't seen either & there should definitely be more nominees.) 

Best Picture
    •    "The Artist" Thomas Langmann, Producer
    •    "The Descendants" Jim Burke, Alexander Payne and Jim Taylor, Producers
    •    "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" Scott Rudin, Producer
    •    "The Help" Brunson Green, Chris Columbus and Michael Barnathan, Producers
    •    "Hugo" Graham King and Martin Scorsese, Producers
    •    "Midnight in Paris" Letty Aronson and Stephen Tenenbaum, Producers
    •    "Moneyball" Michael De Luca, Rachael Horovitz and Brad Pitt, Producers
    •    "The Tree of Life" Nominees to be determined
    •    "War Horse" Steven Spielberg and Kathleen Kennedy, Producers

Short Film (Animated)
    •    "Dimanche/Sunday" Patrick Doyon
    •    "The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore" William Joyce and Brandon Oldenburg
    •    "La Luna" Enrico Casarosa
    •    "A Morning Stroll" Grant Orchard and Sue Goffe
    •    "Wild Life" Amanda Forbis and Wendy Tilby

Short Film (Live Action)
    •    "Pentecost" Peter McDonald and Eimear O'Kane
    •    "Raju" Max Zähle and Stefan Gieren
    •    "The Shore" Terry George and Oorlagh George
    •    "Time Freak" Andrew Bowler and Gigi Causey
    •    "Tuba Atlantic" Hallvar Witzø
(Haven't seen any.)

Sound Editing
    •    "Drive" Lon Bender and Victor Ray Ennis
    •    "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" Ren Klyce
    •    "Hugo" Philip Stockton and Eugene Gearty
    •    "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" Ethan Van der Ryn and Erik Aadahl
    •    "War Horse" Richard Hymns and Gary Rydstrom

Sound Mixing
    •    "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" 
David Parker, Michael Semanick, Ren Klyce and Bo Persson
    •    "Hugo" 
Tom Fleischman and John Midgley
    •    "Moneyball" 
Deb Adair, Ron Bochar, Dave Giammarco and Ed Novick
    •    "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" 
Greg P. Russell, Gary Summers, Jeffrey J. Haboush and Peter J. Devlin
    •    "War Horse" 
Gary Rydstrom, Andy Nelson, Tom Johnson and Stuart Wilson

Visual Effects
    •    "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2" 
Tim Burke, David Vickery, Greg Butler and John Richardson
    •    "Hugo" 
Rob Legato, Joss Williams, Ben Grossman and Alex Henning
    •    "Real Steel" 
Erik Nash, John Rosengrant, Dan Taylor and Swen Gillberg
    •    "Rise of the Planet of the Apes" 
Joe Letteri, Dan Lemmon, R. Christopher White and Daniel Barrett
    •    "Transformers: Dark of the Moon" 
Scott Farrar, Scott Benza, Matthew Butler and John Frazier

Writing (Adapted Screenplay)
    •    "The Descendants" Screenplay by Alexander Payne and Nat Faxon & Jim Rash
    •    "Hugo" Screenplay by John Logan
    •    "The Ides of March" Screenplay by George Clooney & Grant Heslov and Beau Willimon
    •    "Moneyball" Screenplay by Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin  Story by Stan Chervin
    •    "Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy" Screenplay by Bridget O'Connor & Peter Straughan

Writing (Original Screenplay)
    •    "The Artist" Written by Michel Hazanavicius
    •    "Bridesmaids" Written by Annie Mumolo & Kristen Wiig
    •    "Margin Call" Written by J.C. Chandor
    •    "Midnight in Paris" Written by Woody Allen
    •    "A Separation" Written by Asghar Farhadi

00:43

"And yet the place establishes an interest in people's hearts; go where they will, they find no city of the same distinction; go where they will, they take a pride in their own home." - Robert Louis Stevenson.

Blanketed

These are phone pictures that my parents took of my hometown this week. It sort of feels like Thanksgiving all over again what with me missing it there. I've spent nearly the last five days wishing I was snuggled up in front of my fire with my parents and dogs. London and independence and everything that comes with both of those things...I love them. I love my life. I just have to keep reminding myself of those things. In other news, if it isn't going to snow, I'd quite like to be somewhere sunny right about now. The rain isn't quite doing it for me.

Train journeys this year: 4.
Flights this year: 1. 

Rainbow for thoughts

Sometimes I come to this blog with every intention to write something relevant to my life or something I've been thinking about a lot recently or something that I would only like to share with a small following on the internet, since this is my outlet with the least viewership.
And then I realise I don't really have anything to say and forcing something out for the same of saying things isn't really worth my time or your time or anyone's time, really.
In lieu of words, stories or thoughts, have a rainbow.

Train journeys this year: 3.
Flights this year: 1. 

Films in 2011 & 2012

In 2011, I saw over 50 films in the cinema. I saw good films, bad films, okay films. I reviewed some of them on the blog or I privately enjoyed them and shared thoughts with friends. Regardless of whether or not I shared the film, reviewed it, or liked it, I appreciated every experience. There's nothing that can compare to how I feel when I go to the cinema to see a film. It is an experience yet unmatched and one that I hope never gets diluted. To see a (nearly) full list of films I saw in 2011 in cinemas, go here or just click the tab on the top of this page. The starred ones are my favourites of the year.
In 2012, I plan to see even more films. Or, at least, that was my intention before going through the full IMDB and Wikipedia lists of films coming out next year. Honestly, the first half of the year is mostly shit-looking comedies starring washed-up C list actors or never-before-acted singers. Seriously, that shouldn't be a thing. However, I'm hoping to find far more independent films to experience as the lists are not all to promising. Regardless, if you are interested in what I intend to see this year, click the tab above or here. The ones I'm most excited for are starred. Additionally, I'm going to try my hardest to get back into the swing of writing reviews. I've just been in a creative slump, as of late. All of the ideas, none of the motivation. Let me know what you're looking forward to the most and what your favourite films of last year were!

EDIT: Also, I think I'll be doing the 365 Films Challenge this year. I'll try to keep track of it on the tab above or I'll do it all in a journal of mine and periodically remember to fill in the blog tab. Either way, I think it'll be fun. I'll try to do mostly new films, but I'm going to keep track of all films. (Though possibly not ever rewatch of Lord of the Rings, because that'd be unfair.)

Train journeys this year: 1.
Flights this year: 1.