My Best Films of 2011

Most “Best of 2011” lists stick to things that actually came out in 2011, but since I’m often a little behind the curve this list is built from films I viewed for the 1^st time in 2011 (regardless of when they were released). Enjoy.

10. Bridesmaids – I was rather reluctant to see this one. After hearing nothing but glowing praise for months, I ended up seeing it with my school friends. It was funnier than I expected, but also managed to have a relatable theme and actual character development. Kristen Wig was the star, but Melissa McCarthy by far had the best (and most disturbing) performance. “Bridesmaids” was the most unexpected gem of the year.

9. Inside Job – This documentary about the financial crisis surrounding the housing bubble won the Oscar last year, but I only saw it last month. The documentarians did an amazing job of taking a complex situation and explaining it with simple graphics. I am still baffled that so many people were willing to talk to them. It will make you angry, but in a good way.

8. Contagion – As a public health professional, I am morally obligated to love this film. Steven Soderbergh did a great job of incorporating actual science into what is essentially an action movie. He effectively blended the clinical aspects with the human stories, although sometimes the film seemed slightly lost in the number of personal narratives. I do not know how Soderbergh gets such amazing casts for even small roles (see: Ocean’s 11), but once again he cast the film perfectly. Disclaimer: The fact that I saw the actual filming on location in Atlanta almost definitely influenced my love for this film.

7. Harry Potter 7.2 – It was the end of an era. I liked HP 7.1 more, but overall this was a solid, entertaining conclusion to a global phenomenon. Can we talk about how much better those kids’ acting got? Thank god for that.

6. Never Let Me Go – I do not really go for sci-fi films. But when it is really a tragic chick flick masquerading as sci-fi, I can get behind it. With ethereal cinematography and beautiful clothes, it was lovely just to look at. Also, with Carey Mulligan and Andrew Garfield you can’t go wrong.

5. True Grit – I always love the Coen brothers, but I was surprised I enjoyed a western so much. Let’s be honest, having the hero be a young girl probably helped. Hallie Steinfeld held her own against Jeff Bridges and Matt Damon quite well. This film was also funnier than I had suspected. Finally, the song in the closing credits: absolutely perfect.

4. Win Win – A film about a middle-aged loser part-time wrestling coach might not sound intriguing, but “Win Win” perfectly walks the line between emotional drama and comedy. With complex characters and realistic portrayals of family relationships, this film is reminiscent of “Little Miss Sunshine” & I loved it. Definitely a winner (see what I did there?).

3. Temple Grandin – This is an HBO film that I discovered when Claire Danes won the Emmy, the Golden Globe, & the SAG award for Best Actres (since it was a TV movie she was not eligible for an Oscar, but she was way better than boring Natalie Portman). The film is about Dr. Temple Grandin, a brilliant autistic girl in the 1960s who figures out how to work in the world around her and becomes a famous animal behaviorist. Temple is amazing and Claire Danes is amazing playing her. My favorite part is when the guard won’t let Temple onto the feedlot so she dresses up as a boy, makes herself a fake press pass, and drives right in. Like I said, brilliant.

2. Psycho – Yes, this Alfred Hitchcock classic was released in 1960, but I only saw it last week. I hate horror movies. Hate. And I loved Psycho. If I liked horror movies, it would be my number one. Both of my parents saw it as children and talked about how utterly terrified they were for days. It is a film that definitely says with you for a while. Watch it. You will love it. (Note: it is unrated, but would probably be PG by today’s standards).

1. Meek’s Cutoff – “Meek’s Cutoff” is this year’s “Winter Bone” – a vague, mildly depressing movie that I try to convince everyone I know to watch. The good news is “Meek’s Cutoff” is rated PG so it is more Mormon-friendly. And it’s about pioneers!  Told from the women’s vantage point, it is the meandering tale of a small group lost in eastern Oregon and their internal debates over whom to trust: their unreliable guide or an Indian they captured. If you can handle slow, ambiguous movies I highly recommend it.

Honorable Mention: The Help

Probably would have made the list if I had bothered to see it in 2011: Midnight in Paris, Certified Copy, The Descendants, 50/50

post-nap hangover

last weekend was one of the busiest weekends i've ever had. between finals, church responsibilities, and social drama my anxiety levels were sky high. as a result i slept about 3-4 hours a night for 5 days. now that it is all over, i'm trying to catch up a bit. last night i slept 9 hours and i just woke up from a 2.5 hour nap.  sleeping from 4:30-7pm is generally a bad idea, but in this case, the hangover was worth it. 

moral dilemma

should i date a guy who uses emoticons in his text messages? please advise.

Public Health Message

i stole this from a friend and i love it

the bright side of the road

good parts of the past week: 

warm weather

Blind Pilot concert

found an Australia bakery near my house

finally got a hair cut

so many parties

worked at the atlanta marathon

bad parts of last week:

getting fired*

*and by "fired" i mean, the grant that funds my job ends in December so my job ends in December. i might try to find a new one. or i might be a really poor PhD student with more free time. 

A Real Text Message My Mother Just Sent Me

"oh, and Dad "loved" the music, too... NOT. Food was very good. now, we're on our way to 'hillsboro, N C'. love you, M"


*i love how she signs all her text, "M" or "Mom", just in case i wasn't sure who they were from

Dispatches from East Tennessee

I took this picture on my drive home last week. (Sam's Gap, TN)

Anyone who knows me at all knows I love the town where I grew up. I love the mountains, the accents, and the local food. I love that everyone wears orange on fall Saturdays and that the cashier at the grocery store always calls me honey. I love that people don't lock their doors* and wave to each other on the street. Most of all, I love how predictable it is. No matter how long I've been gone, everything is familiar. Somehow growing up in a place lets one intuitively understand how life there works. That sense of place becomes such a significant part of how we identify ourselves. I am grateful that my place turned out to be such a pleasant one.

*I have so many stories about unlocked doors in k-town. People leave their cars unlocked (sometimes with the keys inside!) on a daily basis all the time. I never locked my car in high school. Why? Because I didn't need to.

Political Protest Packing List

Surprising almost no one, I decided to check out Atlanta's version of the Occupy Wall Street protest this past Friday. I am not really the "sleeping in a park to send a political message" type, but I always enjoy a good march. And, let's be honest, any opportunity to make self-righteous/overly idealist signs. The ATL movement is just getting going so my co-worker and I didn't really know what to expect. I brought supplies for a variety of situations. 

This stuff:

went into this bag:

In the end we just sat around the park for 2 hours listening to idealists blather on about "the process", got bored, and left. I'm fairly certain they will eventually plan a march down the street to the Federal Reserve Bank in Atlanta. Hopefully that will be more exciting.

best time of the year

i have lots of real life things i should blog about, but instead, can we talk about how it is autumn? this is the best time of the year. nice weather, pretty, halloween candy, blah blah blah:

GOOD TELEVISION IS BACK.

jet lag

i got back from Australia exactly one week ago. since then i have not woken up of my own volition before noon (most days i'm dragging myself out of bed by the early hour of 1pm). last night i decided to go to bed really early (ie, at midnight) to convince my body to get up earlier. i woke up at 5:30am and slept fitfully till 7:30am. Around 8am (10pm in Australia), I fell blissfully asleep until noon. Proof that my body just wants to stay up till 3am and sleep till noon. if only school & work were cool with that schedule.

bathroom etiquette

i hate public restrooms but unless you are agoraphobic they are unavoidable. sadly, some people do not seem to understand how to behave in them. here are some general guidelines:

1. no talking. it is just awkward. if it is just you & your mom, i'll let it slide. but if anyone else enters the facilities, cease conversation immediately. no one wants to hear it.

2. no talking to me. even/especially if you are my mom, i will refuse to speak to you if i am in a stall.

3. the no talking rule goes double for cell phones. what is the person on the other end thinking?

4. if there are more than 2 stalls and 1 is occupied, use the one that does not border the occupied one. i do not understand how when there are 5 empty stalls, you are going to pick the only one that borders mine. (i always use the 1st stall b/c a) lower chance of someone being next to you and b) i read an article about how it was the cleanest b.c fewer people use it - stall 2 is the most used. fyi.)

5. if you are a male, being gay is not a valid reason for using the women's restroom. (i'm looking at you, Midtown)

6. if you are my male co-worker who keeps using the women's restroom & leaving the seat up - SERIOUSLY? the only person with a penis allowed in there is the transgendered girl & i'm pretty sure she's not putting the seat up. unless you are ready to fully commit to the life of a woman the way she has, walk the 15 feet around the corner and use the men's room.

the monthly update

the last few weeks have been a little crazy. i was going to move into a house with these two girls at the beginning of june but they both flaked out 2 days before we supposed to move. so i was homeless for about 2 hours and then my dear friend, RationalThought, showed up & said i could live in her guest room. a ton of people helped me move - half of them took my crap to a storage unit and the other team took stuff to RationalThought's house. so when i got home, it was all there waiting for me. my friends are kinda awesome.

me & RationalThought. the creepy head floating above her shoulder looks like The Manorexic, but i'm not sure

despite my amazing friends, the whole moving thing was kinda stressful. so i skipped work last week & went to the beach with some girls from church. i forgot to take any pictures of the beach, but here is our successful grilling attempt:

these girls dressed in matching outfits the whole time. i don't know why.

i also totally got a tan, but you'll just have to imagine what that looks like. and now i have 1 more month of work before i quit my job and spend a month traveling!

heavy things i could not see

may has been quite the month. here are a few things i did:

i went camping here. it was wonderful - perfect weather & i slept all night long thanks to earplugs & drugs.

i went to the re-dedication of the atlanta temple

i spent a weekend in alabama picking up trash after the tornados

Boy & i went to our cousin's wedding in north carolina

and this weekend, i am moving!

the most patriotic post i'll ever write

i feel such ambivalence as i watch the national reaction and counter reaction to the news about Osama bin Laden's death. i am glad a man that represented such evil is not in my world anymore. but then i read quotes like this one by Martin Luther King, Jr:

"I mourn the loss of thousands of precious lives, but I will not rejoice in the death of one, not even an enemy. Returning hate for hate multiplies hate, adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness: only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that."

does rejoicing in the death of an enemy automatically equal hate? perhaps. can we be happy someone who attacked our nation and irreversibly changed our lives does not have that power anymore without feeling hatred toward him? i don't know. i certainly don't want to chant "USA! USA!" or wrap a flag around my shoulders, but i will not pretend i want him in my world. while i do not personally celebrate his death and wish he had been captured alive (for a myriad of reasons), i view his death as good news for me & my country.

i feel no hatred for bin Laden. i kinda pity him. at what point has one lost so much of his humanity that thousands celebrate his death?

Arab Americans celebrate the news of Osama bin Laden's death (NYTimes)

i marked the news of his death last night the way i marked the September 11th attacks (and the way i remembered that day when i watched United 93*) - by crying on my couch. other took to the streets in what seemed like a post-game celebration. appropriate or not, i can understand their feelings. the events on September 11th were devastating for all Americans, but the physically harmed cities bore a special burden the rest of us cannot claim to understand. when spontaneous celebrations break out in DC & NYC, the two cities bin Laden's minions undeniably hurt the most, i am hesitant to vilify these communities for a moment of open catharsis.

the worst part of September 11th is the uncertainty that has followed. the last decade has been filled with violence, death, and tragedy. and while those things are far from gone, bin Laden's death is a monumental symbolic victory for our side. it says to all those people who have lived in fear that while evil may strike and innocents may die, those that attack us will answer for their crimes and, ultimately, we will win. and if that is what people were celebrating last night, i am with them (in spirit at least).

*anyone who can watch "United 93" without becoming an emotional wreck is dead inside

Epic Love Story

my beloved grandmother passed away one year ago this week. anyone who has had more than 3 conversations with me knows my love for my maternal grandparents borders on obsession. accordingly, i did not handle her death very well (i was kinda a wreck for about 2 months). as the year anniversary has approached, i have found myself working her into random conversations. also, i may or may not have forced RationalThought to look at pictures of her house for 20 minutes last week. but this post is less about her & more about some awesome people i met through her.

for me spring break equals florida. almost every year of my childhood we traveled to Mt.Dora and stayed in the little pink cottage for a week. we usually spent one day at Disney World, one day at the hot springs, and the rest of the days playing in the next door neighbors pool. these neighbors, the Huebners, were almost as much a part of my florida world as my grandparents were. one day my grandmother told me about how they met:

during world war II Teresea was a young nurse living in what was then Czechoslovakia. after the nazi army invaded, she began working at a military hospital. while there she met Martin, an injured German solider, and they fell deeply in love. when Martin finished his convalescence he was sent back to the front, but before leaving he gave Teresea his sister's address in Berlin and asked her to try to find him after the war. (at this point, the war was ending and he knew a former German solider would not be welcome back in Czechoslovakia). when the war ended, Teresea set off to find Martin. the railways and roads had been bombed so she decided to walk. along her way she met some American GIs who let her spend the night in one of their tents and gave her food (after that night she decided she loved Americans and America). after several weeks of walking through war-torn lands, she arrived in Berlin only to discover she had lost the piece of paper with Martin's sister's address on it. not knowing anyone in Berlin, she spent the next 2 days wandering around the city asking everyone she saw if they knew Clara Huebner. eventually, she found someone who knew her and he took Teresea to Clara's house where she was reunited with Martin. they married in Berlin and eventually immigrated to the States.

i just love how ridiculously dramatic their story is. if i ever write a screenplay it will be based on Teresea and Martin (and Joe Wright will direct it). can you imagine the scene when she finally sees Martin again in Berlin? cue the crane shot and sweeping music... now.

love & beauty

the temple in Atlanta has been closed for the past 2 years for remodeling, but it is done and we are in the middle of the open house before it's rededication. friday was my stake's day to work at the open house. i helped on the afternoon/evening shift. mostly i just stood on the sidewalk and gave people directions. honestly, i kinda felt like a temple square missionary just saying hello to people as they walked by. it made me glad i was not a temple square missionary.

i did get to sneak onto a tour group and i found myself looking forward to the temple being open again. since it has been closed i have only really been to the temple once. for me, going to the temple does not count if i go with other people - i find it distracting to know anyone else there. and with the closest temple 2.5 hours away, going alone was not very realistic. my last year in college i went to the temple every other tuesday afternoon, always by myself. when i think back on how emotionally taxing that year was, i am so grateful i had the luxury of a temple being 5 minutes from my house. even though i get bored and tend to nap during the beginning, there is something about being there that helps me feel calmer. it is unexplainable, but it is there. and i am glad it can be in my life again.

in case you were wondering...

the fat one still likes to eat, as does the not-so-fat one

but, they are not very fat anymore... sad

The Book of Mormon (Broadway style)

so you've probably heard that the creators of South Park made a Broadway musical called The Book of Mormon. i first heard about it about a year ago because i read the NYTimes so obsessively that sometimes i make it to the theater section. i was a little apprehensive at first having watched many South Park episodes in my sinful, pre-mission days, but the more i have heard about it the more i want to see it. i have no doubt it will be vulgar and crass, but from everything i've seen that makes up the majority of the offensiveness. i have talked to a few people at church who were quite offended on principle without knowing much about it. if you feel similarly, i have some suggestions:

- first, watch this interview with Trey Parker and Matt Stone. i found it quite encouraging.

- second, read my friend's blog about the non-Mormon v. Mormon dynamic. he an excellent writer and has a lot of intelligent observations.

- last, every time stuff like this comes around in the news, i find myself wondering why anyone is paying attention to the Mormon church in the first place. i think it is a good sign of growth. and, i'll take this type of attention over people storming the LA temple any day.

a sampling of words found in my phone's user dictionary

ahhhh

bastard

Bieber

crap

douche

downers

effe

F-ing

freakin

freebasing

WTF

hell

HIV

Loratab

pimp

STIs

trannie

Unabomber

vegan

Xanax

Hipster

radiohead

i'm sitting here listening to King of Limbs & having a strange urge to slit my wrists. i'm pretty sure the two are related.

... to pass the time in my room alone

i had a friend from HS visiting for the weekend. it was quite fun/busy. in the 36 hours she was here, we:

- went to a Henri Cartier-Bresson photography exhibit (he is the father of photojournalism & had pictures from many of the major events around the world from the 1930s-1980s)

this one was my favorite even though it's not very journalism-y

- ate delicious indian food

- saw a planetarium show about the african sky

- visited the long awaited Decatur Diner

i've been waiting 13 months for this place to open

- watched Stefon clips

- ran 4 miles/got slightly sunburned (70s & sunny in February? yes, please)

- brunched in Midtown and played "who is/isn't gay" ("Midtown, by the park" is code for "gay gay gay")

- explored my town square

- went to a peanut butter party

this was my favorite one

- hung out at an irish pub with some people who talked about their bosses' horrifically terrible social skills for 20 minutes. this experience reaffirmed my decision to leave the world of chemistry

- watch part of Harry Potter (until i fell deeply asleep)

... it was a really fun weekend, but i am fairly worn out. i so looked forward to sitting around in my house alone all day on sunday doing nothing. and that is exactly what i did. and it was glorious.

things i love this week

1. the egyptian people's success

2. this facebook thread about The Jimmer. epic.

3. this t-shirt that says "i love my town"

4. these kate spade love notes

5. stat nerd cookies

i'm gonna live it out

Remember my crippling anxiety about my PhD applications? Well, I feel that it was fully justified since I’ve already been rejected from Washington and Minnesota (further confirmation that I am not made to live in the Midwest). Turns out getting a PhD is much harder than an MPH (which, lets be honest, is pretty freakin easy. remember how much I went to class?) I spent last Thursday – Saturday interviewing at Emory. I did not fall in love with the program and have some major reservations about, but they officially offered me a spot today. So that’s something.

snow daze

it snowed in atlanta on sunday night. a lot. (by GA standards. i know, boston is getting a foot, blah blah blah. they have more snow plows than we do so i don't want to hear it. my entire county has two snow plows. two!)

on monday morning my street was snowy, icy, & unsalted. (it still is)

i think we got 3-4 inches of snow. i also think they are letting us off work one day for every inch of snow.

at least it was enough for the neighbor to make a cool snow sculpture

as fun as it has been, i'm looking forward to seeing some sun soon

gullible

remember how Niece #1 wanted to throw a snowball at Boy? as he was leaving to get released, we went out to have our snowball "fight." he was wearing his suit so he mostly hid in the garage and used a broom to hit away her feeble attempts. after i got tired of making snowballs for her, she unsuccessfully tried tossing handfuls of snow at him.

our little future lawyer

eventually she realized she was never going to hit him so she tried a different tactic:

Uncle, i want to show you something!

[Boy peeking tentatively around the corner] don't hit me with a snowball

i won't. i won't!

[Boy finally comes out, lets her come right up to him, and bends over. she throws the entire pile of snow in her hands into his face/eyes]

arghh! i can't believe she did that!

[much laughter from everyone other than Boy]

she lied to me!

no i didn't! it wasn't a snowball - it was a pile of snow!

he should have known better.

for the record

i applied to PhD programs in Biostatistics at Emory, Harvard, Boston U, Minnesota, & Washington. i'll hear back around March. i want to study how diseases move geographically.

i am so tired of saying these sentences.

winter holiday by the numbers

days i spent in k-town: 12

bedrooms i slept in as various family member came & went: 3

days i got dressed after noon: 9

girls in my parents house: 7

boys: 3

consecutive hours i was forced to look at pictures/videos from Albania: 2

number of times i fell asleep during PictureFest: 1

toy toilets we have: 1

days the twins fought over the toy toilet: 7

days the twins were here: 7

times one of the twins took off their diaper and flung feces around the room during nap time: 3

times i helped clean it up: 0

where i ranked on Brooke, Jr.'s "People I Like" list: 3 (following her mom and grandma. her dad got #4)

times i cooked for myself: 1

times i did the dishes: 0