Lincoln...not really a review so much as a "squee"

Just got back from seeing Lincoln - marvelous film. It's odd, there's almost no action sequences, yet I wasn't bored once and it was suspenseful throughout, while most of the action films I saw this year, including The Hobbit, Skyfall, and The Avengers (admittedly the most fun of the three action films)...I got restless or bored during.

Goes to show you that a scene of dialogue, just dialogue, done and filmed well can be more interesting and gripping than watching a bunch of people race about trying to kill one another.

Lincoln just blew me away. And I went in with fairly high expectations, but with the mild fear that I'd be bored or my mind would wander during it. It didn't and I wasn't. James Spader, Daniel Day Lewis, David Straighthorn, Sally Field, and Tommy Lee Jones all knocked their balls out of the park.

One of the best films I've seen. Somewhat speechless. It also gave me hope regarding the US' current bi-partisian/congressional crisis. The US seems to be split down the center on a lot of issues at the moment, but it was split far worse back then - yet somehow Lincoln managed to pull off the impossible and get it done. This film was hard to do well - it's mostly dialogue and speeches taken from historical text - how do you pull that off, make it interesting, without becoming a tired documentary?

Currently my top five films keep flipping about...here's the end of the year list to date.


1. Lincoln
2. Life of Pi
3. Les Miserables
4. Brave
5. The Hunger Games

Honorable mention: Skyfall

(I've admittedly not seen that many.)

Saw Brave over the holidays. My mother gave it to me as a Xmas gift, which is oddly fitting if you've seen the film. It's that oddity amongst animated films - it is about the relationship between a mother and a daughter, and does not in any way shape or form include a male love interest. In short it's about women but not a romance. And it is animated. And it is about a princess. I know, remarkable, right? Yay, Pixar!

Happy New Year's....Resolutions, Notable cultural stuff in 2012, and what I look forward to in 2013.

Had a lovely dinner of filet mignon marinated in red wine, green beans and carrots, Avanti pinot noir with dinner, and a pomegrante martini prior, with Jaques Torres Chocolates for desert.

Been thinking about New Year's Resolutions. I'm not very good at them. Can't even remember what my resolutions were last year. Suppose I could look it up, assuming I did it. But that would require work - I suck at tagging or indexing. I keep track of a million things at work, but am a bit on the absent-minded side of the bench in my personal life.

But I'm still pondering them. Spent five minutes trying to come up with a few during the evening vespers service at my church - we had a five minute meditation period. My mind was annoyingly blank.

( Seven Resolutions I probably won't even Remember by year's end anyway. )

So my main or number one NEW YEAR's Resolution? Find a way to safely de-stress in a heathly manner that furthers my life, not diminishes it.

Year-End Stuff

1. Favorite/Notable TV Shows of 2012
( notable tv shows from 2012 )

2. Favorite Movies
( 2013 noteworthy movies that I watched this year and remember )

3. Favorite Books or Notable books... read a lot this year, but can only think of 6 that are memorable or noteworthy.

( Six notable books from 2012 )

Looking forward to in 2013?

I don't know. I'm weirdly spontaneous. My mind changes as does my mood. There are things that looked interesting in the lengthy section of previews before Lincoln, but they are just trailers. At times I feel overwhelmed by our culture - there's too much of it.

TV? I'd like to try Homeland, and am curious about the finale season of Dexter...also the returns of SMASH, Justified, Bunheads, Dowton Abbey, Doctor Who, Breaking Bad, and Game of Thrones. Mixed feelings about Whedon's "SHEILD" which feels like another war story and I'm sick of those. Am admittedly more curious about Julie Benze playing a sheriff in the sy-fy thriller serial Defiance. Also, anticipating Gaiman's American Gods, assuming it ever comes about.

Books? Eh. Nothing really coming up outside of Kim Harrison's Ever After and Dance of Dragons which I haven't gotten to yet - because I like to read George RR Martin slowly...so that I can fully digest his characters and let them burrow their way into my head. In my queue are "Joseph Anton by Salman Rushdie", Les Miserables by Victor Hugo, Bleak House by Charles Dickens, North and South by Elizabeth Gatskill, White Forest by Adam McCombre, amongst others.

Movies? Catching Fire (I liked this book in some respects better than Hunger Games, more disturbing and better satire). Beautiful Creatures - just for the marvelously campy Emma Thompson and Jeremy Irons. The Hobbit - Part II - mainly because it will most likely be better than the first one, although will have giant spiders which I can do without. Wish the spiders were more fake looking than the eagles. Jackson is better at creating monsters for some reason and insects, than pretty birds. OZ...because it looks interesting. The Lone Ranger - for Johnny Depp. And Iron Man 3...because awesome trailer. Ditto for Man of Steel and the fact that I like Christopher Nolan films...which makes no sense I know.

But...I'm mainly looking forward to having more vacation time - 16 days instead of just 11, I think. Which means I can book a trip that is not around my parents or immediate family for the first time in twelve years. Yes, it has been that long. The downside of having your parents live a long ways from you - is all your vacations are to see them. Just don't know where I want to go...or who with. More time away from work. I want to focus more on my personal/private life this year and less on career which appears to be thankless and cold.
It's not worth me investing as much energy as I have. Need to invest less and care less. And focus energy on something or someone else.

Tonight? For the moment is really all we've got...tomorrow is miles away and out of our control, as is yesterday. So tonight - I've opted for a warm apartment and Audra McDonald et al singing Marvin Hamlish songs on PBS...with cocktails and ice cream over the cold, St. John The Divine Cathedrale and Judy Collins singing Mozart on the upper West Side. This says a lot about me, doesn't it? ;-)