emilybefree

tomorrow, while my brother’s truck is at the body shop, i’ll be spending some time at mckay’s in nashville. i’ve never spent a single dollar there, i always trade books and movies for store credit, so i don’t actually experience the guilt of spending money, either. going to mckay’s is sort of an event for me, so before i go, i always make a wish list. here’s to hoping i can find some of the things i want!

books:

• a fair maiden— joyce carol oates
• the road— cormac mccarthy
• the lover’s dictionary— david levithan
• the night circus— erin morgenstern
• bossypants— tina fey
• the group— mary mccarthy
• a visit from the goon squad— jennifer egan
• super sad true love story— gary shteyngart
• the art of fielding— chad harbach
• the unbearable likeness of being— milan kundera

movies:

• margin call
• when did you last see your father?
• five minutes of heaven
• the debt
• jane eyre
• kramer vs. kramer
• michael clayton
• the kids are all right

my taste preferences include (but are not limited to):

• romantic dramas featuring a strong female lead
• tv shows
• critically-acclaimed visually-striking dark movies
• sentimental british 20th century period pieces
• movies starring harrison ford

it’s like netflix knows me.

last week was spring break, and between my crazy work and class schedule, i decided to spend the week doing completely unproductive things. i purposefully didn’t plan anything because i really needed a lazy week. at the end of it, i was sort of going crazy and ready to get back to my routine, but luckily that didn’t hit me until friday or so. 

incidentally, when i have a lot of time on my hands, i watch movies. here’s a list of what i watched (and can remember watching) over spring break.

• 28 days later, 28 weeks later— my brother mentioned wanting to see these a while ago, but i had resisted because i don’t really do zombie movies. but, of course, we found them packaged together at walmart for $5, and neither of us could pass that up. i liked 28 days later better than i thought i would. the moment when the main female character can’t tell whether the lead actor is infected or clean was really wonderful. i think danny boyle’s growing on me. 28 weeks later wasn’t as good, but it was a nice follow-up.
• made of honor— watched with my mom at the beginning of the week. an enjoyable, fluffy romantic comedy, and there’s nothing wrong with patrick dempsey in a mini kilt or a grandma who wears glow-in-the-dark thunder beads as jewelry.
• on golden pond— i’d never seen this movie before, but it’s my mom’s favourite, so it’s been on my must-see list for a while. first, katharine hepburn is a badass. i think i liked the way that this movie felt more than anything specific, if that makes sense; it’s just beautiful.
• the lord of the rings trilogy— as far as trilogies go, i’m not sure if i prefer lord of the rings over indiana jones (i was totally indoctrinated into harrison ford), but i can say that every time i watch the return of the king, i find something new to love about it. i get chill bumps, i laugh, and i cry, and i never feel like i’ve been sitting in front of a television for four and a half hours when it’s over. 
• and soon the darkness— full disclosure: i watched this movie because of karl urban. i’m ashamed to admit the number of bad movies i’ve watched because he was part of the cast, but that’s what guilty pleasures will do to a girl. anyway, it really wasn’t worth the time it took to watch. there were a lot of problems, and i don’t really have the time or interest in hashing them out right now. fun fact about karl urban: he named one of his sons indiana after indiana jones. i don’t know whether to laugh or offer a fist bump.
• shutter island— give me anything scorsese and i’m happy. give me scorsese with a dicaprio kicker, and i’m over the moon. i think this movie’s more than underrated, i might even like it more than i like the departed, but don’t quote me on that in the future. now, if only dicaprio joined the cast of boardwalk empire… but if that happened, i might die. 
• golden girls— technically not a movie, but i can’t go more than a couple of days without a small dose of golden girls. luckily, i have a few seasons on dvd, and when those aren’t available, it’s easy enough to find the show on lifetime or hallmark. i watched at least one episode every day when i was on break. i kind of think that it was my subconscious’s way of trying to balance all of the testosterone in my other movie picks.