Film Studies

Here's a secret: I'm a bit of a nerd. I like looking things up, doing a bit of research, some outside reading, if you will. So this winter, I've been happy to run across several movies that make me think, mmm... I should learn more about that! So here's my list, for your reading, viewing and researching pleasure:

Pain and Gain


Didn't see that one coming, did ya? Now, to be honest, this was not an intellectual film pick. Matt likes Marky-Mark and I have a bit of a thing for Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson (who doesn't?). So this movie was a no-brainer. And no, I did not start researching steroid use and female body building (I like having breasts, thankyouverymuch). But four little words had me diving to the computer after watching this: Based. On. Actual. Events.  If you've seen this movie, you know how absurd that sounds. If not, here's a recap: 3 Miami bodybuilders decide that, given their perfect physical forms, they really deserve more than the menial lives they live. So they decide to kidnap a rich gym-goer, steal all his money and assets, and live the lives of their dreams. And they do - for a while, at least. Here's a recent interview with some of the real life victims (2 of the bodybuilders are on death row).

Saving Mr. Banks

This was a really great movie, and one I'm so glad to have seen given my childhood love for the Mary Poppins movie. I have never read the books, so knew next to nothing of the story of Mary's creator - and Walt Disney's quest to convince her to let him make the movie version. The movie tells the story of author P.L. Travers - her troubled childhood in Australia, her imaginative (and alcoholic) father, and the tenacity with which she guarded the world of Mary Poppins. Here's some shockers not included in the movie: Travers, portrayed as kind of an Old Maid in the movie, is reported to have had several bisexual affairs. She also had an adopted son, who she selected from a poor family. The boy had a twin-a fact Travers knew, but never revealed to him - and the twins met randomly in  London pub as young adults. That may explain why she tells Disney in the film she has no one who cares if she's gone. Here's some of the juicy tidbits the movie leaves out, and here's a great NPR interview with star Emma Thompson, who plays Travers.

Monuments Men

Everyone's talking about what a disappointment this movie was (if US Weekly give you a bad review, you're really in trouble). Yes, any movie with that kind of star power should really be able to do justice to this bad-ass story. Basically, a bunch of art historians and curators joined the military in WWII in order to retrieve stolen masterpieces from the Nazis. I mean, this should have been Clooney as Indiana Jones and Matt Damon as Short Round. Instead, it ... wasn't. Regardless, I loved learning more about this fascinating story - and seeing a bunch of pieces I recognized from AP Art History. Plus, this is a story that is still panning out. The NY Times published this article on the ongoing saga of finding rightful owners of art found in Nazi caches.

And if you'd rather NOT think after watching a movie, and just need some good romantic fare for V-Day, check out this infographic from misadventuresmag (a production of Davidson grads - woot!)

Wintering

       
I know it's normally kind of a cop-out to talk about the weather. I mean, it's what you do with people when you've run out of common interests or celebrity news to dissect. But as someone said in my office today - this winter is different. It's exciting. And horrifying and beautiful and everything in between.
So, a few things I want to remember about this winter:

• Snow Days! Except, not - more like EXTREMELY-COLD-DON'T-BREATHE-OUTDOORS Days. They were actually issuing tickets to people out on the roads on 3-4 separate days. 
• Tacking up the duvet in front of the door to keep out the cold. Watching it billow. #draftyhouse
• Finally getting my winter dressing down pat : silk underwear, two layers of socks, double scarves, fancy snow boots, and my big puffer coat (hat on, hood up). 
• Realizing that if I wear the right clothes, I actually don't mind the cold so much. Who'da thought?
• Snow drifts so high, you can't see cars behind them. Literal mountains of snow in the parking lots. Months without seeing the ground.
• Cuddling. Oh, the cuddling.    

What I don't want to remember?

• SIX MORE WEEKS.

Work Files

January and February are big work months for me - lots of projects, events and demands on my time. Throw into the mix a co-worker on maternity leave and school closures due to bitter weather, and I'm having one heck of an interesting time over here.

I thought I minus-well share work stuff with you all here - if I'm thinking about it, why not write about it? So here are some tidbits that might be interesting to others outside my office:

1.) Excel is saving my life. I've used it before, but never loved it until now. I use it to make task lists - for everything, including what to do every month of the year (my job is pretty cyclical). I learned today that you can freeze frame the top row and first column to make HUGE spreadsheets really readable (did everyone already know this?). And it works really well with data from different apps I use like Surveymonkey and google forms. Excel, you get the slow clap of the week.

2.) I'm all for sustainability, but sometimes I think "green" efforts get out of hand. This week, building services announced they would be taking away all of our office trashcans. We will only have recycle bins in our offices, and if we have a piece of trash we must walk it down the hall to a communal trashcan. People are hot. There's going to be riots, I tell you . . .

3.) I really should update my resume - and Matt needs to write his! So I pinned this list of resume hot words. I like "conceptualized" and "built" - gotta work those in.

4.) Did you know LinkedIn now lets you upload projects? I added some recent graphic design work to my profile, and linked all of my Bly articles, too. Never know what people might look for!

5.) This isn't exactly work-related, but I'm still loving my morning workouts. I'm a little sweaty and and hot when I get to work, but man, am I awake and ready to start the day! I've also been trying (mostly in vain) to get up to 10,000 steps a day on my fitbit, and I've resorted to mind tricks: the hallway from my office to the bathroom, surprisingly, only goes one-way. To get back, I have to go downstairs and take the basement hall. It about doubles my steps for one trip. Sneaky, right?

6.) This dream is back, and worse than ever. Need to relax, much?