Well 09, It's Been Real

So I was going to go ahead and post this because I know practically nobody is going to be checking blogger tomorrow night. But I hope everyone enjoys their new year's eve night and really hope everyone enjoys their 2010. I only have one thing to look forward to, but it's huge -- graduation.

So, this is the last blog of 2009. I've already given you my songs of 2009 and my movies of 2009.

But I want to sign off on 2009 with something different. It wasn't a bad year as compared to the heartache of 2008. I mean, one of my best friends got married and I went on a road trip with my other best friend. But the best part of 2009 was this... blogging.

Blogging has been such a help to me as it has given me a place to vent when needed, share my stories with people who will listen and trade musical preferences. But something I didn't expect was to make friends. Some have retired from blogging while some are responsible for getting me into twitter.

So I wanted to look back at some posts as a way to remember the year. I started in April, so it wasn't hard, I just went with some of the ones with the most comments.

C'mon In

Breathe In, Breathe Out

Under My Covers -- Garden State Edition

Wordless Wednesdays -- Cupcakes and Gummy Bears

Ignorance Is Your New Best Friend

Can't wait to see you guys next year! (Little spoiler, you will on Sunday)

Random lyric of the year:

I'd like to be a note
The kind you could sing
But don't because you're shy
That way I'll live inside your throat
And hang from every word you spoke

Movies of 2009

So everybody that has ever read this knows that I am a music guy. But somewhere below that I am also a movie guy (a poster in my bathroom of 100 movie quotes, going crazy over getting a blu ray player for Christmas last year, spending way too much money at the theater). So here are a few lists to remember the year of 2009.

First, a few clarifications and stats.

1) These movies are in no particular order (except for the last list -- the favorites)

2) I understand I am going to catch some hate for some of the names on some of the lists, but hey, everybody's got an opinion. This is just mine.

3) One movie had the audacity to make in on TWO lists. That's how much it hurt me.

4) Most of these list titles are self-explanatory... but I will try to explain the ones that aren't.

With that said, let's get the hate out of the way:

Movies I Had No Interest In Seeing This Year:

Twilight: New Moon
Angels and Demons
Year One
Jennifer's Body

Most Disappointing Movies of the Year:
(these movies were disappointing in a sense in that I was personally looking forward to them and they let me down. Whether it was a sequel to a movie that I had loved the original or just thought it was going to be good)

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
I Love You, Man
Night At The Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian
Wolverine
Observe and Report
Couples Retreat
Funny People

Worst Movies of The Year:

Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen
District 9
Adventureland
Inkheart
My Bloody Valentine
Paul Blart: Mall Cop
The Watchmen

Movies I Missed in 2009:
(For whatever reason, these are movies I wanted to watch but didn't make it to the theater or didn't get a chance to rent them. Hopefully getting Netflix next month will change all that)

Where The Wild Things Are
This Is It
Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs
Sherlock Holmes
Whip It
The Blind Side
The Princess and The Frog
Zombieland
Coraline
Gamer
The Invention of Lying
Pirate Radio
Up In The Air
Ninja Assasin
Notorious
The Brothers Bloom
Management
Land of The Lost
Away We Go
Planet 51
GI Joe
Terminator
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Taken
A Christmas Carol
Law Abiding Citizen

Honorable Mention:
(These were movies that I thought were good, but just missed the mark of being called great or "favorites" or stated in another way, these were 3 or 4 star movies)

Public Enemies
The Proposal
Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
Monsters vs Aliens
Madea Goes to Jail
Last House on The Left
Obsessed
Next Day Air
The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard
The Taking of Pelham 123
Saw VI
Race To Witch Mountain

Top Ten Movies of 2009:
(Truth be told, I really didn't set out to make a top ten list. It just so happened that when going through the 2009 movies and setting out my favorites, it came out to ten. 10-6 and 1 were easy to rank, but 5-2 were a struggle because they were all so good. So allow me to give them a little more attention that just a list)

WARNING: SOME SPOILERS WILL BE MENTIONED

#10: Star Trek

So earlier in this post, you saw my most disappointing movies, but Star Trek appears because of the opposite reason. I was sort of dragged to it as my dad always wants to go see all the Star Trek movies that come out, but I really enjoyed this one. It had a great cast where I was constantly going "hey, it's that guy/girl from that movie." Also, seeing Zachary Quinto's performance as Spock made me decide to give Heroes a shot (trust me, there is a post on that coming up)

#9: Sunshine Cleaning

I thought this movie looked like it was going to be alright, but I had no idea how good it was going to be. It made me a) fall even more in love with Amy Adams b) discover and come to like Emily Blunt and c) pay attention during the whole duration of the movie. It was one those that afterward I just said to myself "Wow."

#8: Paper Heart

For those unfamiliar, this movie was a "documentary" about a girl who doesn't believe in love (Charlyne Yi, who I was only familiar with as having the couple one-liners in Knocked Up). She interviews different people about their experiences with love and ends up falling for Micheal Cera in the process. It is actually Micheal Cera as the movie is billed as a documentary but you can clearly see where it becomes a film. Even still, it played out great and it was just a rare combination where happy+sad=deep.

#7: The Soloist

I was already a fan of Jamie Foxx so I knew what he could do, but I was just beginning to embrace Robert Downey Jr, who had been around for a good while but had recently reached success with Iron Man and Tropic Thunder so I was interested to see how everything played out. I think, just as when you listen to a cd, you even remember where you were when you saw a great movie. And I remember we were on our cross-country road trip and the couple days we were in Monterey we decided to see a movie and the best one playing that night was The Soloist. Maybe it was the feeling we were getting from taking a road trip from Alabama to California and back on our own, but that movie really hit me. I also felt as if I was watching a boxing match of two of the greatest in the sense that it was just Downey and Foxx doing their best. After that movie, I said to myself that any movie that has Robert Downey Jr in it I would be down to see (hopefully, Sherlock Holmes will be seen when I get back to Bama)

#6: Paranormal Activity

The little movie that could. I've heard so many different stories about when the movie was made, when it actually came out, how it was made and all of it doesn't even matter when you watch it as you realize it was just a great movie experience. Scariest movie of all time? I'm not sure. But I can tell you I was damn sure jumping at the end and sort of checking the room before I went to sleep. I think more than scary, it was fun and a sort of twisted way. I compared it to a rollercoaster in the sense that you anticipate when the drop comes in the same way anticipated something crazy happening every time they showed them going to sleep. And everytime they did, my sister and I slouched in our chairs just a little bit more as the movie got more and more intense as time went on.

#5: Up

Easily the best animated movie of the year and I would go so far as to say one of the top 5 animated movies of all time. I think one of the best things they did was not give anything away. All they showed in the previews was a floating house with balloons. But in the first ten minutes, you know you are in for a ride. They had the perfect balance of telling a story adults would get (missed pregnancies, dying of old age) but presenting it in a way kids could love as well. But the story was fun too, watching the innocence of the young kid and the hilarious things they did with the dogs. Only one way to end this paragraph: SQUIRREL!

#4 Inglourious Basterds

I don't mean to be lazy, but this movie was such an experience that I dedicated an entire blog post to it and would rather direct you to that post. I recently watched it again and it is still an experience.

#3 (500) Days of Summer

I honestly put off posting this blog because I had to see this movie first. And it shows because I literally watched it a few hours ago and it not only cracked my favorites, but it hit the top 3. It was just not your typical love story (as they clearly tell you at the beginning). It is the saddest movie that has ever made me smile. I loved all the uniqueness to it like a) the things he loved turning around and being the things he hated b) the expectations/reality part and c) the ending. I really really liked the ending. "Chick flicks" or love stories barely crack 4 stars, but this is one I immediately gave 5 stars to.

#2 The Hangover

I don't mean to be on this movie's nuts like everyone else, but dammit I liked it and I liked it for my own reasons. One, it was funny as hell. However, my main laughs came from the bearded guy (I know his name, but I'm too lazy to google exactly how to spell it). The speech at the beginning is classic and still has me rolling everytime I see it. But more than just crazy antics, this movie was, dare I say, smart? The way it progressed from beginning to end, slowly unwinding the details of the night was great. The actors represented and the directors did a great job. Now, I just look forward to the inevitable sequel.

#1: Avatar

Before I get started, I must say that you HAVE to see it in 3D. To any haters, I will give you this: the story is nothing you haven't seen before. It was predictable, but you still found yourself enjoying it. But what made this movie #1 is that you still felt the story, you felt (most of) the characters and dammit, the visuals. At times, I just sat in my chair open mouthed staring at the screen. The world was beautiful and the colors were so vibrant and the 3D made everything from scattering flowers to bullets pop up and fly on the screen. Really, anything I say cannot do it justice. If you haven't seen it, just trust me on why this movie was #1 and go see it for yourself.

Music Sunday: Songs of 2009

To Whom Has Clicked On This Blog,

Please do not be afraid of how many songs are on this post. I tried to put them in a player to make them more convenient and ten seems to be the magic number for lists and that was the exact amount of youtube videos I got (those were the songs I couldn't find on the playlist website).

Now, you may be asking "Mr O, where the hell is Muse, Paramore, Green Day... NO TAKING BACK SUNDAY?" Well the answer to that question is this: I decided to focus more on singles and random songs and to stay away from my favorite albums. Those will come in my Music Sunday posts for 2010.

I have no idea how I am going to rank them, but for all the Sundays of next year, I will be doing a countdown of my favorite cds of all time. I just feel like it will be a fun way to go down memory lane and take you guys with me as well. Plus, I really like Music Sundays as Sundays seem to be a downtime for blogging, and who doesn't like music?

So, in no order at all, I bring you my songs of 2009:

Videos Of Us Playin In The Snow

Pretty self explanatory, right?









Hope everyone is having a good time these holidays!

Well The Weather Outside Is Frightful

I think this is the first Christmas I can actually say the above statement.

I arrived in South Dakota Sunday night and saw the snow on the ground and wondered if I would see some actually fall. Well, a couple days of waiting, I got my wish. Though, that whole "be careful what you wish for" phrase might come true as it is expected to be a pretty bad storm coming through (we have been hearing the wind slam against the house all day).

It started getting really bad in the evening. I went to the commissary with my brother in law to get all the essentials on the chance the power goes out and the wind literally almost knocked me over. We joked that it was like the snow was bitchslapping us in the face.

Is it bad that I am actually kind of excited for a storm? I guess it's just that for me being from the south, we go through hurricanes every year. Sure, I've only gone through two major ones, but I have still gone through them. I guess it would just be kind of cool to experience what the other side of the country goes through.

Before it got too too bad, we took some pics and videos. Pretty soon I wanna do a post with the pics and some more videos, as well as an update to what this blog will be shaping up like in 2010, but for now, I will leave you with this.




Couple explanations:

*We kinda just put some clothes on (I had woke up not too much earlier) and I didn't grab a belt, so that was kinda difficult.

*At one point, my sister saw a rabbit and that's what she was trying to get me to see

*I know I need warmer clothes. It's just for the amount of time that I am actually outside I am being cheap right now.

Random lyric of the day:

There's a little red bridge with a view of the sun
with a lake, I recommend such a setting site.
And the thousands of stars, come out thousands of times.
And we can go only if you believe, only if you believe.

Music Sunday: 2009 Concerts I Attended

The Sounds/Paramore/No Doubt
June 5, Atlanta

On our way to the concert
The Sounds and their awesome performance

Paramore (fun fact: heard "Ignorance" before it was released and thought "I really like this song")

With the lead singer of The Sounds, missing the beginning of No Doubt but it was worth it...

Because I asked her to sign the ticket like that (that's what she kept saying on stage) and she laughed and actually did it

No Doubt doing their thing

And this is apparently me rocking out to No Doubt doing their thing

Not to overstate, but they were amazing

And when we got home, we could NOT stop laughing about this:




Envy On The Coast/Anberlin/Taking Back Sunday
June 17, Atlanta

Envy On The Coast opening up (and doing a damn good job of it)

Anberlin getting us to the main event

The band we all came to see

And the man we all came to see (Adam Lazarra)

The following is a video I didn't take, just found it on youtube. I was probably in the back trying to catch my breath:




Warped Tour 2009
July 28, Atlanta

Warped Tour is always so much fun

Underoath

Me w/ Saosin

Bayside

Senses Fail

The Devil Wears Prada

A Day To Remember and their insanely huge crowd for not being on a main stage

w/ the lead singer of Senses Fail

Chiodos closing out the day

The following is the craziness of seeing Underoath live:

Incubus
August 14, Atlanta

I only got two good pics, which is a shame really

because that concert was absolutely amazing

And the following is one of the sickest intros to a concert I have ever seen:

Carolina Liar/Taking Back Sunday
September 18, Tuscaloosa

Now this one hurt, because I had to attend my rival school's campus in order to watch this show. And when we were there, the coliseum was not even half full so that was disappointing. But what wasn't disappointing was their performance. However, there was one more thing that was disappointing: no pictures. But I did a quick youtube search and found the following video from that concert that displays just why I love this band so much:

The Swellers/Paper Route/Paramore
October 27, Atlanta

The Swellers

A cool collage my friend made of Paper Route and their 27 instruments

Paramore owning the place

And Hayley owning my heart

These pics were taken from a friend's camera, and I had to search youtube once again for a video from that show. Everybody's (and my) favorite song from the new album seems to be Misguided Ghosts, and this their performance, complete with the crowd (that would include myself) joining in



Minus the Bear
November 10, Birmingham

A show we bought tickets for at the last minute, I also did not have a camera for this one and relied on the tube to bring the greatness to this blog post. It turned out to be our last show of the year after failing to see Anberlin/All American Rejects/Taking Back Sunday at the end of November and Saosin at the beginning of December (I also missed Blink-182 in September and still kick myself for it). But if this is a band you haven't heard of, you need to know. Show was epic.



So ends the look back at 2009. I already have Muse in February and Warped Tour (possibly in Chicago -- WHAT) to look forward to, but here's hoping that some of my favorite bands hit the road and here's really hoping I have my own camera this time.

Little Lover's So Polite

So it's late on a Friday night/Saturday morning and I figured I would take the time to FINALLY update on my life, both for anyone paying attention or myself when I go back and read these one day. I am currently listening to the Silversun Pickups and getting pumped for their concert with MUSE, though I guess I shouldn't get excited until I actually get the tickets. Well, here is my life in no particular order.

*Saw Avatar tonight. I read a review before going in that it would "change the way you look at movies." Whoever said that was right. The story was nothing new (I heard someone say it was the same story as Dances With Wolves while Frisco and I had flashbacks of The Last Samurai) but it was still interesting and easy to follow. But the visuals, oh man the visuals. That movie looked absolutely amazing. So add a pretty good story plus stuff that I didn't mind looking at for two and a half hours THEN add in the fact that the 3D aspect of it was mind blowing at times and you had a five star movie that was well worth the price of admission.

*We were late, but I did happen to catch the new trailer for Alice in Wonderland. In 3D. And if you guys weren't excited already, start now. The 3D is going to be nuts and they explained what was already reported that it was Alice returning after being gone, so it's a new story. I can't friggin wait.

*School is over and now it is time to rest. That time officially starts Sunday when I get on a plane to go to South Dakota (thanks everybody for the insight when I have mentioned the trip before). I can't wait to see my family and have two weeks of no school, no work, no drama.

*My birthday was Tuesday and I turned the big ol 23. Had a pretty good day that consisted of buying and watching The Hangover and going out to eat with friends. It was also a day of celebration as any of you that have been following my blog for a while will remember, I gave up pizza, doughnuts and soda back in early September and said I could eat them again on my birthday. I think it actually worked sort of because a) I feel like it helped my body (inside and out) and when I went to eat the pizza our work had for lunch I could only eat two slices before I was done.

*I'm slowly but surely getting into Twitter. If you are as well, follow me here

*One more bit of entertainment news. Next to The Office, Scrubs is my favorite TV show. However, last season (minus the first and last episode) left a bad taste in my mouth. To be more honest, it kinda sucked. So when I heard this season that they were basically changing the whole thing around, I became REALLY apprehensive. But boy am I glad I gave it a shot. Only four episodes in, and I have that good feeling Scrubs used to give me. And then of course I randomly read online somewhere that Scrubs has gotten low ratings and will be done by January. Way to ruin a good thing ABC.

*Before I end this, I just want to say I probably won't post much from my vacation except for the Music Sundays, which I have something I am working on for the entire year of 2010. I don't imagine many of you will be posting either, but part of my new year's resolution is to overhaul this whole blogging thing. Getting rid of the blogs I don't read or haven't connected with so they don't clutter up my space and I get back to regular commenting, start reading in Google Reader instead of the dashboard so I can have a number on what I haven't read and trying to get some new followers in the realms of music are goals of mine in 2010.

*Now I am ending this with the topic of my best friend's wedding. I was going to go into a little more story, but I will save that for an entire post. For now, I would like to share a few more pics with you

Bride w/ bridesmaids... and me? (Don't really know how to refer to myself)

Chillin with Frisco waiting for everything to start

Yea, this is a fun picture with the tinsel, but I'm not gonna lie... I like it because I feel my facial hair is lookin good

Just before we were all getting ready to walk out

Hanging out that night, getting denied for a pic with my bfff

Random lyric of the day:

so much for the showdown
keeping up while keeping off
choking on the cold feet
rolling up the plastic sleeves
can't control the slow ride
little lover's so polite
turning off the low light
tell me did the bones collide