A Decade of Movies, 2017

2017 was a very good year for me, in term of finding favorites- to the extent that, even after narrowing my list down, I find that I have 14 in the top tier.

They are as follows:

• Call Me By Your Name: Every aspect of this movie is perfect- from the atmosphere to the plot to the chemistry between characters (notably Elio and Armie Hammer and Elio and his father).  I want a pair of vintage-y swim trunks. And maybe a peach.
• It: It Chapter 2 disappointed me a bit, but happily this one stands very well on its own.
• Dunkirk: A stylishly-executed war drama about the evacuation of soldiers from Dunkirk. A few people have criticized the “confusing” pacing of the film, but I found that the manipulation of time serviced the feeling of different types of combat in a really interesting way.
• Baby Driver: The use of diegetic music (music incorporated as part of the plot, rather than disconnected soundtrack) in this really blew me away, particularly during action sequences. Shame about Kevin Spacey, but there’s enough Jon Hamm, Jaime Foxx, and Flea from Red Hot Chili Peppers to provide a good distraction.
• Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: I’m struggling not to start every single one of these descriptions with “This is one of my favorites”. Frances McDormand is a queen, the supporting cast is amazing, and I hope Sam Rockwell can break out of playing incapable racists (see also Vice and Jojo Rabbit).
• The Shape of Water: This is almost one of my favorites but it is at the same type so elegantly done that I would be amiss not to include it.  Yes, it is a fish sex movie. Yes, I watched it with someone I was trying to dissuade from his romantic intentions toward me, not realizing the first scene would be bathtub masturbation.  The music is beautiful, the wetly green colors are slimily luscious, the acting is all great. They need to cut out the random musical number. There is some controversy about the disabled marrying literal monsters that is very much worth reading about.
• Coco: Coco is highly predictable, fairly formulaic, and astonishingly beautiful.  yes, clearly if I were to take two films off of this list, they would be Coco and The Shape of Water, but I’m including them, so deal with it.  I can’t stop thinking about the skeleton who is forgotten, I believe his name is Chich. The true star. Along with that beautiful flying tiger animal.
• Phantom Thread: A psychologically twisted costume drama, one of my favorite genres.  For fans of Daniel Day Lewis, couture, Paul Thomas Anderson, and We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson (you’ll understand).  Also good on a rewatch (I rarely rewatch because there is so much new to see, but this was on a plane).
• The Killing of A Sacred Deer: You may know Yorgos Lanthimos from The Lobster (too weird for me) or, more recently, from The Favorite (a psychologically twisted costume drama for which Olivia Colman won best actress).  The Killing of a Sacred Deer seems less well known than those two and deserves to be more widely seen. It’s disturbing and will put you off spaghetti.
• Hostiles: In 1892 a legendary US Army captain reluctantly agrees to escort a dying Cheyenne chief and his family back to their lands through dangerous territory. Frankly, I really liked this movie and did not find it to be too problematic or too forgiving toward white people in an era when we did a whole lot of bad shit, but it’s been long enough since I saw the film that I am unprepared to thread the needle of an accurate description with adequate historical disclaimers.
• Wind River: We’ve already covered Sicario and Hell or High Water- this is the third and last installment of Taylor Sheridan’s trilogy. In my mind, it is the best of the three and hideously underwatched. It’s cold and bleak and fairly devastating. Jeremy Renner rides a snowmobile.
• Ingrid Goes West: It’s a compulsively watchable dark social media satire about a disturbed Aubrey Plaza who worms her way into the life of an Instagram influencer.
• Thoroughbreds: Unfortunately not about horses. Fortunately about two teen girls who hatch an evil plan.
• Detroit: A fact-based drama set during the 1967 Detroit riots. I put off watching it for a long while after hearing about how absolutely brutal it is to sit through. I wish I hadn’t, because it’s also appallingly necessary viewing.

Honorable Mentions: Get Out, The Wife, Annabelle: Creation, The Breadwinner, BPM, Good Time, Logan Lucky, Mother!, The Big Sick, Mudbound, Beast, and I, Tonya.

I have not yet seen: Okja, You Were Never Really Here, One Cut of the Dead, Tigers are Not Afraid, The Rider, On Body and Soul, A Fantastic Woman, Au Revoir La Haut, November, and Foxtrot.

Second Birthday and Links 5/25

WordPress tells me the blog turned two today, which is adorable and I had no idea.  As such, I have nothing more celebratory than the regularly scheduled Friday links post, rampant cramps, and a beauty hangover from seeing La Sylphide last night.

• The Eat Drink Vegan festival in Pasadena, California is tomorrow. It looks great fun and maybe someday I’ll go!  (If that’s too soon for you (as it is for me 😉 ), the Salt Lake City VegFest is on September 8th.
• USPS is releasing popsicle scratch-and-sniff stamps, just in time for summer. By the way it’s getting up to 88 Fahrenheit here, today.  I think I may need a real popsicle.  It’s good that there’s some vegan Peanut Butter Mud Pie ice cream in the frigo.
• How RuPaul’s Drag Race is broadening the horizons of what it means to be gay in America.  I don’t watch the show but I have a few friends who are absolutely devoted to it. I’m so glad it exists.
• So you want to date a New York Museum?
• The twin trick
• A smorgasbord of trailers I’m excited about: The Happytime Murders (all street, no Sesame), Won’t You Be My Neighbor? (Mr. Rogers is iconic- and yes, I understand those two trailers shouldn’t be anywhere near each other), Hearts Beat Loud (so sweet!), Fireworks (from the makers of Your Name), and a Pope Francis documentary.

Links and Things

After a short hiatus that coincided with finals period and stress and projects, I am back in the US of A and home in Boston where there are cats and vegan food and gardens that need working it.

And a smallish backlog of links.

• All about the three-person committee that approves (and rejects) baby names in Iceland.
• “When you’re feeling frisky, try slow dancing in your kitchen with a healthy twenty centimeters of clearance in between your torsos.” and other sex advice from a woman in a Cialis commercial.
• The Problem with “Not Caring” about Pop Culture: relevant, revolutionary stories can come from anywhere — even a makeover show.
• Insert Millennial joke about Etat Libre d’Orange making a fragrance specifically for me [here].
• Yale University advancing the science of smell.
• This short story made me tear up… nice to be given back some faith in humanity.
• Very extra background extras– even better than Part 1.
• Just over here learning about The Dutch Angle.
• The story tellers who read aloud to Cuban cigar rollers. Wow.
• The story of the pilot who landed the Southwest Airlines flight.
• Cardi B is changing how black women are pregnant in public.
• Eight decades of royal British corgis are at an end.
• An analysis of The Simpsons and the Problem with Apu. Just jump right in here at Part 2.
• And a whole lot of exciting trailers: Solo, The Meg, The Incredibles 2, Mary Shelley, Hot Summer Nights (Heyyy, Timothee Chalamet!), Hereditary, Three Identical Strangers.

Friday Links 1/19

Happy Friday! I have the day off, which is many kinds of wonderful (not least because I get to go out and buy a pastry and check some travel guide out from the library and maybe find a waterproof pair of boots.)
(You know, the real problem is that I just want these ten year old riding boots to be new again, or to find a pair of Chelsea boots that are pretty similar. But the Vogue right now seems to be for combat boots or boots that are combat-adjacent so I’m having some trouble).

Anyway, links!

• Collider (one of my favorite youtube channels on the film industry, frequently mentioned on the blog) doesn’t usually discuss anime, but Emma’s here to decode some common visual tropes and gags.
• More things I’ve learned from my amazing and diverse ISIPCA classmates? Dan from Australia taught me about ‘Firehawk’ raptors, which spread bushfires to flush out their prey.
• There’s a Star Wars-themed Creperie in Paris. The dishes are named after the planets by which they were inspired.  Not at all vegan-friendly, but I’m so amused.
• I know I hate on GP’s goop, but this is actually a pretty good article about how our negativity is in many ways an adaptive strategy, a self-defense mechanism to protect us from past threats- and so a lot of negativity may no longer really be necessary (and may actually be counterproductive) to leading happy lives.  I know I sound super woo woo so I’ll stop, but it does resonate with a lot of what I’ve observed and thought re: my own negativity and cynicism.
  But yeah, no, I only skimmed the article.
• What do I really want? Continuing to love Mari Andrew’s illustrations.
• Also Poorly Drawn Lines’s send up of this classic Lion King scene.
• Screen Junkies (another favorite youtube channel on the film industry) presents their annual Screens awards for the best and worst in movies and television.
• Unforgettable movie style moments. Some (Keira Knightley’s green Atonement dress) would definitely be on my own list (which, hey, will maybe happen someday).
• I hope you made it through Blue Monday (the most depressing day of the year, apparently) okay. If you’re still feeling a bit of residual down-ness, here are some lovely feel-good movie dance scenes. I still always listen to Dancing Queen when I need a boost. I have to say I think Moses Supposes from Singin’ in the Rain is actually more feel good than the title song, but whatever. Again, maybe this is a moment when a personal list is needed.
• You’ve heard of the KonMari Method. Maybe you’ve even partaken in some Swedish death cleaning (I’m only 22 and I know I have. One needs to be prepared)- now t’s time for the hot decluttering trend of 2018: American Apocalypse Purging.
• Another anticipated 2018 film (see earlier post): Love, Simon.
• I watched I, Tonya and thought it was pretty good (Blades of Glory is still the best figure skating film), but you know what I’d love to see? A film about figure skating legend Surya Bonaly. Because a backflip is almost as difficult as the Iron Lotus.
• The mindset of men and women re: sex and during sex itself, and how this influences the way women write about sex.  A really interesting read.
• A very cogently written account of the issues with Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water. It’s always brilliant when you find an article that explains your gut feelings. Beautiful film, serious problems.
• There’s a Colette film coming! Keira Knightley’s going to star! I’m not sure those two go together! But I love both separately!
• On Aziz Ansari and sexual assault vs sexual coercion: I don’t believe sexual coercion is sexual assault. But it’s not exactly enthusiastic consent either.  I don’t think it’s too much to ask men to interpret mixed signals, particularly when sexual violence against women is so common and fear of the consequences of refusal is so real.
• If becoming a perfumer doesn’t work out, maybe I can go into gourmet ice cream.

Sunday Links 10/29

Lily and I are in the north of France!

• Pierre Dinand, the man behind some of the world’s most iconic perfume bottles.
• I really relate to this illustration.
• Favorite vanilla perfumes? I’d like to add Memoirs of a Trespasser by Imaginary Authors.
• Perfumer Christophe Laudamiel is offering an interactive experience in NYC inspired by Suskind’s book “Perfume: The Story of a Murderer”. Sounds super cool. Also super cool? I met Christophe a few weeks ago. He’s great and he has a great dog.
• I want to see this ballet but I can’t figure out yet how to buy tickets. It also looks like Giselle and Coppelia are coming next year, both of which I’m super interested on.
• Sex and love on the streets of New York- introducing the Love Map project.
• The economics of consent: “Weinstein was a gatekeeper who could give actresses a career that would sustain their lives and the livelihood of their families. He could also give them fame, which is one of few ways for women to gain some semblance of power and voice inside a patriarchal world. They knew it. He knew it. Weinstein could also ensure that these women would never work again if they humiliated him.”
• Super into the trailer for Phantom Thread. Daniel Day-Lewis is the bomb dot com.
• The joy of not wearing a bra.
• Reading Jane Eyre while black.
• Teen Vogue on #FreeMelecio. So glad to see the Yale student body uniting behind this.
• Today is the end of Asexual Awareness Week.
• Harvey Weinstein, Hollywood Beauty Standards, and Abuse: “We need also to recognize that many wealthy and powerful moguls who dehumanize women in private, treating them like consumable goods to be used for their pleasure — like products — are the very same people responsible for the commodified images of womanhood that bombard us everywhere.”
• Seeing (and smelling) a blooming corpse flower is on my bucket list.
• Have you heard about this popular new Amazon service?

Late Links on a Sunday

Apologies for the spurious posting but really in a #sorrynotsorry kind of way because I’m in France living my busiest and #bestlife.
I’ll stop with the hashtags now because I’m quickly losing all self respect.

• I like this Ted Talk about how there’s more to life than being happy. I’ve always thought of being happy as a very pure and rare feeling. I find I like my life best when I can feel contentment, or at least be at peace with whatever is going on with me.
• The story behind the greatest internet recipe comment of all time– you know a recipe like Kate Hepburn’s brownie one is going to spark some drama.
• How language defines our emotions.
• What women really need. Seriously, I didn’t know how much I was missing. Please add specifically gendered scissors to the list.
• It’s like if you had a country fair, but for nail art.
• I’m going to miss Halloween being in France. This haunted train ride is calling to me. And Spooky World has been texting me promotions.
• How Pennywise and the Babadook became gay lovers and gay icons. I kind of ship it. But I liked IT much more than Babadook.
• How to flirt. Short and direct.
• The trailer for The Killing of a Sacred Deer, which I’ve been hearing lots of good things about.
• Don’t be a tourist in Paris. I’m here for tango on the Seine.
• I find all the French-themed commercials I’m getting intriguing. This one even more so because it’s targeted to English speakers (most of my youtube ads are in French now). Also because Roger Vivier.
• Nice and satisfying moments. Can you think of more? (I definitely can- like opening a fizzy beverage, with the crack sound and the hiss).
• Disney animated movies ranked by Collider. Expect a future post on this because I have strong thoughts and feelings.
• I don’t think I’ve ever seen an article that resonates with me so much. How can you experience so much heartbreak over such small disappointments so far removed from your life? I don’t know, but you definitely can.

Late Links 9/16: Let’s do this thing!

Hi! Let’s do a quick rundown on my personal life since last Friday links post. I’ve moved to France.

That was shorter than I expected it to be.

Late For Links: The Last of August

Having missed my scheduled Friday links post yesterday, today’s post will be your belated links installment.

Featuring a lot of politics and a studious neglect of any Taylor Swift-related news.

Books: Bizarre Bizarre

I’ve had some great fun reading surreal, magical, and just plain odd books.  They’re brilliant at both lightening your mind and giving you the space to think about issues in a new or less static way.
Here’s a mix of the most fantastical and bizarre books I have read, including both my favorites and others that I think fit too well not to be included, even if they didn’t do it for me.
Do you have any beloved surrealist books?  Books of odd characters and unbelievable circumstances?