Today is the second day of exams. I have piles of papers to grade, but I am looking forward to summer as much as my students, and so I am here. Apparently the only time I can be enticed to post on my blog is when I am either dying of boredom or procrastinating to the nth degree. It's alright. No one reads it but me...
So let's check in with how I've been doing this year. If you take a gander down below at my 2012 manifesto, you will see some of my goals for this year. I have been making good on some of them (laugh, play, sing) but not so much on others (budget, read, piano). I have made a mediocre showing on some of the others (write, snail mail, pictures, run [signed up for 5K! It's in two weeks! I'm not ready!!]).
As the reality of SUMMER VACATION (totally deserving of all-caps) draws nearer and nearer, here's a little preview of what I'm looking forward to. Rather than bother with people and events, I thought I'd do movies instead. So...
At some point this summer I will see:
I know, I'm a little late in the game. I mean, it's been out for TWO weeks already. I've heard that it's wonderful, and with someone awesome like Joss Whedon on the behind-the-scenes team (Buffy! Angel! Firefly! the-most-excellent-run-of The Amazing X-Men!) it's bound to be snarky as all get out. And I fully enjoy snark. I also fully enjoy Chris Evans as Captain America. Yes, I know it's probably weird that Cap, old-fashioned as he is, would be my favorite, but as attractive and funny as "bad-boys" can be, it's nice to have a character with morals who can get the job done who doesn't constantly feel the need to be disrespectful to everyone around him/her. So yes, "boring" but beautiful Captain America is my choice. Along with Agent Phil Coulson. Delightful every time.
I am perhaps the only person in America with this movie on my to-see list, but here it is. Let's be real: Taylor Kitsch is terribly good-looking. I have seen terrible movies (
The Covenant, X-Men Origins: Wolverine) just so I can see Taylor Kitsch shine. And really, he was the best thing in both those other movies. I know he can act, and he is obviously gorgeous, so I will continue to watch his films (
John Carter is on my Netflix queue). Plus, I am a huge fan of movies with lots of explosions and little-to-no plot, so I'm pretty sure this one is right up my alley. I'll probably see it this weekend...
I actually don't know anything about this one, but it comes out while I'm at home and it seems like something my dad will want to see, so I'll probably see it with him! It'll probably be better than any other movie I will choose to watch myself.
This is the one I'm most excited about. I think that Christopher Nolan has done the most amazing job capturing the mood and character of Batman. You can't fit decades of comics and story lines into three two-hour movies, the most you can do is focus on the character, build a solid story with recognizable characters and elements from the comics, and go from there. Nolan's Batman, in my opinion, is better than the Iron Man and Wolverine we have all come to know and love. Even if the other two movies hadn't been awesome (and think we can all agree they were), I would trust Nolan with my money any day. He got me to enjoy a movie starring Leonardo DiCaprio for the first time since
What's Eating Gilbert Grape (that's not entirely accurate. I liked
Catch Me If You Can, and the most of
The Departed was good).
Inception was amazing, and
The Dark Knight Rises has half of that cast in it, so yay!
I didn't bother with the first one. It did not interest me at all. Special suits? Marlon Wayans? the guy from
Step Up? I don't think so. Honestly, I doubt I will ever see it (Channing Tatum not my thing). So when I found out there was a sequel coming out I was annoyed. That was, until I found out that they kill almost the entire original cast in the first few minutes and that my man Dwayne "the Rock" Johnson was going to be in it along with my other man Bruce Willis. Now THAT sounds (and, according to the trailer, looks) like a G.I. Joe movie. I'm going to pretend the first one never happened.
It doesn't come out until September, but I'm going to count it anyway. The plot sounds interesting, but I would see this if it had the plot of, well,
Battleship. Joseph Gordon-Levitt (amazing that I now consider the dreamy geek from
10 Things I Hate About You an appropriate candidate for an action star) AND Bruce Willis (I don't think I will ever get tired of his movies).
So, those are my summer plans so far! I will also be reading, teaching swim lessons, visiting the fam, hanging out at the beach (hopefully) and so on and so forth. Here's to a great summer vacation! Cheers!
