Primarily, this blog is about being a fan and sharing that love that I have, for all things Twilight and True Blood with all of you. I also enjoy blogging about randomness... so don't say I haven't warned you.
If you want to read my full review, you can see it here at I Adore Books and Film. But in a nutshell, this has become one of my favorite films of the year. It's a very heartwarming story that celebrates life. It's funny, touching and realistic. I really enjoyed this film immensely.
Also, Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays the girlfriend to Adam, (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), is perfect. Unfortunately for her, she does insincerity well. She's a bit of a bitchy, unsympathetic significant other but it makes Adam's journey so much more rewarding when he does finally surround himself with people who genuinely care. And then there is Anna Kendrick, who plays a pre-med student that councils cancer patients.
She's dry and witty, but hilarious funny against Adam's depression. I loved the chemistry and dynamics of her character.
If you are looking for a really well done film that will make you cry and laugh in the same two hours, go see 50/50. You will not be disappointed. Though I loved Woody Allen's Midnight in Paris, 50/50 is right there with it. Completely an Oscar contender.
On April 5, 1994, Kurt Cobain took his own life at his home that he shared with his estranged wife, Courtney Love. Considered to be one of the most iconic musicians of all time, twenty years later we reflect on the album that most of us Gen X'ers remember fondly; Nevermind.
As with any album so prolific, many articles showing appreciation this week will probably analyze the fuck out of the album, the fact that Cobain hated its marketability and who best produced a better version.
I'm not even going to subscribe to that madness. What I will share is my experience with an album that completely captures a very poignant time in my life. For me, this album is something that will always be near and dear to my heart, something that will always remind me of my troubled young adult years. As Kobain had a love-hate relationship with the album, I too, share the same sentiment.
Growing up in So. California, the late eighties were eclectic. Hip hop was defining itself (yes, in Junior High I remember Egyptian Lover being the hit!) and NWA was supreme (of course there was Boogie Down Productions, EPMD and a slew of other great acts, but this is not an essay on Hip Hop).
When I graduated from High School, I was introduced to the world of funk. Considering I loved Hip Hop and Alternative music (or back in the old school days, we called it New Wave. *I cringe at the name*), I had no problem accepting Red Hot Chili Peppers. It was 1991 and Blood Sugar Sex Magik had come out and I was being introduced to their back catalog of hits; songs like Higher Ground and Knock Me Down (Mother's Milk Album) had profound influences on me. I had found my calling, and it was in the form of four eclectic, tattoo'd band members. I soon found myself obsessed with their world and wanted nothing more than to move to Venice Beach and see them play at every Hollywood venue. I was a bit of a wild child back then.
But, during that same year something else emerged from the music scene. A more somber, darker music (if you really listen to it). It was raw and organic and called to another side of me. It was Nirvana's Nevermind album and the beginning of a short lived trend, we all remember as grunge (though technically grunge had been around in the Pacific North West for several years by this time). If you ask my husband who grew up in Orange County, he'd tell you he had been listening to Sonic Youth and Mudhoney before Pearl Jam, Soundgarden and Nirvana made it palatable. But coming from LA County, that was not the case for me (Plus there were way more hippy wannabes in Orange County than LA: Stinky,Patchouli, smelling rich kids that followed the Grateful Dead Circuit. And no offense if you were one of them, my husband dated one so I could give a shit about smelling like Humble County Weed.) But I digress.
The Nevermind album really sort of snowballed on my pysche. It was the perfect balance to all the Goth rock (Danzig, Jesus and Mary Chain, etc), and funk punk being put out in LA. (Plus, we will not speak of the early raves; that's a whole different type of music, but if you must know, NWA had a song that literally gave the directions one night to a hidden rave in LA. Quite a unique era, I must add.) There's something tragically sad in Cobain's voice, but something that also draws you in. I had found my ying, to the Chili Pepper's yang. Not to mention that I certainly had my share of partying, good and bad, and at times I found that the Nevermind album was very relatable. (I can remember just playing Nevermind on repeat, listening to every word of that album like it were the tick tocks of a clock.)
I think most of us that come from that era are disheartened when we think of it. For all the good music that came from that period, we lost a lot of talented musicians in the aftermath. Specifically speaking of grunge and its decline, I can just think of a few: Shannon Hoon from Blind Melon, and much later, Layne Staley from Alice in Chains and of course, Cobain himself. It makes me sick thinking about it.
But if Cobain were alive today, I'd like to think that he would be extremely proud of Nevermind. I think being older, I can certainly look back myself on the album, and say, "That was one of the fucking best albums ever made." For me, it has an emotional impact. It defines who I am now and the sweet son that I raised as a young mother. It's a part of my history and a part of my heart, and that's the bottom line. Now that my children are old enough to appreciate music, I am happy to be able to introduce to them Nirvana and the beautiful music they made together. My girls love Teen Spirit (of course they would. Right?)
Uniquely, I thought I'd add a little known fact here. About a Boy is a novel written by Nick Hornby and later adapted to film, by Chris Weitz (New Moon). In the book version, Will introduces Marcus to Nirvana's music which has a profound impact on the young boy whose mother is suicidal. In addition, his teen girlfriend also pays homage to Cobain by wearing a Kurt Cobain jumper. The title of the book and film, are modified versions of Nirvana's About a Girl song.
And speaking of About A Girl (off the Bleach album-I know, you'd think that I would choose a song of Nevermind), I think I will leave you with this.
It's very hard to put in to words how much I love this band and their music without sharing intimate details of my youth. But, I don't think I have too. All I can express, is the fact that the Nevermind album touched me and I hope for some of you younger ones, you'll be inclined to go back and discover it as well.
First off, I feel so bad I couldn’t recap this last week’s True Blood finale but my financial analyst class was kicking my ass from here to Timbuktu and back. I literally was having nightmares of yields, cap rates, investment properties and cash flow models. Ok, I digress. But for those who have seen it, we can all agree there were definitely tons of WTFs. Am I right? It seems we lost characters and old ones reappeared. But what do we make of all the havoc?
To be honest the death toll was shocking. I have to admit I was a bit sad when Marnie/Lafayette stabbed Jesus. I sorta liked Lafayette having a love interest. Jesus is one of the additions that had tons of potential with his practice of dark magic. I’m panda sad. RIP Jesus.
“Lafayette is distraught,” Nelsan Ellis (Lafayette) says. “He wasn’t the one who killed Jesus, but it was by his hand. This is possibly Lafayette’s first real meaningful love, and he wasn’t strong enough to protect Jesus – even though Jesus has been able to protect him all season. It was a hard scene for me because I’ve been working with Kevin for two years and we’re best of friends. We’ve done some real intimate stuff … So it was hard really for me to stab him.”
A coworker of mine asked if Lafayette now possessed the dark magic since Marnie inhabited his body. That’s an interesting thought and I might be inclined to say yes. Remember, he was just sleeping upstairs in Sookie’s guest bedroom, so it’s quite possibly that Lafayette could come running down and perform some sort of spell on Tara.
But speaking of Tara, I was shocked that Debbie’s demise left Tara dead as well. In the book, it’s Eric that kills Debbie, is it not? So, this twist took me by surprise and shocked me that a long time character was killed off. As much as I don’t like Tara, I think I will be sad to see her go. UNLESS, she becomes a vampire!
“I don’t know what they have in store for next season. I haven’t seen any scripts, so I have no idea what’s going to happen. I’m either at death’s door, or I’m gone. That’s scary for an actor, but if my time has come, then my time has come – and what a way to go, saving your best friend’s life. It’s pretty cool that everyone’s going to be going, “Is she, or isn’t she?” I’m excited and terrified all at the same time. I could be a ghost, I could die – it’s in the hands of our wonderful writers and the creative mind of Alan Ball.”
I’m leaning towards Tara not really being gone. I think she’s at death’s door, but the key is, who will save her? Lafayette? Eric or Bill? Russell? Hmmm....
“Shooting that scene was very hard and emotional. I think everybody on set shed a tear that day; it was really tough to get through. When you see someone that you’ve lived with and breathed with for four years come to some kind of end, it’s very powerful – and sad. It’s really hard to play dead when you’re about to cry. All three of us went out afterwards – me, Brit [Morgan] and Anna [Paquin]. We had some food and kind of celebrated the end of a killer scene. Brit bites it too, so we were kind of just loving up on each other and supporting each other.”
Damn, now I feel sad. Tara, you were not my favorite character but I do hope you are not D.E.A.D. Actually, I hope you get turned into a vampire. You’d be kick ass as a vampire.
And really, that’s just the surface of my comments and questions.
1) What happened with the crystal meth gang from Hot Shot? Why is that literally what they are? A crystal meth gang? I just made that up, and then realized they WERE selling crystal meth. Fuck, I crack myself up.
You know next season cat woman is coming for Jason’s ass. And she will have to cat fight Jessica for him. How exiting....
2) AND Obviously, Russell is now loose and free due to the big hole in the parking garage. First, let’s listen to his theme song, shall we?
Russell has broken the “chains of love” and now he’s ready to fucking party!! What type of awesomeness will he get into next season? I think he will be like the Predator, and Eric and Bill will be like Arnold Schwarzeneggar, running from his little ass, covering themselves in mud.
3) Last, I present the biggest WTF moment from the finale. Pastor Steve Newlin showing up at Jason’s door with some new teeth. Steve Newlin is a vampire? How lame. He’s lame. Is he still a Christian? WTF!!!
And then there are the honorable mentions: Ghost Rene telling Arlene that Terry has some shit that will come back and haunt them--Pam breaking down over Sookie and her fairy vagina and Marnie saying fuck as she agrees to cross over to the other world.
I won’t even comment on Sookie deciding not to be with anyone. That ain’t going to last.
Best character all season: Pam and her one-liners.
Grossest scene: Eric sucking the heart like it’s a V8.
Best concept: Amnesia Eric.
So until next summer, waiting sucks! Any thoughts on next season?
Yes, I’m still doubled up on class this week and next week which is killing me! Plus, work. Plus, movie reviewing obligations.... So! I will just leave you with this teaser trailer, that I’m sure most of you already saw yesterday. Frankly, it’s nothing to write home about. I’m not too excited about this teaser trailer. But it does feature a few new clips.
Due to the holidays, school and work kicking my ass... there will be no True Blood review this week. Sorry peeps.
But I will leave you with Alexander Skarsgard's "Behind The Scenes" video of his GQ photoshoot. Of course, I had to edit the music and added, The xx "Intro" (which I'm madly obsessed with!) Have a great week!
Aloha everybody! I just wanted to direct you to my interview with Sam Bradley for Inside Out Hawaii Magazine. Sam will be performing for the first time in Hawaii on September 30 and October 1 at The Venue and I can’t wait to see him play acoustic. This will be a very intimate setting, with just gorgeous Sam and his guitar (no band).. And me upfront, smiling. To read my article, click Sam Bradley.
