Uff! What a bad year for movies. I complain about this a lot, but truly, this year was not good. I can't even decide which to put at the top, so I'm just going to make a list in no particular order.
- Beginners
- Win Win
- Crazy Stupid Love (minus all the parts with the stupid babysitter and ridiculous teen-age son)
- The Artist
- Moneyball
- Tree of Life
- The Help
- Bridesmaids
- Martha Marcy May Marlene
Biggest disappointment: The Descendants (I know I'm alone in this, and I'm okay with it.)Another disappointment, but not a big one: The Muppets (I so wanted to love this movie, but it was just okay.)
Biggest surprise: The Artist (see previous post)
Best Actor: the guy from A Better Life.
Best Actress: Meryl Streep (Iron Lady)
Best Supporting Actor: Christopher Plummer (Beginnings) / Ryan Gosling (Stupid Crazy Love)
Best Supporting Actress: Jessica Chastain (nominated for The Help but I liked her better in Tree of Life)
Best Director: Terrence Malick (Tree of Life)
Best Original Screenplay: Bridesmaids
Best Adapted Screenplay: Moneyball
Best scenery in a movie: The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Hey, I'm Swedish, what can I say?)
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The good news is that Television had a great year
Best drama: Parenthood
Best comedy: 30 Rock
Best new discovery: Louie (also fits in best drama and best comedy categories )
Best return of a character: Mr. Cyr to Parenthood
Worst return of a character: Seth, off the wagon, to ParenthoodBest character on an increasingly disappointing show: Blaine on Glee
Bummer: No Mad Men in 2011
Best mini-series: Downton Abbey (love it, love it, love it!)
Most improved: Parks and Recreation
New shows to love: Suburgatory, Happy Endings, New Girl
Still the best 22 minutes of each day, Monday-Thursday: The Daily Show
________________________As usual, I'm pretty much in the dark about new and/or popular music. But...
Adele, 21 -- totally jumped on the bandwagon with this one.
The only other CDs I got this year were Foo Fighters (thumbs up) and Beastie Boys (thumbs down -- no offense Estee)
Best concert -- Foo Fighters at Meadowlands & Prudential Center (Newark NJ)
Concerts to recapture my youth -- RUSH at MSG, Duran Duran at MSG
the only other concerts I saw -- Maroon 5 at Jones Beach and Bon Jovi at MSG
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Theater
The Book of Mormon -- yes, I saw it. yes, I loved it. I wish I could link a video to this song, but there is only the song.
Best Books I read this year
(two memoirs, but very different): Say Her Name-- Francisco Goldman
Bossypants -- Tina Fey
Fiction: The Ghost Writer ( I know I'm not supposed to like Philip Roth, but I so do)
Best Personal
- My tour of Scandinavia. So many wonderful memories of Norway and I am now able to forget all the bad stuff. I loved seeing Sweden, the land of my peeps, and Copenhagen, Denmark, one of the coolest cities. I hope to return soon (the plan is 2013).
- Also, I hate to say it, but I'm a convert. My iPhone has changed my life. Okay, that's an exaggeration, but I love it.
- Discovering podcasts.
- Having two wonderful sisters help me through the hardest thing I've done in my life.
- Reunions with mission friends. 1) my two favorite comps, Anne Lise & Sara in San Diego and 2) Jeremy, Pete, et al. in Utah. 3) Bowcutt in Bergen.
6 comments:
1. I'm with you on Downton Abbey. In fact, Margaret and I got so impatient waiting for this year's episodes to air that we watched them bootleg from a website that had the English feed. When we finished watching the Christmas episode finale, Margaret said, "that was so expected, yet soooooo perfect."
2. I'm so glad that you finally accepted the truthfulness of the iPhone into your heart. I know that it's the one true phone with every fiber of my being.
3. I hope that introducing you to one of those podcasts was a good thing and not a bad thing.
4. And that mission reunion at Will's was awesome. I still can't believe we were still going at 2 am!
1. I do love Downton Abbey and agree that the Christmas episode was awesome. However, I maintain that Mary is not good enough for Mathew and does not deserve him.
3. Good thing.
4. Just like the old days.
This blog post reaffirms our friendship (for the 28937243 time), I agree with everything, including Foo and BBoys.
Back to Downton, I absolutely loved the part when Mary SPOILER ALERT asked Matthew if he could forgive her and he said no, as it was his place to pass judgement on her. If only that could be the guiding principle in the world!
Oops! That was supposed to say "WASN'T his place to judge her."
Jeremy -- agreed. that would be a good way to live life.
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