The Rants of a fanatic

Right so where to begin with this weekend? First theme was no shame.

( Saturday's adventures get long )( Sunday's adventures are crazy )

A few months ago I read carlier36's Vivre (at the End of the World) a Revolution fanfic with the summary "General Matheson faces a new resistance, Militia wives and what remains of the art world, not to mention his best friend's slow spiral into madness."

Since Philadelphia is so close to me and Olivia and I have been dying to go for a long time (we wanted to go last year but the Barnes tickets were sold out) we finally went and luckily the weather held out and was gorgeous. Slightly windy, but that didn't matter much since we were indoors all day. Of course, I didn't tell Olivia I was inspired by Revolution to go to these museums, but we were certainly had an amazing day and I'm exhausted. Pictures below the cut.

( OMG PICTURES! )

Also the Philadelphia Museum of Art is huge and grand and amazing. The Barnes is incredibly overwhelming and a well done collection. (Also sidenote: I totally was think about Miles and Bass and their opinions on the furniture while in the Philadelphia Museum of Art) And the Barnes doesn't let you take pictures inside. So all of the pictures are from the other museums. We stopped briefly at the Rodin Museum because it's super tiny but included in the price of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and literally right next to the Barnes Foundation. I LOVE VAN GOGH! He's one of my favorites, but I've definitely grown to love Matisse, Renoir, and Cezanne after seeing so much them today. And I will always love Monet as well.

I had so much fun keeping track of the movies in 2012, here's my new roundup for 2013


( Movies in the Theater )

( Movies on DVD )

A few weeks ago, I went off on the adventure of a lifetime. I traveled to a good portion of Europe as part of tour group with Topdeck travel, a tour company based out of London and Sydney. This adventure took me all of Europe and I got to meet tons of new people from all over the world. I took tons of pictures and it was such an awesome experience that I would definitely travel with Topdeck again. It's one of the few tour companies that doesn't charge extra for solo travelers (in fact, most of the people on the tour were traveling solo), geared towards people my age, and gave plenty of time to explore on your own too. I was actually a little concerned about the amount of free time I would have but it was the perfect balance of a guided tour and free time.

Well, onward to the adventure! I also took way more pictures than this, but this a good representation of the trip.

( MAJOR PICSPAM AHEAD! )

If you want to hear any more details about any part of my adventure, feel free to ask, I'm sure I left out TONS!

My new year's resolution is to keep track of what movies I watch. I'm only going to track new ones that I see in their entirety, for now just in the theater or on DVD, since I usually don't pay super attention when I watch them on TV. I get to see new movies every Tuesday for free and I have discounted tickets the rest of the week, so I have a tendency to see a lot of movies.

( MOVIES IN THEATERS )


( MOVIES ON DVD )

Yesterday was the SMTown concert at Madison Square Garden. Quite an adventure too! So I worked in the morning, left early from the market to go to Hoboken and drop off dinosaur cookies for Paul.



Stayed and chatted with Spencer for a bit before heading into the city. Took the PATH because the station is just one block from MSG. When I got to MSG, I texted everyone to see who was there (it was about 3) and I was just walking around and there was sparrowxx and dj_retro!!

( Before the concert began (an adventure)! )

( THE CONCERT, in depth be warned, this gets long-NOW WITH RANDOM PICTURES )

( OVERALL COMMENTARY ON THE CONCERT )

I am slowly editing in pictures of mine. The videos I upload here ARE NOT MINE! But I loved these songs and wanted to share with everyone else.

I figure it's about time I just write random top 5 lists, so here's a bunch!

TOP 5 MOVIES
1. The Wizard of Oz
2. Life as a House
3. Clerks
4. Star Wars
5. Lord of the Rings

TOP 5 BOOKS
1. The Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
2. Dune by Frank Herbert
3. Enchantment by Orson Scott Card
4. The Godfather by Mario Puzo
5. World War Z by Max Brooks

TOP 5 TV SHOWS
1. Everwood
2. Big Bang Theory
3. The Office
4. Friends
5. Arrested Development

TOP 5 ALBUMS these are albums I can listen to all day long without skipping a track (except for those annoying long pauses).
1. Lost and Gone Forever by Guster
2. Dookie by Green Day
3. Good Charlotte by Good Charlotte
4. Start Static by Sugarcult
5. So Wrong, It's Right by All Time Low

TOP 5 SONGS by playcount on Windows Media Player I used Windows Media player exclusively until 4/2010 when I got an ipod.
1. Haruka Kanata by Asian Kung Fu Generation with 373 plays
2. Mahaloha by Yuna Ito with 360 plays
3. Sorry Sorry by Super Junior with 326 plays
4. First Love by Hikaru Utada with 312 plays
5. Enjoy the Silence by Lacuna Coil with 285 plays

TOP 5 SONGS by playcount on iTunes
1. Sorry Sorry by Super Junior with 653 plays
2. Bonamana by Super Junior with 525 plays
3. So Much for the Afterglow by Four Year Strong with 407 plays
4. Digital Bounce by Seven (with TOP) with 382 plays
5. I Must Be Dreaming by The Maine with 379 plays

SO it's that time of year again. How many movies can I see in a summer? The first year of free movie Tuesday was 12 movies, the second one was 13 movies. Can I top that list? Well, we're off to a good start.

A problem with going to the movies too much? I see the same AWKWARD trailers over and over again.

1. May 10- Something Borrowed Cute chick flick. John Krasinski stole the show
2. May 17- Bridesmaids Funny, but a little over the top. I didn't sympathize with the characters and found them a bit obnoxious.
3. May 24- Fast Five DAMN GOOD MOVIE! I haven't been this entertained in a LOOOOOOOONG time. Now I feel like rewatching the other movies because this one was just that good.
4. May 31 Hangover Part 2 The movie had its moments (about half of which were shown in the trailer) butt the other moments were awkward and boring. I feel the same way about this movie as I did about Bridesmaids, and I enjoyed Hangover (part 1?) MUCH more. My brother agreed with me on this point.
5. June 14- Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides One word: Boring!! It was long and I would never hire whoever scripted this. There were too many storylines running concurrently. The Spanish were thrown in for random conflict, but I liked the conflict between Barbarossa and Blackbeard. Also the love story between the mermaid and the clergy was unnecessary, or at least underdeveloped. Overall, I would not recommend this movie.
6. June 21- X-Men First Class I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. Granted I've loved James McAvoy since he was in Children of Dune, but that could only help this movie, really. It was an amazing movie, but for one who didn't read the comics and has only seen the other movies, I can't judge on continuity. The pace of the movie was incredibly well done and I'm eager to see what they'll do for another movie.
7. June 28 Green Lantern Honestly I was kind of bored by this movie and thought they obviously spent the entire budget on special effects and not on writing. Once again, pacing of the movie left a lot to be desired, but I certainly enjoyed the flashy lights. I could do without the audience in the theater who decided to laugh at everything, whether it was funny or not, they still laughed.
8. July 12 Horrible Bosses This movie was way funnier than I thought, mostly due to the guy who plays Charlie on "It's Always Sunny" the movie was a little raunchy, but still funny and kept the laughs going. Jason Bateman is also getting REALLY annoying because he pretty much is the same guy in every movie.
The trailers are not getting any less awkward, but I'm creeped out by the new Guillermo del Toro movie. And the Jesse Eisenberg/Aziz Ansari one looks REALLY funny.
9. July 15 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2 I enjoyed this movie much more than the first part. There were parts that were boring (especially coming from someone who worked all day and saw it at midnight) but overall, I thought it was a well done movie and it ended the series well. The people in the theater were a bit obnoxious (old lady shaking her fists at teenagers!!)
10. July 19 Winnie the Pooh SUPER CUTE MOVIE! I loved the story, even though it's been done a million times before, but I was quite disappointed with the voices, simply because the series I grew up on (whichever one aired 1990-1993ish), those will always be the voices in my head and any other Tigger and Piglet fail in comparison, but cute movie, other than it was RIDICULOUSLY short.
11. July 26 Captain America in 3D I'm still not too thrilled with live action 3D movies. I really loved How to Train your Dragon, Despicable Me, and Coraline in 3D. I enjoyed the movie, though I wish there was slightly more action. I'm really excited for the Avengers movie. I did enjoy the movie, but the 3D wasn't really utilized well. I think I'm getting spoiled by the movies. I see so many, I almost expect them to be well done.
12. August 9 Crazy, Stupid, Love. I absolutely adore Emma Stone. This movie was pretty well done in how it tied things together, but there were an awful lot of boring parts. I've become a pretty harsh critic on movies because I see so many, butt this movie was enjoyable, it had its funny moments and its awkward moments. Trailers still aren't getting much better.
13. August 23 The Help AMAZING MOVIE! Well done. Whoever was the casting director on this certainly did their homework. The actors were amazing, story line was TIGHT, but a bit slow at moments. A very enjoyable movie.

I've spent the last few weeks a little bored and have been watching a ridiculous number of Korean dramas lately. This stems from getting addicted to Dream High back in January, and I realized that I go through this in spurts, but I can never remember what I've seen, what I've REALLY enjoyed, and what I probably should just delete off of my hard drive. Granted, some I don't have my hard drive because I originally watched them at dramafever.com. I believe you can find all of the Korean dramas there, and it's free streaming. I stopped watching them there due to my computer not being able to stream hour long shows very well. The list is in no particular order, only separated by Korean or Japanese, as I DEVOURED Japanese dramas in college. A big difference is that most Japanese dramas run about 45 minutes an episode with each series being about 11 episodes. Korean dramas are an hour and 5 minutes with 16 episodes.

KOREAN DRAMAS

• Goong This drama is pretty near and dear to my heart because I absolutely love the manhwa that it is based off. The premise is simple, whatt is Korea still had a monarchy? And then the Crown Prince has been betrothed to a commoner? The hijinks that ensue as two high schoolers are forced to survive together. The cast is loveable and it wouldn't be a Korean drama without at least one love triangle. The soundtrack for this is also amazing and I always loved the teddy bear shots at the end of each episode


• Coffee Prince Again, I absoluttely love this one. Starring Yoon Eun Hye of Goong and Gong Yoo, the two leads have great chemistry together. This one starts out where Gong Yoo mistakes Yoon Eun Hye for a guy and slowly falls for her, while thinking she is a guy. The setting is a coffee house where the servers are all pretty boys to entice women. The side storyline is also really capitivating and I'm pretty sure there were nights I stayed awake forever just to find out what would happen next.


• My Name is Kam Sam Soon Oh Hyun Bin, I love you here. This story has the "fat" (by Korean standards) girl who has no husband and loves to bake. Meanwhile she ends up working for Hyun Bin and he says that she is his girlfriend. Sam-soon is an older Korean name and drives much of the plot, as she tries to change her name throughout the series. This one was addicting and I loved Daniel Henney for his bit of eye candy!


• Dream High This stars Taecyeon and Wooyoung of 2PM, Suzy of Miss A, IU, Eunjung of T-ara, and JYP. Plus several others. The show is basically a mixture of Glee and Fame and if you enjoy any bit of kpop, you'll love this show. The little jokes thrown in are great, but again Suzy's acting is a little stilted in the beginning and the writing seems to adjust around that. I waited every week for the latest episodes.


• Shining Inheritance aka Brilliant Legacy. This is a rags-to-riches story with a bit of hard work and determinattion thrown in. I found the characters annoying at tpointts (Jung and Hwan are obnoxious) The evil stepmother is cruel beyond belief and I felt awful for poor Bae Soo Bin's character. I grew kind of attached to him and was slightly disappointed at the end of thte show's run. At 28 episodes, it was a bit longer than I'm used to for Korean dramas, but it didn't feel too slow.


• Oh! My Lady I picked this drama up solely for Choi Siwon of Super Junior. He is one fine piece of eye candy and can actually act, sing and dance! The story here is interesting, with him playing an actor that is overrated but fans love him and the woman who somehow winds her way into his house after he finds himself suddenly in charge of his 4 year old daughter that he didn't know existed. I freaked when my computer crashed while I was watching this series because I hated waiting every week to find out what would happen.


• Prosecutor Princess Because I liked the writer's other series (49 Days and Shining Inheritance) I was recommended this series. I recommend it for Park Shi Hoo, who is DAMN fine in this show. He is a lawyer who helps out our princess who starts out very unlikeable because she's super smart and super rich, but is slowly brought down a few notches. I was rooting for the main couple the entire time and Park Shi Hoo is just such a caring individual and I CANNOT wait until he gets another drama. To hold me over....I watched Queen of Reversals-(SIDENOTE: This drama made me cry at the end)


• Queen of Reversals At 31 episodes, this is the longest Korean drama I've watched but it was well worth it. Again, I watched this for Park Shi Hoo, but I fell in love with the cast and the villians in the story were well played. I love the transformation in Park Shi Hoo's character from snobbyrich boy to a really caring leader in the office. Now, I found the women to be a little annoying but Hwang Tae Hee's I Will survive scream fest from her car about being a strong woman? GREAT SCENE!! If you watch nothing else from this series, find Park Shi Hoo's dance number at karaoke in episode 16, best part, hands down. I CRIED at the end of episode 30, I just couldn't hold it in at all. TEAR JERKER ALERT


• My Princess Anothter suddenly Korea's monarchy will return! I LOVED the leads in the series (Kim Tae Hee and Song Seung Hun! Can't go wrong!) but the writting fizzled FAST after starting out really positive, I could only make it to episode 10 out of 16. I'll probably revisit this series when I get lull in what I'm watching, but for now it was enjoyable, but lost its pace too fast


• Mr Fair Lady/Take Care of the Young Lady This stars Yoon Eun Hye and Jung Il Woo, who are two of my favorites. Kang Hae Na is a spoiled rich girl who listens to no one and throws hissy fits to get her, because she can. The only one who stands up to her is Seo Dong Chan who her grandfather hires to be her butler. It started out pretty promising but fizzled. I did watch to the end but only because I was more interested in Eui Joo and Tae Yoon, as opposed to the main characters Hae Na and Dong Chan.


• Pasta I started watching this show because Cho Kyuhyun of Super Junior sang the insert song and then found out one of the leads from Coffee Prince was the lead here! I also LOVE Alex (he's from Clazziquai) and enjoyed the chemistry between the characters but I got bored of the fact that nothing happened. Managed to make it through 8 episodes before giving it up.


• Soulmate Got through two episodes, could never figure out the characters or their relationships to each other, may pick it up again someday.


• Mary Stayed Out All Night BORING! Plot was overused and I couldn't get passed the first episode, despite some people hyping this show up, it was not worth it. Will probably be deleted off my hard drive, that bad


• Paradise Ranch I watched this drama because of Changmin from DBSK. In fact, I kept watching this drama because I loved watching him. The story is that two young kids get married, divorce, and see each other 6 years later at a very different stage in both of their lives. Seriously, if it wasn't for Changmin I wouldn't have made it through this drama. It was better than My Fair Lady, but not by much.

JAPANESE DRAMAS

• Densha Otoko Train Man. This series is based off a 2chan forums that then became a book, manga, TV series and movie. It's about a nerd saving a rich girl and them forming a sweet romance, with the nerd seeking advice from 2chan. The cast of characters are HYSTERICAL and I absolutely loved watching this show


• Gokusen I've seen only the first two seasons and I LOVE THIS. The first one has a better cast of characters (the second one seems to just play off the first one). It is about the heir to a yakuza family going to teach and teaching the most troubled class in the entire school. It's heartwarming to see how much she cares for everyone and well, Oguri Shun and MatsuJun? HELL YES


• Hana Yori Dango I've seen both and I loved this way more than the manga. A rich guy picking on poor girl and falling in love story. I always felt bad for Rui in this series, but I like how the series squashes the manga down. And again, Oguri Shun and MatsuJun.


• Hana Kimi (Hanazakari Kimitachi E: Ikemen Paradise) Horikita Maki and Oguri Shun? But Ikuta Toma steals the show away as Nobu. He is PERFECT!! The whole show is about a girl getting into a boy's school to see the track star that she idolizes. I loved the manga and if you can separate the manga from the drama, you'll love it.


• Nobuta wo ProduceI love the three leads here. The characters are bizarre but it works for the 11 episodes. A nice slice of life show that I can always go back and rewatch


• Tatta Hitotsu no KoiThis show BROKE MY HEART. I cried buckets watching it. The poor boy and rich girl fall in love in the port city of Yokohama. A stunning drama, but the second to last episode killed me in terms of tears. Granted, the ending made up for it, but I still discount it because of that tearjerker (I'm still shaking my fist at the screen).


• Hanayome to Papa And overportective father tries to keep his little girl underwraps as she falls for a riiculous guy who must try to convince her father that he is an okay guy. Hijinks ensue. Adorable, but I don't know how rewatchable it is.


• Yukan Club Hands down one of my favorites. Rich kids are bored so they decide to help out the police and solve mysteries. Yokoyama Yuu made this drama for me and I can now order shochikubai successfully (I have a funny way of saying it after watching this drama)


• Sunao ni Narenakute I picked this up because of Jaejoong from Dong Bang Shin Ki. I'm glad i stuck with it and only wish I had gotten into some other more recent dramas. I enjoyed the premise, which was about five people who met through twitter and so the integral use of twitter in the drama is interesting.


• Liar Game This is not your stereotypical drama. It's based off the manga by a same name and I love the tricks. I don'tt know how to describe it, a pyschological drama? It's all about critical thinking and outwitting your opponents in a game of deceit and poor innocent Nao gets wrapped up in the game!


• Proposal Daisakusen Oh! Yamapi! This drama is about finally admitting to the girl you've been in love with forever that you love her, on the day of her wedding. Basically he's given a second chance tot rework all the times he's screwed up in the past. At 11 episodes and a special, it's the perfect length to get everything in.


• Yamada Tarou Monogatari Ah rich boy and poor friend story! I loved this drama about what's really valuable in life. I love Ninomiya Kazunari and Sakurai Sho so this was the perfect feel good drama.

Rules:
Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you. At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged. You have to tag the person who tagged you. If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

Except I'm not tagging anyone. Also when did memes go from LJ/xanga to facebook?

25 things about me? Here goes nothing, GO!

1. I am super obsessive. Like over EVERYTHING! If I owe it, I have to know where it is at all times, which tends to be why I freak out when I lend stuff out to people. I obsess over the littlest things. I notice if things are moved an inch. It's super super weird, but it goes along with number 2. I also become obsessed over TV shows, manga, anime, books, etc. I just devour EVERYTHING. And then I just stop as quickly as I picked it up.

2. I have an amazing memory.

3. I can't count the number of people who will not play Trivial Pursuit with me. Everyone always says I've memorized the answers which isn't true.

4. I am very very very stubborn. I don't let anyone tell me what to do. When I was 4, i refused to write my name. Why? Because I didn't want to. I will argue until I get my way, and trust me, I will. I always win.

5. I'm not really afraid of anything. I don't like doing certain things for various reasons (riding certain rides at amusement parks makes me sick but I'm not scared) I love heights. I don't mind needles. Bugs? Let me squish them now.

6. I get sick really easily. Give me two fulls days of rest and I'm fine. Make me go to school? Give me a week and now I'm all better.

7. I read books at a steady rate of 100 pages an hour. That's the AVERAGE. Mostly faster, depending on how involved the book is. Harry Potter book 6? 5 hours. Book 5? 5 and half hours. I love to read.

8. I don't trust people easily. I'm always betrayed by my friends so when I do open up to someone I just expect them to have a certain courtesy. There are things that very few friends know, if any. There's just stuff people probably should know in order to understand me better, but I'd be mortified if anyone else found out so I just don't tell anyone.

9. Everything I do has to be done to noise. I walk listening to music. I read while listening to music or TV. I take a shower with my music blaring. I wake up to music. I fall asleep to music. Music is constantly playing. At home the TV is also on.

10. I have the habit of talking a lot. And I mean a lot a lot. People who know me in person know this for a fact. I hate being silent (see above) Noise surrounds me at all times. I love the sound of my voice. If I didn't, well, I certainly wouldn't talk so much.

11. My favorite food is chocolate and if I don't eat enough of it, I get all cranky.

12. No matter where I am, I always love coming back to New Jersey. I feel at ease at home and New Jersey is so diverse. People who HAVE NOT been here cannot judge it. I get really defensive when they do that and it makes me really, really mad.

13. My second favorite day of the year, after Christmas, is the Saturday before Fourth of July. We have a huge party at my house and it always means a lot to me when my friends show up because when I was little I wasn't allowed to invite friends over for this party because it was a "family party."

14. I have boxes and boxes of Christmas ornaments all over my room at home.

15. My favorite movie is Wizard of Oz even though, apparently, I used to scream and cry when the Wicked Witch appeared.

16. I've been working random jobs since I was 10. I love my first job as a cashier at a farmer's market and actually still work there during the summers.

17. I was in the marching band for six years in middle school and high school and haven't touched my clarinet since I graduated.

18. I love playing my DS. It's a random fun little game system. Lego Star Wars is a great game for boredom.

19. After this past weekend, I've learned to love long car trips by myself.

20. I have a summer house in Virginia that I actually spend more time at during the winter.

21. About half of my music isn't in English.

22. I love to travel.

23. I'm kind of nervous about going to grad school, but I know it's something I have to do.

24. When it snows, I'm still a little kid at heart who wants to go jump in and make snow angels, build forts, and have snowball fights..

25. I get bored really easily.