"Freshly opened tennis balls"

   Some of these movies I watched quite awhile ago, like, March. March! And then school hit me in the face and then school was all I did for some time and now HERE WE ARE (still talking about school, for some reason).

   THE MOVIES from the last post ARE:

• Flight of the Navigator (86)
• Huntsman: Winter's War (16)
• Mockingjay Part Two (15)
• Somm: Into the Bottle (15)
• Somm (12)

   I cannot give a high enough recommendation for finding a waffle place in your town or city that shows movies every Monday and then going to said waffle place to eat waffles and watch childhood favourites. And big news, I was somewhat concerned that seeing Flight of the Navigator as an adult would diminish it in my eyes/memories, but GUESS WHAT: it is fine. It is a fun movie. Fun fact: rewatching/changing/rebooting movies from your childhood will not, in fact, ruin your childhood. I know, it's a revelation. I too was surprised (I was not). 

   I have two problems with Huntsman: Winter's War and they are these: a) not enough Charlize Theron, and b) why call it Huntsman when CLEARLY the Huntsman himself is a secondary character? Riddle me that. Other than those complaints: this movie was everything I wanted it to be and more. Amazing costumes, ridiculous dialogue, many ladies, genuinely creepy bits, very fairy-tale-y fairy tale telling. A+. More Charlize Theron in everything. 

   My boyfriend and I watched Mockingjay Part Two in a couple of stages, one of which was while sitting on a couch in a hostel in the middle of Manitoba where we were the only guests after driving for ten hours to get there. Admittedly, I was in a bit of a daze. I was once again upset about how some things were dealt with, BUT, all in all: a satisfactory flick. The pacing was weird. 

   My parents took me for delicious curry dinner after I finished my school, and afterwards we bought some wine and watched two documentaries about wine back to back. Somm is about people getting ready to take the Master Sommelier (a word I can never pronounce properly) exam, which is an insane three-day exam that only takes place once a year and to which these peeps dedicate their LIVES. It is nuts. Somm: Into the Bottle is less about people and more about wine itself, and features people opening bottles of wine that are so old and rare, and then being absolutely giddy over them. It also talks about everything from fungus to WWII to earthquakes to family drama sparked by barrels. I live tweeted these, so if you follow me on the twitter you were absolutely inundated with wine tweets. I'm not sorry. I recommend watching wine documentaries while drinking wine, it's a recipe for enjoyment. 

21-25, 2016

Once again, can you guess them all?

It's Summer and I'm Barely Reading

   I still haven't finished a book since Yes Please, but I have a few on the go. I've been having some trouble paying attention to books this month, which I think is due to the amount of reading and writing I did with school, and the "now the pressure is off" feeling of being done. Hand in hand with my non-reading energy is a lack of writing energy AND SO, a list of the books I am reading:

• Wish Her Safe At Home / Stephen Benatar - I may or may not finish this one. It is good, and the writing is good, and it is also highly uncomfortable (in the "this unreliable narrator does NOT realize what is actually going on" way). It is also due back at the library and I've reached my renewal limit, perhaps I will return it and come back to it at a later date. 
• Year of Yes / Shonda Rhimes - I have like 40 minutes left in this audiobook, I will finish it very soon. Also: this book is as good as everyone says it is, which is to say: it's excellent. 
• The Witches : Salem, 1962 / Stacy Schiff - this book is SO VERY LONG, but I am enjoying it. Learning heaps. 
• Wolf Winter / Cecilia Ekback - tense! Spooky! Well-written! So good! QUITE happy with this pick, tbh.
• A small selection of comics, including The Woods , Lumberjanes, and Y: The Last Man. 

   Since starting to write this post I've read the first volume of The Woods, and it was quite good. I immediately borrowed volume two (praise the Lord for my local library). 

Reading in May

me @ my exams/papers

   OKAY, wow, May was bonkers. I wrote a zillion words for school, and was subsequently unenthused about any other writing. I also read a zillion words for school, and as a result only read ONE BOOK in May, which is a REMARKABLY low book count. That one book was:

• Yes Please / Amy Poehler - SO GLAD I finally read this, it was GREAT. I listened to it as an audiobook and I'm pretty sure that's the best way to read it. 

   AND THAT'S IT. 

   BUT, do you know what else I did in May? I will tell you. 

• Got a sweet rabbit tattoo
• Wrote/read the aforementioned "zillion words"
• EARNED A DEGREE, yes sir I did

   All in all, I am pleased with May. I mean, I managed to get a degree through distance education without dying, and I am pretty pleased with myself. And now June is bustin' out all over and I have so much time so spend doing fun-reading, and I am stoked.