Media Favorites Vol. 2
Tuesday, May 21, 2013
Netflix Friendly Films
Ira & Abby
I just realized that Chris Messina, who's currently on the Mindy Project, is like the king of independent romantic comedies. He was also in another one of my favorites,
the Giant Mechanical Man, and also
Ruby Sparks (though he played the brother). Anyway,
Ira & Abby is about two people with complete opposite personalities, deciding to get married after initially meeting each other for roughly 8 hours. It's very dialogue driven, and the style of writing reminds me of a Woody Allen or (dare I say) Nancy Meyers movie. You know, where wealthy white people are constantly running around frantically, constantly psycho analyzing themselves and others through an inner monologue. Anyway, this is not a happily ever after tale. The theme explores the topics of monogamy and divorce in the most unconventional way posible. Oh, and the casting + acting was steller.
The Experiment
This film is a remake that, I believe, went straight to DVD/ Netflix. It didn't receive critical success via reviews and gross revenue, but what the hell ever. I thought it was pretty fucking great. So, the synopsis is basically the Stanford Prison experiment in 1971, but to the extreme. Violence is the key theme throughout the film. It basically shows the audience how barbaric men can be when there's a certain level of hierarchy and oppression.
Take Me Home
Ah, yet another independent romantic comedy. What is wrong with me? I mean, it really is not the same type of rom-com as a Katherine Heigl movie. It's completely different! Anyway, first I just want to talk about the soundtrack of this film, and how it really enhanced the road trip feel. The entire soundtrack is done by this band called "Bootstrap". If you're into a coffee-house acoustic music, you might dig this band. So yeah, the film itself is pretty great. A memorable quote, "Did you ever noticed how lonely men have large dvd collections?"
________________________________________________________________________________
Tunes:
I compiled a list of songs I've been listening to from the past month or so. Nothing head-bangin' worthy.
I guess the songs sort of goes to upbeat to depressing to soundtrack-of-my-life in an interwoven format.
________________________________________________________________________________
Quick TV Round-up:
Enlightened
Such a healing show, for those of us who view the world differently and aspire to live a more positive life and change for the better. Synopsis: woman has mental break down at work, goes to rehab. Back at work, she found out that the CEO is rigging the system, and decides to become a whistle blower a la Julian Assange. Quick shameless self promotion: I run this Tumblr blog with a friend. http://enlightenedgifs.tumblr.com/
American Dad (On Netflix)
I usually watch this show when I'm eating. I've literally went through every single episode on Netflix within a span of 3 months.
Nikita (On Netflix)
Bad ass, underrated, doesn't get enough recognition. And the greatest villan in television history used to be a mom on the OC.
Scandal (Season 1 On Netflix)
It can get soap-y at times, but at the end of every episode I'm always antsy and anticipating for more.
Top of the Lake (On Netflix)
Visually stunning. The subject can be a pretty uncomfortable. It's about a pregnant 12 year old who mysteriously disappeared.
Louie (On Netflix)
Some episodes are hit-and-miss. But the one thing that I constantly enjoy are his stand-up routines in the beginning of every episode. Spoiler alert: My favorite episode is when he got bullied by a teenager, and decides to follow him back home to tell his parents.
________________________________________________________________________________
Book:
The only book I've read in the past 4 months is the World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. It was, of course, for one of my Information Systems class. I thought it was going to be purely "academic", which in my mind had this negative connotation to it, I guess. I assumed wrong. It totally wasn't stale or dry. Friedman told a lot of stories he encountered while researching the topic of globalization for this book. For instance, I had no idea that Toshiba (the electronic company) had a deal with UPS (the delivering company) wherein if a Toshiba customer brought in a broken lap-top, instead of sending it back to Toshiba, UPS is actually the company that will fix the laptop, in order to cut down distribution and packaging costs. There are just a ton of mind-blowing stories like this to, I guess, prove his thesis.
Labels: Book, Film, Media Favorites, music, Television
Media Favorites Vol. 2
POSTED ON Tuesday, May 21, 2013 AT 2:27 AM \\
Netflix Friendly Films
Ira & Abby
I just realized that Chris Messina, who's currently on the Mindy Project, is like the king of independent romantic comedies. He was also in another one of my favorites,
the Giant Mechanical Man, and also
Ruby Sparks (though he played the brother). Anyway,
Ira & Abby is about two people with complete opposite personalities, deciding to get married after initially meeting each other for roughly 8 hours. It's very dialogue driven, and the style of writing reminds me of a Woody Allen or (dare I say) Nancy Meyers movie. You know, where wealthy white people are constantly running around frantically, constantly psycho analyzing themselves and others through an inner monologue. Anyway, this is not a happily ever after tale. The theme explores the topics of monogamy and divorce in the most unconventional way posible. Oh, and the casting + acting was steller.
The Experiment
This film is a remake that, I believe, went straight to DVD/ Netflix. It didn't receive critical success via reviews and gross revenue, but what the hell ever. I thought it was pretty fucking great. So, the synopsis is basically the Stanford Prison experiment in 1971, but to the extreme. Violence is the key theme throughout the film. It basically shows the audience how barbaric men can be when there's a certain level of hierarchy and oppression.
Take Me Home
Ah, yet another independent romantic comedy. What is wrong with me? I mean, it really is not the same type of rom-com as a Katherine Heigl movie. It's completely different! Anyway, first I just want to talk about the soundtrack of this film, and how it really enhanced the road trip feel. The entire soundtrack is done by this band called "Bootstrap". If you're into a coffee-house acoustic music, you might dig this band. So yeah, the film itself is pretty great. A memorable quote, "Did you ever noticed how lonely men have large dvd collections?"
________________________________________________________________________________
Tunes:
I compiled a list of songs I've been listening to from the past month or so. Nothing head-bangin' worthy.
I guess the songs sort of goes to upbeat to depressing to soundtrack-of-my-life in an interwoven format.
________________________________________________________________________________
Quick TV Round-up:
Enlightened
Such a healing show, for those of us who view the world differently and aspire to live a more positive life and change for the better. Synopsis: woman has mental break down at work, goes to rehab. Back at work, she found out that the CEO is rigging the system, and decides to become a whistle blower a la Julian Assange. Quick shameless self promotion: I run this Tumblr blog with a friend. http://enlightenedgifs.tumblr.com/
American Dad (On Netflix)
I usually watch this show when I'm eating. I've literally went through every single episode on Netflix within a span of 3 months.
Nikita (On Netflix)
Bad ass, underrated, doesn't get enough recognition. And the greatest villan in television history used to be a mom on the OC.
Scandal (Season 1 On Netflix)
It can get soap-y at times, but at the end of every episode I'm always antsy and anticipating for more.
Top of the Lake (On Netflix)
Visually stunning. The subject can be a pretty uncomfortable. It's about a pregnant 12 year old who mysteriously disappeared.
Louie (On Netflix)
Some episodes are hit-and-miss. But the one thing that I constantly enjoy are his stand-up routines in the beginning of every episode. Spoiler alert: My favorite episode is when he got bullied by a teenager, and decides to follow him back home to tell his parents.
________________________________________________________________________________
Book:
The only book I've read in the past 4 months is the World is Flat by Thomas Friedman. It was, of course, for one of my Information Systems class. I thought it was going to be purely "academic", which in my mind had this negative connotation to it, I guess. I assumed wrong. It totally wasn't stale or dry. Friedman told a lot of stories he encountered while researching the topic of globalization for this book. For instance, I had no idea that Toshiba (the electronic company) had a deal with UPS (the delivering company) wherein if a Toshiba customer brought in a broken lap-top, instead of sending it back to Toshiba, UPS is actually the company that will fix the laptop, in order to cut down distribution and packaging costs. There are just a ton of mind-blowing stories like this to, I guess, prove his thesis.
Labels: Book, Film, Media Favorites, music, Television
