Resort Trip!

This week was pretty quiet at work. And boy did we get snow!

On Friday we took a trip out to the Sundance Resort. There is a screening room out there that also has it’s own Box Office, so to continue a tradition from last year, we went out as a team to check it out, take a photo, and explore.

Ticketing Team 2019 (minus Jeff, Jada, and Annie, and those that don’t start until December)

The Sundance Resort is beautiful if you’ve never been there. They hold the Sundance Labs there during the summer months, and what a place for inspiration! If you’ve never heard of the Sundance Labs, and are a creative type, I recommend checking it out here.

Trivia This Week: We got 1st! Woot woot! We were surprised too.

Also, Film Church is back! This week, we watched Pleasantville. 

What I’m into the week:

Finishing Catherine the Great, 2019. Meh, it was fine. Costumes were extravagant, as were the sets. Seemed a bit more like a soap opera than a historical drama, so if you like a literal old-fashioned bodice-ripper, I recommend this one.

Watching Tango, dir. Carlos Saura, (1998). This film was nominated for the Best Foreign Oscar and lost to Life is Beautiful. This one I felt was just as good as that, telling the story of a director and his relationship with a young dancer through dance. Yes, the Tango specifically. Most of it took place on a sound stage, which was very meta and creative.

Watching The Love Witch, dir. Anna Biller, (2016). I’ve been meaning to watch this for a while (a friend from Oscilloscope also meant to get me a copy at one point!) But I’m glad I used my Criterion subscription. I actually liked this, despite the dark nature of the Witchcraft they showed (not my type of witchcraft). The style reminded me of things I’ve watched on MST3k, super visual and creative.

Rewatching Pleasantville, dir. Gary Ross (1998). I loved this movie when it came out and hadn’t seen it in years. Seeing it a little older and a little wiser made me just love it more. Allowing people to be themselves is something that I’ll always route for. It had baby Paul Walker and baby Danny Strong in it! How did this not win the visual effects Oscar?

Starting The Crown, 2016 (season 3). I’m just four episodes in, and I think the third episode might be one of my favorite episodes of TV this year. The second I saw school children and heard Welsh accents, I started crying because I knew about the terrible Aberfan tragedy. And boy was this episode heavy. Also #itsnotaspoilerwhenitshistory.

Happy Turkey Day! You’ll hear about my adventure home for the holidays next week!

 

 

 

 

 

November, the Thursday of the Year

Someone said this recently and I can’t help but feel how true it is. November is one of my favorite months of the year. Is it Thanksgiving? Is it Christmas? Who knows!

As a note, I couldn’t help but notice that some of my thoughts seem a bit cut off in recent blogs. I apologize and am going to blame Mercury for them, just like everyone else. Thank goodness it ends on the 20th! Now I’ll have to actually account for things.

This month’s Susan Miller! This apparently is going to be a good and lovely month where I socialize more towards the end of the month. *Gets party clothes ready* Let’s do this.

We took an adventure to our Pass & Package space at work on Friday, that also included us (our current Pass & Package foursome) looking for a place to eat that also lead to us learning about “shoulder season”, the time in between peak and off peak seasons and all the restaurants we tried were closed.

This was also a time when I reflected on where I was last year vs. this year and things have changed a lot, but I think towards a positive change, and I’m so grateful for all the family and friends that have helped me so far.

Trivia this week: Third most the game, then ended up in 5th, Not too shabby.

What I’m into this week:

Starting The Mandalorian, 2019. Two episodes in, and I love the feel, the look everything. All the details are amazing, even the storyboard credit sequence. I won’t spoil it though, but the internet already spoiled the cute little Yoda-type baby! So cute!

Watching Finding Nemo, Andrew Stanton (2003). Did you know I had never seen this in its entirety? I even saw Finding Dory at theatres a few years ago but had never seen this. It was a super cute little film to watch, and while I understood some of the different memes and gifs and things, (and the ride at Disneyland) I now have even more context!

Watching Doctor Sleep, dir. Mike Flanagan (2019). Whoa, I really liked this one. It definitely isn’t a horror film though– I would call it a fantasy thriller. And it felt like it should have been a mini-series. Still, if you like fantastical things, check this out.

Watching The Report, dir. Scott Z. Burns (2019). I also really liked this one, it put me into an investigative mood for my NaNoWriMo story. It was intriguing and reminded me of something like All the President’s Men.

Watching Ford v. Ferrari, dir. James Mangold (2019). Recently while listening to some UK radio, apparently this is called Le Mans ’66 over there and in Europe, which when watching the film makes a little more sense, but I could see how that might not sell over here, as I don’t know much about Le Mans. This was entertaining, probably more so if you’re in car culture. I also expected everyone to peel out of the cinema parking lot.

Continuing my shows: Silicon Valley, His Dark Materials, and Watchmen.

 

 

 

November 5th, 1950

A short thought for this week: I know some of you are thinking, “No, Marty went back in time on November 5th, 1955! Because the clocktower stopped on November 12th during that freak lightning storm!” Yeah, that’s not what I’m referencing here.

This week would have been my grandparent’s 69th wedding anniversary, on November 5th, 1950. Apparently, some people didn’t think they would work, and they were married for almost 55 years.

My grandpa Bob passed away in 2015, just ten days after my 31st birthday and nine days after I graduated with my Masters. I’m lucky that at 31, I lost my first grandparent, where there are some friends that didn’t get to know any of them. I’m also lucky, in that I grew up so close to my grandparents (having lived with them for 4 years and change), for they are the reason I love old movies, spaghetti, have a dark/sarcastic sense of humor, and why I always write the date I finish a book in the front right corner of whatever it is I just finished.

Trivia this week: Ghosts of Guy Fawkes Blood. We came in 5th – but there were only two of us!

What I’m into this week:

Finishing The Twilight Zone, 2019. The episodes I finished up with, included: “Not All Men”, “Point of Origin”, “The Blue Scorpion”, and “Blurryman”. The best of these was definitely “The Blue Scorpion”, and I desperately wanted “Blurryman” to be better than it was, having figured out the twist. Still, they were all pretty enjoyable and I do love a good anthology series.

Starting The Tick, 2016 (Season 2). I liked the first season but wasn’t running to watch this, as it seemed to lack that sort of magic that the cartoon and first series had for me. And seems I wasn’t the only one. But I love me some Peter Serafinowicz, so I’ll get myself caught up on this one. SPOON!

Watching Pain and Glory, dir. Pedro Almodovar (2019). This seemed like pretty personal work. I enjoyed it very much and the little pieces that started to come together in the end. As a writer, it is interesting to have someone say out loud all the personal details and stories we put into our work.

Watching Last Christmas, dir. Paul Feig (2019). This is definitely a little unconventional as Rom Coms go, and if you’ve seen it, I didn’t think they’d take the lyrics so LITERALLY. But Henry Golding is beautiful to look at. And Emilia Clarke is charming in this and not as annoying as she was in Me Before You. Also, why do you need a reason to go see any film that has both Emma Thompson and Michelle Yeoh? TOGETHER IN THE SAME MOVIE. Wait, wouldn’t they be fun buddy cops?

Starting His Dark Materials, 2019. So I’ve read the first two books, and saw the 2009 movie directed by Chris Weitz. I am liking it better as a TV show, so much more room to breathe and explore all the nuances of the world that Philip Pullman created. I’m excited to see where this goes.

My NaNoWriMo novel I’m working on! Have Raygun, Will Travel. This started off a vague idea I had of a world that had the color palette of Thor: Ragnarok and a sort of Cassette Futurism of something like 1970s scifi films (think Logan’s Run or Sleeper or even The Prisoner) and Ray Gun Gothic of old 1940s pulp scifi novels. Add a raygunslinger for hire that I’ve named Penny Perkins (she’s a makeup loving gunslinger btw). She gains freedom from her contract on a transport and decides to go home to her Librarian sweetheart (modeled after cutie Ethan Peck) and gets a job working security with a bounty hunter named Boone (modeled after super cutie Anson Mount – and yes I’ve watched Star Trek Discovery season 2). Let the shenanigans start!

 

 

 

 

Samhain Week

There was some more snow this week, and also really F&@*king cold. Like wind chill of 9 cold, like we rolled into work and it was 1 degree cold. My poor desert bones are like “I hope this is worth it”.

Trivia: We tied for 3rd! Then the top team was disqualified for having too many people, so technically tied for 2nd! But then we lost the tiebreaker and so we were third! Our team name was “Ghost Blood” which became a debate as to what ghost blood might look like. I’d love to hear thoughts on this. One said it would be the color of your aura after you died. Another said clear.

At work, we coordinated a Stranger Things group costume for Halloween. I was Max, as she’s a fair redhead tomboy, which really all I had to do was remember to wear my hoodie and not put on mascara or eyeshadow. One of my coworkers brought a skateboard. Costume complete.

Then Friday we celebrated Dia de los Muertos, at the request of one of our Senior Ticketing Managers, Fabian. Who also had us watch Coco while we enjoyed our team meal. #shrimpcookedwithtequilaforthewin

NaNoWriMo started! I was very excited to dive in this year, creating a whole new universe and characters. Please don’t mind me if I ask a random question like I have in the past, such as: What is a good name for a Traveler? Would Sirens fight a Succubus or would they team up? Sometimes I’ll also post my music choices that are getting me in the mood. Check out my playlist!

Also the other weird thing this weekend – someone lost a storm door:

You know, nbd, just a storm door nowhere near any houses.

What I’m into this week:

Starting season 6 of Silicon Valley, 2014. Even though sometimes the uncomfortable screwup humor isn’t necessarily my favorite, I’ve invested 5 seasons into these characters so I’m gonna finish it.

Starting Catherine the Great, 2019. Who doesn’t want to see Helen Mirren do what she does best? Slay like the Queen she is while looking absolutely gorgeous. I’m here for the costumes, and to learn some Russian history. I also like that the series starts at the beginning of Catherine’s reign (after disposing of her king, and that’s not a spoiler since it’s, you know, history) when she’s supposedly 33, and Helen Mirren is 74 in real life.

Watching Parasite, Bong Joon-Ho, (2019). This year’s Palme d’Or winner. This was fantastic. So many layers, and twists. I was glad the trailer was just all over the place- like you didn’t know what it was gonna be about, and bam it all changes once you think you have an idea. I recommend this one.

Watching Destination Wedding, dir. Victor Levin (2018). Yes, this is the Winona Rider/Keanu Reeves film. It was super cute, and like watching a Master Class in acting and chemistry with two actors. Their banter felt very organic, and it was a fun movie.

Watching Paddington 2, dir. Paul King (2017 UK/2018 US). What a cute and fun little film! I enjoyed the first one very much, with how much it played with words and forms in the clever way that I like.

Watching JoJo Rabbit, dir. Taika Watiti (2019). This was also a fantastic film! It was a tender film t its core, and Taika really knows how to direct kids (that’s a gift!) There were also such great examples of how love is expressed between people. Please check this out!