Friday, December 31
Current Mood:
Boogie
Current Music: Karma - Alicia Keys
So its New Years Eve and I said I'd do my traditional 'thank yous' for the year because hey, its not every day that its the last day of the year. Its my seventeenth year in this world, and a lot has changed for me since I was born. Oh well, yeah sure, I've grown up, I've done lots of things, some old, some new, some stupid. But yeah, I don't know, there are things about Year 12, about this year, that I've hated. Its been terribly emotional, from Speech Night, to the end of a lot of TV shows that I've loved (Satc, Friends, Buffy, Dawsons's Creek etc) but the start of good new ones (O.C., Lost).
I've had to deal with Year 12. That's sucked and sometimes, I realise how much pain and how much effort I put into it to feel so fricking disappointed at the end. But no yeah, there have been good times. Times with either friends, times online, complaining while I should have been studying. With the exception of History, I actually liked most of my classes. It did get a bit scandalous, us against Mr. M who I actually ran into after exams which was really scary but funny, but hey, its something to tell my grandchildren. Their grandmummy was really nasty in her last year. Oh yeah...
I think, though, despite the year of hard work, I've enjoyed Year 12. I mean, I've regretted doing history, and I wish I had decided to do art instead. I think, it would have been much better for me, less exams, less stress, less hating. I've kept my temper I think, I mean I have bitchy at times, but mostly really kept the temper tantrums down. It also hasn't been the best year at home, with the robbing and the fights and the screaming, but sometimes its been really good and I've enjoyed being at home. Sydney was a trial, getting everything ready, making sure my parents didn't freak but it was all worth it, going, having fun away from my parents, but yeah, we were still responsible adults, which kinda bothered me a little, because I wanted Sydney to be completely wild. I mean, I get enough responsibility at home, I really just wanted to fly. A'mes is always telling me off for being too damn restrictiony but that's not all my fault. Meh, university should be better. Lots of more fly-away friends, then I guess. I mean, if in a few years, I've going to be all adult and stuff, I'd really rather let go now and screw up when I'm at university rather than now.
Anyway, I digress. This year, has had its torments and trials like the other years, but its been very much different. All these goodbyes and thank yous to everyone seem so much more final becaues next year, things are going to change, friendships are going to fail and I'm never going to be able to reconnect or share those things again. Then again, your 'real life' begins at university I think, and you begin to see what kind of person you really are, because now you're not in the bubble of private school, you're actually out there, by yourself, fending for yourself and this time, its just you and them. No parents. No help. Wow, that sounds really depressing, but I think its what I need. Very much.
Saying that and all, goodbye childhood. Goodbye school. Goodbye 2004. These past 17 have been good, and no matter what happens on the 4th of Jan, I just hope I can maintain a positive outlook and have a better future than what I hope.
~
Top 10 Movies of 2004
1. Garden State
These aren't in any order, although Garden State was one thing I was hyped up for. And enjoyed immensly. It took a few days to sit with me, but I realised how beautiful, how well produced, directed, and written it was, and how well it spoke to someone like me. Although it was for an audience who had experienced their twenties and found themselves kinda lost, it still spoke to me deeply. Hands down for best soundtrack though, I hope Sue brings it today. I really, really, really, really want it.
Quote:
Andrew Largeman: You know that point in your life when you realize that the house that you grew up in isn't really your home anymore? All of the sudden even though you have some place where you can put your stuff that idea of home is gone.
Sam: I still feel at home in my house.
Andrew Largeman: You'll see when you move out it just sort of happens one day one day and it's just gone. And you can never get it back. It's like you get homesick for a place that doesn't exist. I mean it's like this right of passage, you know. You won't have this feeling again until you create a new idea of home for yourself, you know, for you kids, for the family you start, it's like a cycle or something. I miss the idea of it. Maybe that's all family really is. A group of people who miss the same imaginary place.
2. The Phantom of the Opera
God, I loved this movie. Came second after GardenState for soundtrack. Was listening to Michael Crawford be all phantomish and laughed my ass off, he's so over the top, dramatic, I couldn't stop laughing. As for this Schumacher's version, I readily enjoyed it. My favourite party being when the chandelier is 'illuminated' and the whole place turns back to its original state. Awesome intro, especially with the Phantom of the Opera soundtrack banging away on the organ. Woah. It was spectacular from the songs, to the sets, to the very hot Phantom. Wow, I really, really liked it. Am still thinking and humming to it. Forgive me. [Curse Raoouuul! That 'fatuous twerp', thank you Roger Ebert!]
Quote:
Actioneer: Lot 666, then: a chandelier in pieces. Some of you may recall the strange affair of the Phantom of the Opera: a mystery never fully explained. We are told, ladies and gentlemen, that this is the very chandelier which figures in the famous disaster. Our workshops have restored it and fitted up parts of it with wiring for the new electric light, so that we may get a hint of what it looked like when reassembled. Perhaps we may frighten away the ghost of so many years ago with a little illumination, gentlemen?
3. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
I didn't know this was a 2004 movie? Wah? Anyway, this better be nominated next year. Why? Because of the two amazing performances from Kate Winslet and Jim Carrey. Because of the mind-fuck, provocoative screenplay via the mind of crazy Andy Kauffman, that brilliant man. Brilliant. I love his work. NOt only that, it is possibly the best and most intuitive romance movie I have ever seen, venturing into the good and bad of any relationship. It was awesome, bar Wood's performance. Great. And I could watch it many, many a time.
Quote:
Clementine: This is it, Joel. It's going to be gone soon.
Joel: I know.
Clementine: What do we do?
Joel: Enjoy it.
4. Shrek 2
Uh huh. This was cool. From its pop culture references to the reintroduction of old characters and new characters, aww...Puss in Boots. I really liked it just as I had liked the first one. Actually I think I like the second one better now, probably because it had much more fun with less regard for the plot. I like movies like that, where they're aware that the plot really doesn't matter, its more the fun situations and quotes that come along, very much the reason why I like Shanghai Knights more than I like Shanghai Noon. Btw, that is a very awesome movie. So go see Shrek 2, totally fantastic.
Quote:
Shrek: Quick tell a lie!
Pinocchio: What should I say?
Donkey: Say something crazy... like you're wearing ladies underwear.
Pinocchio: Um, ok. I'm wearing ladies underwear.
Pinocchio: [silence]
Shrek: Are you?
Pinocchio: I most certainly am not.
Pinocchio: [nose extends] .
Donkey: It looks like you most certainly am are.
Pinocchio: I am not.
Pinocchio: [nose extends]
Puss-in-Boots: What Kind?
Gingerbread Man: IT'S A THONG!
5. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Never thought one of the Harry Potter movies would be on my fave movies list but hey, here it is. The best and my favourite book. It was just soo good, from the direction to the actual acting involved. While I enjoyed the action and the storyline, to the quirky teachers, to even David Thewlis, who I never thought I'd like after DragonHeart, my favourite parts were small and pretty unimportant. Like, the cosy, heart-warming scene of the boys just having fun as boys do, eating lollies and making sounds via the magic. I think it was just nice to see Harry actually having some normal boy fun once in a while, a beautiful sight nonetheless. Also, moments when Cuaron would show continuity of the season and the passing of time and the year, using the whomping willow. I especially loved it when the Whomping Willow shakes snow off its branches and some land on the camera lens. So absolutely funny and beautiful at the same time. Loved it. Great movie.
Quote:
Fat Lady in Painting: [sings while holding a glass] Ah ah ah AH!
Harry: Fortuna Major.
Fat Lady in Painting: No, wait, wait!
[sings again, higher]
Fat Lady in Painting: Ah ah ah AH!
Harry: Fortuna Major.
Fat Lady in Painting: Wait!
[sings again, highest]
Fat Lady in Painting: Ah ah ah AAAAAAAAAAAH!
[holds the note, looks around to make sure nobody's watching, then smashes the glass on the edge of the painting]
Fat Lady in Painting: Oh, amazing! And just with my voice!
Harry: Fortuna Major.
Fat Lady in Painting: Yes, all right, all right, you can go in.
Harry: Thank you!
6. Team America: World Police
Whatever Anna says, I thought this was one of the most awesome, crudest, funniest films of the year. From Matt Damon's 'Matt Damon' to the 'suck my c***" to the 'asshole, pussies, dick' analogy, it was all so funny and violent. I know my friends didn't agree, but I loved it and so did A'mes, which was all I really needed to classify this as an great movie. I think it had perfect timing too and behind all the hilariousness and crudness, Matt Stone and Trey Parker shows us they are really intelligent, intuitive human beings who see, if not rudely, to the heart of the matter. There are black and white, good and bad guys. Both sides have reasons, both sides cannot see, neither can be said to be good or bad really. And Team America shows us both, pointing to the real conflict with America, as it is doing at the moment in a less over the top way is 'policing' the world for its own benefit. I'm not really making an opinion, seeing as there really is no point but hey, I liked the fact that these two film makers could see this whereas Presidents and world leaders cannot and will not. Its terribly funny but terribly serious at the moment and I appreciate that someone out there, has the guts to lampoon it instead of being all righteousy, aka a certain Mr Moore. Heheh...
Quote:
Gary Johnston: A flying limo? Now I've seen everything.
Spottswoode: Have you ever seen a man eat his own head?
Gary Johnston: What? No!
Spottswoode: So you *haven't* seen everything
7. Hero
I think was raving about this for half a year. Partly negative because I hated the fact that it was being promoted as a 'Quentin Tarantino film' but positively, because it looked epicly awesome. From the pictures to the storyline, I really, really liked it. The action scenes are really cool, from the different colours, to the new, cool direction, not that I cared it looked a little like the Matrix but it reminded me of all those cool, old Chinese movies with the slicing of the arms and hands the the visible wires lifting them up. And I really liked this one, because, yes, it was a tragedy, but at least I got to enjoy lots of cool action scenes along the way. And yeah, I didn't see the end coming. So yeah, put this one up with House of Flying Daggers. We need more movies like this. Bring real Chinese action to Hollywood along with Bollywood. Dancing and martial arts, woo hoo!
Quote:
King of Qin: It just dawned on me! This scroll of Broken Sword's isn't about sword technique but about swordsmanship's ultimate ideal. Swordsmanship's first achievement is the unity of man and sword. Once this unity is attained, even a blade of grass can be a weapon. The second achievement is when the sword exists in one's heart when absent from one's hand. One can strike an enemy at 100 paces, even with bare hands. Swordsmanship's ultimate achievement is the absence of the sword in both hand and heart. The swordsman is at peace with the rest of the world. He vows not to kill and to bring peace to mankind.
8. Vanity Fair
Oi! Yeah, I know. This year has been quite romancy for me. I didn't quite realise until now. And most of them tragedies, in one way or another. Vanity Fair, I just loved, I don't really know or am really sure. Maybe it was just the sets, the dresses, the boys and the girls. But yeah, I liked it a great deal more than the BBC series, possibly because it was shorter and more centralised its main characters. Than again, it missed its main point, the point was to compare Becky's rise with Amelia's fall. Very Anna Karenin - very much like how Jacqueline Bisset's version totally missed the parallel story with whatshisname. Anyway, I just liked Reese in this. She gave Becky a flair and an innocence at the same time. Nice to see Miss Witherspoon stretching her wings.
Quote:
Becky Sharp: Revenge may be wicked, but it's perfectly natural.
9. Kill Bill 2
Who can deny it? After I secretly downloaded the first one, I fell in love with it. Like, I was gonna waste waiting two years for the first one to come out, so I could see it legally. Like hell. Anyway, it rocked, as it always does. And now I own it on DVD and am yet to watch it, but it is sooo cool. Uma Thurman is perfect in the role, steaming revenge as she marches determinedly through the dead bodies, sword always at her side, ready to kick Bill ass. And she does, eventually. Although it only lasts a minute, the minute is worth every bit she has gone through. And its a lot, believe me, a lot.
Quote:
Bill: [about B.B.'s pet fish] She told me later, that the second she lifted up her foot and saw him not flapping, she knew he was dead. Is that not the perfect visual image of life and death? A fish flapping on the carpet, and a fish not flapping on the carpet. So powerful even a five-year old child with no concept of life and death knew what it meant. Not only did she know Emilio was dead, she knew she had killed him. So she comes running into my room, holding Emilio in both of her little hands - it was so cute - and she wanted me to make Emilio better. And I asked her, why did she step on Emilio? And she said, she didn't know. But I knew why. You didn't mean to hurt Emilio, you just wanted to see what would happen if you stepped on him, right?
B.B.: Uh-huh.
Bill: And what happens when you stomp on Emilio, is you kill him. And you discovered that, didn't you?
B.B.: Uh-huh.
Bill: So we drove down to the beach, had a little funeral, and gave Emilio a burial at sea. And right now I'm sure he's happy as can be, swimmin around in fish heaven. But the point being, our child learned two very important lessons. One, about life and death. The other, some things, once you do, they can't be undone. I knew just how she felt.
10.
You know the funny thing is, this year, even with its multitude of movies, I don't think there is another movie that is worth of my list, something that I feel can stand here among the rest of these giants. So, this year, I'm not going to have a no. 10. Instead I'll just have my top nine and leave it at that.
~
Thank you's come next post. I just realised how long this actually is. That and resolutions.
Toodles,
~ M.M.W ~
