Wrapping Up May 2014 | Happy New Month!

May was an odd month - I don't have any classes anymore so basically, I sleep for hours, spend most days either in the hammock or working at the local supermarket (the first thing is awesome, the latter sucks) and watch a bunch of movies if I'm not meeting friends. Nobody has suggested studying to me yet... well, okay, some have. I will start this month, there are still three weeks until the exams so I'm good. The greatest news I have for you is that I finally found an au pair host family... in Anchorage, Alaska! So I will be moving way up north in August and honestly I have no idea how I will handle blogging and all that jazz for the following 12 months. So be prepared for a hiatus. As a little compensation, I will host an Alaska-centered blogathon during June and July so look out for that post pretty soon. And no worries, the podcast is definitely going to continue. Speaking about which, we finally found a way to get all of our old episodes on iTunes and Stitcher. If you follow us on iTunes or the Apple Podcast app, you need to unfollow the old feed and search for Across the Universe Podcast. You should find the up-to-date feed with all previous episodes. (Let's hope so!)

HAPPY NEW MONTH! - Wrapping Up April 2014

The sun is shining, the house is clean and I've almost finished my Harry Potter read-a-thon already. So it's a great time isn't it? If only I manage avoiding to think about next weeks exams (well, I'm not that afraid anyway), find the perfect au pair family soon (lots of great contenders) and find a way to stay happy and relaxed during work three days in a row (nobody in their right mind works at the supermarket these days three days in a row) - everything will be better than ever! In fact, my cinema has started showing good movies in the original version feature - finally! Just this past Tuesday, I went to see Divergent with a bunch of friends and my dear sister and next week I will be celebrating my finished German exams with Transcendence (which I hope is better than what I've heard). Anyway, if everything else fails I can always sing "Just aaa SPOON FULL OF SUGAR MAKES THE MEDICINE GO DOWN" all day long. So far it has worked.

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

HAPPY NEW MONTH! Wrapping Up March 2014

I hate April jokes so this will be a more serious kind of introduction;
 Some people dislike talking about their age, or lie about it if the topic is forced upon them. Others love discussing how 'Your only as old as you feel like'. I know that just having turned 19, I'm not really in a position to join this discussion, but personally, I don't care much about growing older. It has its pros and its cons, but I'm really on Woody's side here: „Look at all these people, trying to stave off the inevitable decay of their bodies“ (Hannah and Her Sisters). I just don't get all these people going all crazy on their bodies, like one of my fellow ballet dancing ladies who can't make a day without jogging or she'll feel fat (even if the day includes a 2h ballet practice). Birthdays in themselves are great though - you get to be the center of the attention completely for one day, you're probably lucky to receive at least one great gift (a lot in my case - thanks everybody!) and you have a valid reason for partying. In fact, this whole month was a kind of celebration - of some unseen classics, my new love for the Muppets and the last weeks of high school. Cheers!

HAPPY NEW MONTH! Wrapping Up February 2014

Where did February go???

Slam, back to reality. So the Oscars are over  now. Even though they were held this first weekend of March, to me it feels like the new month didn't start before today. I had a great time visiting friends in West Germany (not South, as one of them pointed out) and watching the award show in cinema with them - after a screening of the amazing Her. The post-Oscar depression isn't as big as I had expected because the show itself wasn't as mind-blowing as expected but still, I have to choose my own films now and not just watch what the Academy searched out for me. Anyway, that's a whole other (Oscar) post. I caught up with the last Best Picture noms and some indies of 2013 in February and almost (not really) reached my goal of watching one movie from each decade each month. You may also have noticed that this place looks a bit different - redesigning cost me a couple of sleepless nights but I'm pretty content with the way it looks now. Some other changes include updating my 100 FAVORITE FILMS list and a new social feature called SPREAD THE WORD. I also accepted that this is a movie blog and that I can live out my other passions in a different place (well, those not-at-all movie related ones at least). It's more of a mind thing, probably won't change anything for you. This monthly wrap-up is going to be a tad different than it was before too, but nothing big.

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

Wrapping up January 2014

Despite a slow start (my party plans were crushed by the worst jetlag I ever had), the new year started off pretty wildly. In order to make time to watch every Oscar nominated film I could possibly find, my schedule suddenly became very tight. Then I didn't have any working hours, which destroyed my plans of buying a new camera to make cool youtube videos in February. Still, we have a good one planned which actually doesn't require a good cam. Beside the films, I had to make room for Sherlock, my Harry Potter feature and the Blind Spot entry. So basically, I didn't have a life in January.

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

Wrapping up December 2013.

Let it all out, Leo.

A Happy New Year post is also coming up, but for now let's just have a look at the month that passed. I spent most of it in Harbor Spring, Michigan with my lovely grandparents which was a wonderful time. This is how the holiday season should always be: filled with big chunks of snow, hot chocolate and your family. Oh, and the latest fresh-out-of-Hollywood end-of-the-year blockbusters. And some great books. And new plans for the new year. With a dash of confusion about friends, the future... life. So let's capture those snow flakes and - ok bad metaphor... Anyway, let's have a look at December. 

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

Wrapping up November 2013.

Since I'm ridiculously hungover and have just finished recording two podcast episodes at a time - and hey, exams start tomorrow! - let's just get started real quickly. I have the feeling that November has been one of the longest months of the year - the things I did at the beginning of the month feel very far away already. I've been working out things for my gap year and buying christmas presents mostly, just generally cleaning up my life. And then of course the best thing in 50 years happened which sort of distorted my memory of whatever happened before or after that. Except for this.

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

Wrapping up October 2013.

Everybody had a nice Halloween? Watched some scary movies, drank loads of Pumpkin Spice Latte? Reread Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone just for that Halloween chapter?

I personally have been in a very Halloween-y mood this year and in fact did watch a lot of new-to-me horror movies aside from a probably badly timed viewing of Groundhog Day - which I loved nevertheless. Other than that I've done each one of the things I mentioned. Well, I only drank PSL once. But since I had been dying to do so - and nobody question that totally mature goal - since the last time I was in a big city in autumn, it felt as good as drinking loads of it, I'm sure. 

Oh, I almost forgot: I changed my plans of studying film because I see absolutely no purpose in it and I think if at some point I'll feel like making movies, I should just make them. It's what most directors did at any rate. And I'm not even sure that's what I want to do, at least it's not what I want to do right now in my life. So I made some new plans to study computer science after my gap year. But since there's still about 1,5 years until I have to decide, let's talk about something more light..

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

Wrapping up September 2013.

I still didn't write an instant cult classic novel, didn't learn Japanese or gained world supremacy last month - but it wasn't a complete waste either. I wrote a few poems and appeared on two episodes of the LAMBcast as well as of course our very own Across the Universe podcast. In case you haven't noticed yet, I put up a little note on the sidebar announcing a little half-hiatus that is going to be going on here for the following months - I feel a lot better now that these news are out. This way I don't feel the pressure to blog more despite my lack of time and energy, at least not as much as before. After all, school is what counts right now. And coming of age in general. And the fact that I'll be in my favorite part of the world on Sunday.

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

What I've been watching, re-watching, reading and listening to in July 2013.

New month resolution: watch more movies. Seriously, I have about 9 DVDs I borrowed from one of the ISHQ editors in July left to watch and another bunch I bought myself. ... August has been pretty movie-less since I'm working a lot. Like, a lot lot. But what I did see was good and I also managed to prop in some tv shows - they're much more practical when you're home very late.

Oh, and did I mention I'm going to London again in October?

Yeah. I'm pretty excited.

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

HAPPY NEW MONTH!

What I've been watching, re-watching, reading and listening to in July 2013.

Last time I wrote one of these posts, summer holidays had just begun - now they're almost over. What sucks even more is that I had thought the first day of school was going to be next Thursday not next Monday, which I then found out was wrong. I've also been working way to hard these holidays, but whatever - money honey - and since we moved to a not yet renovated house things are sort of... a complete mess to be honest. 

I can't complain though. Many good things happened last month, things like one of the best German summers I can remember, two gorgeous dresses arriving from the US and oh, I forgot to tell you I attended my first film festival ever (the Indian Film Festival in Stuttgart) which was one of the best experiences of my life. I got to meet some awesome people from the ISHQ family (the Indian magazine I write for) and one of my favorite actors, Nawazuddin Siddiqui (who was awesome and bought us beers) and last but not least watched some amazing movies. In fact, writing this makes me forget I ever had any complaints in the back of my head. Let's keep it that way and take a closer look at what I've been enjoying last month...

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Sex Drive (2008) 
Could've been a typically stupid American Pie rip-off, but there was something about this one. It felt honest and almost dignified... which is a weird way to describe it but whatever. Oh, and the extended cut was a lot of fun.
7.2

Spring Breakers (2012/13) 
I already called it my favorite movie of 2013 so far, although I had forgotten about The Rajini Effect which is another strong contender. I actually gave them the same rating but I think I've grown to love Spring Breakers just a tiny, tiny bit more. It's just the perfect escape to me and that alone makes it so relatable and accessible.
9.0

Djúpið [The Deep] (2012) 
Icelandic movie based on real events, namely a fisherman surviving an hour-long swim through icecold water after his ship sinks. This was a real nerve-wrecker.
7.2

HAPPY NEW MONTH: Farewell, June 2013

Summer holidays!!! Can you believe it? Well, it's hard for me to, because summer apparently decided to take a different route this time. So all that's left for me is holidays, but that's pretty great as well. I watched a high score of movies for this year in June and there are some really good ones among them...

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Talaash (2012) 
I didn't have the time to maintain my posts on essential Hindi films of 2012, but if I could've, you'd have read a very positive review on this movie. It's an interesting crime story, which is very rare in Hindi movies and I loved the supernatural dash. I could care less about Aamir Khan and even Rani Mukherjee in it, but Kareena Kapoor was amazing.
Rating: 8.5

HAPPY NEW MONTH: Farewell, May 2013

Still in denial about a certain announcement that made its way to the world of fandom yesternight, I'm trying to recall the month that was May, and I can say this much: it's hard! May went by so fast yet so many things happened, I still struggle to accept all of this. Plus the other thing I can't talk about.
Anway, Across the Universe: The Chicks With Accents Podcast happened - after about two months of skyping back and forth between two continents. It's one of the most exiting projects in my life right now, apart from the usual finding-yourself conflict, and I'm awfully happy it's working out. In fact, we just finished recording the third episode and I really like the way it's going... our chemistry is improving (I hope the listeners will agree with me once they hear the episode) and it's basically a lot of fun to do. Work, but fun. I also find myself listening to many other podcasts now regularly, which is a pleasure. The ways you find to have time to listen... it's amazing. Reminds me of the days I had to find out how to watch more movies. Again, a big thanks to all podcasters out there who've inspired me, us, and everyone who has plugged and followed the podcast so far.

When it comes to my actual watching, May has been a divisive month. I haven't seen much, probably the smallest amount of movies this year, but what I've seen has been very interesting and rewarding. In very different ways...

HAPPY NEW MONTH: Farewell, April 2013

Hello people! Things are busy but I found the time to write this post and honour all of the many great things I watched/ read/ listened to last month. It's May, isn't that amazing!?

I also have some progress to announce concerning the mysterious project with two other bloggers and the news should be up tomorrow, so you'd better be all excited and stuff. Furthermore, I changed the design - how do you like it? There are still some things that need to be fixed concerning the pages but otherwise I'm pretty content.

Due to my lack of time (don't we all love exams?), we'll jump right over to the important stuff.

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

From Hell (2001) 

An enjoyable ride through Victorian London - which for some reason is one of my favourite periods and places in history. And since I never knew much about Jack the Ripper, I got pretty interested in the mystery around him through this movie.

Rating: 7.3

HAPPY NEW MONTH: Farewell, March 2013

It's LAMMY time! Being a little knocked out from post-Oscar-depression and birthday hangovers and those 18 days of constant blogging, I kind of... didn't notice the whole submission stage and all that. Turns out that I do have some awfully kind followers who submitted me for three categories - thank you so much for that, guys!

For more information on voting for me and all the other great blogs that have been submitted (and that I have been really bad at visiting lately), click here.

What else has been up last month? Well, this sentence is getting a little old but I sadly haven't been able to watch a lot of movies. This is probably the first time in my life that I have to prolong the stack of DVDs that I borrowed from the library... some time in the beginning of March. Shame on me. But better times are in sight (movie-wise I mean, don't know about my personal life which has become more social but thus also more complicated... oh well). Me and two fellow awesome female movie bloggers are on a secret mission currently and we hope to share the results of it any time soon... as soon as we get started that is. Anyway, it's going to be legendary. I hope.

I also paid a visit to Prague, great city although I don't get why anyone would invent the Czech language... it's just so uggly to me (sorry if there's anybody Czech around here, this is just my personal opinion). Actually I wanted to watch some Czech movies before or after going, but I think that'll have to wait. At least I'm not occupied by watching Doctor Who AKA asdfghjklthemostawesomeshowintheworldeverhljökäzuiopü anymore. Except on Saturdays of course, as I found a really good BBC1 stream which is going to save my weekends from now on. Okay, enough of that... here's what I watched last month and some other random stuff.

HAPPY NEW MONTH: Farewell, February 2013

The Oscars, my driver's license, Doctor Who - a lot of things went right last month. 

That's not to say things went perfect. We had the questionable - or let's say ambiguous - boob song (which could either be interpreted as McFarlane making fun of the Oscars being sexist, or McFarlane being sexist), then it was my fourth try at the driver's license (which didn't go perfectly right but hey, at least I finally succeeded), and right after falling head over heels in love with David Tennant, he had to go.

The good side of the story: McFarlane's hosting of the Oscars could be interpreted in a very positive way (we'll never know what his intentions really were), I don't have to worry about saving money anymore (at least not to pay for my own stupidity) and the Matt Smith has turned out to be great so far.

Needless to say, it hasn't been a particularly "good" month for movie-watching, due to my Doctor Who obsession, my energy spent on learning how to drive and my energy spent on surviving the post-Oscar depression and zombie mood swings. Add to that a large-scale blogathon of 18 days (10 until now) and you get the point. (By the way, check out the entries for my first blogathon ever, the Snubathon!). I have however managed to catch all films that were nominated for more than one Oscar, except for Anna Karenina which I didn't want to watch before reading one of the best books I ever read. Took me less than a month to read all 1207 pages, so you can see it's a fantastic book. 

Here's what I've seen, read and listened to in time gone by (had to add a little Les Misérables quote)...

HAPPY NEW MONTH: Films of January 2013

The first year with four different numbers since 1987 has begun.

And with it, Award-o-mania, which took hold of me as soon as the Oscar nominations were announced. Having seen each film that's nominated for more than 1 of the precious statues, except for the ones that will be coming to our theaters in February, I'm kind of fed up with 2012 movies right now. It was a rewarding experience though, to watch all these films I had been anticipating, and most of them turned out quite all right. I'm also playing with the idea of hosting a little blogathon about award snubs, something I've been wanting to try for a long time now, except I'm a bit of a coward. If you all promise to consider joining I would take it up on Sunday though.

Otherwise I discovered an awesome tv series this month, with the side effect of me not wanting to watch movies anymore until I've finished the series. Furthermore, I just bought an HDMI cable today, so I'll be able to watch the rest of the series on my TV which is so cool! Not so cool for all the films that want to be watched, but whatever. 

At least I did manage to squeeze in a lot of them last month...

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Happy New Month: Films of December 2012

2012 is coming to an end, but I still don't have the feeling that it is...

I was just browsing through all the posts I wrote this year... it was definitely a good year. One of the best years ever. A beautiful year with many wonderful journeys, some new friends, a lot of great new art (movies, books etc.). 

And also blogging-wise, I think it was successful. There were of course times when I had to go on hiatus for a while, I even seriously considered closing the blog but then... I just couldn't. This is the only place where I can express myself without boundaries, writing-wise. Well, except for that novel I'm working - yeah, I said it. It was meant to be a secret but then I though I might as well share it with you... I don't know what the outcome is going to be, but I hope to write about two pages everyday from now on. That would mean the novel would be finished in about three months - I guess.

It's funny you know... just when I was thinking of letting go of that pressure to write something "big" (meaning "long(er)"), just waiting for the right feeling to come on a sports game (Murakami) or on the train (Rowling), the idea just came right out of nowhere. 

But enough about that... let's just see what the future will bring, shall we.

And until then, let's talk about movies.

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

200 Motels (1971) Tony Palmer, Frank Zappa - USA

I really don't wanna know how many drugs went into the production of this movie... but at least now I have a quite exact idea of what it's like to be stoned. Watch it if you want something completely confusing and ridiculous.

5.0

Happy New Month: Films of November 2012

Yes, I'm still here. 

Hope you didn't miss me too much, but it's going to continue almost like this for a while. I'll try and write a little more, but I can't promise anything.

Good news is I'm getting back into my film-watching mood/ mode, which really satisfies me more than I would have thought. So even though I don't write much, I do watch more again.

I'm also in SUPER-CHRISTMAS-MOOD/ MODE!

Here's a song for the christmas mood - can't get it out of my head. Need to see Top Hat really soon.

And a video of the christmas choir I'm in, it's from last week. I think we're getting really good. (It's a danish/ scandinavian tradition that girls sing at christmas, with the white dresses and the lights).

Happy New Month: Films of October 2012

A while back, I read a book about a woman who thought that most of the time, less is more. Last month, I applied Coco Chanel's mantra to my movie watching habit.

I already wrote about the things I thought about last month, and my blogging plans for the future, so if you haven't read that yet, please do so. Also, happy birthday to the Large Association of Movie Blogs.

Here's a great tune to listen to while you read about the films I watched last month: 

The Thieving Magpie Abridged.

WATCHED FOR THE VERY FIRST TIME

Creep (2004) Christopher Smith - United Kingdom/ Germany