So last year I said I was going to try to read 50 books and that if I got half way there I'd consider it an accomplishment. Well, I made it half way, and a little bit further, so below you'll find a list of the books I read in 2007:

I've never been a fan of New Year's Eve or the whole New Year holiday in general.  It's pretty much just another day to me.  And for whatever reason, despite always trying very hard, I never do anything special to ring in the New Year.  I always end up sitting on a couch somewhere, with Ritchie and his brothers, watching the ball drop.    Although, I have discovered that the crappier I start the year off, the better the year ends up on the whole.  Must have something to do with the whole "things can only get better from here" theory, or something like that.  For example. 2005 started with me spending my New Year finishing packing my room in the condo I grew up in because my mom was moving.  Then I came back to an empty house I didn't know, didn't even bother to watch the ball drop, and cried in the New Year.  I had just broken off a 5 year relationship, my mom and friends were all out with significant others, and I was leaving for LA the next day for an internship that scared the crap out of me and to stay with some guy I'd never met.  That's how it started.  It got significantly worse (I was kicked out of where I was staying and homeless in LA), but then got much better.  Ritchie and I got together, I made Enjoy the Show which won a few awards, I graduated, and Ritchie and I moved to CA together.  So standing by this theory, I should have a seriously good year this year.  After all, it's only the 6th and I've already had major travel stress, major work stress, and spent 2 hours cleaning dog shit off the kitchen floor.  And I'm braving it all alone (Ritchie's still in NY).  So here's hoping that something majorly turns around for me this year, because I'm in serious need.

I'm not one who tends to get caught up in arguing with someone over the internet...particularly a stranger...however, the person who is scolding me for flying with my dog this weekend, that I mentioned yesterday, is seriously beginning to piss me off.  I just need some confirmation here- am I wrong to feel that she's being rude by telling me not to fly with my dog, and trying to scare me by quoting all these sites about dogs dying on planes, when she has zero experience with it herself?  I asked for tips and stories, not for a crude argument by someone uneducated on the subject.  She's claiming she "doesn't care how I feel" and that "if I informed someone about a dangerous situation and saved an animal then it was worth it."  Driving in a car is a dangerous situation- you could get in an accident!  Walking down the street is a dangerous situation- there could be a vicious dog off his leash!  Of course there are risks to flying with a dog, as there are risks to flying a human, but they can be easily avoided by being informed and getting...wait for it...stories and tips from other people who have had the experience!  Which I was trying to get!!!  I've now sent her two of the most passive aggressive messages I've ever written...and I'm sure she'll have some unintelligible comeback later today.  Do I have a right to peeved at this, or do you think she's justified in sending me these messages?

I'm getting really nervous about flying with the puppy and my source for all knowledge, the Sugar sites, have failed me.  They do have a pet info site, PetSugar, however there seems to only be 3-4 posts a day (as opposed to Buzz's 14 and Pop's 25+...and even the lesser visited sites have at least 10), and I've PMed the chick twice asking about different information and never heard a word from her.  I know they're busy over there, but I've never had a problem like that with any of the other Sugars, and I've PMed quite a few of them.  Finally, I posted a comment on a travel post asking if anyone had any tips about flying with dogs.  This morning, I woke to a PM from some jerk who SLAMMED me for choosing to fly with my dog and basically saying that he would die if I took him with me and that I was a horrible pet parent for even considering the notion.  I've been pretty pissed off all day.

I feel like I could write 10 different posts regarding lots of different things going on, but it would probably just end up being a lot of boring fluff.  So following please find some random tid bits from life, with only a moderate amount of boring fluff:

-The world did not want me to see Atonement for some reason.  I was SO not in the mood for the free screening that Working Title set up for SoP crew members a few weeks ago.  Also, at the time I was exactly half way through the book and didn't want to screw up my thought process.  A week later I won tickets to an advance screening at the Arclight that, thanks to work, I was exactly 17 minutes late for...and the movie started exactly 10 minutes late.  So close...but I didn't want to miss the beginning so Ritchie and I went out to dinner instead.  We finally just ponied up and paid for it last weekend.  It paid off...it was fantastic.  Also, I'm a retard because there's a bit of a twist at the end and I walked out of the movie going- I wonder why they added that twist...only to go home and reread the last page of the book and realize it was in the book as well.  I most have been dozing off towards the end there.  Anyway, it's a great little film with a fantastic score and a really pretty 5 minute tracking shot in Darfur during the war.  Unfortunately for this movie, I'd be far more impressed with that shot if I hadn't seen the mother of all tracking shots in Children of Men last year, also through a sort of riot/war.  This one stands at a solid second best, however.

-Speaking of seeing movies at the Arclight...they converted our favorite neighborhood theater into it's 2nd branch, so we don't have to trek all the way out to Hollywood to see flicks with the many advantages that come with the Arclight.  So that's pretty awesome.  Wanna know how much we go there?  Too much...asides from that missed screening of Atonement that we were invited to, we were also granted free passes to the ribbon cutting ceremony last night, where they screened a few choice flicks...we chose To Kill A Mockingbird.  I hadn't seen it since high school and it still holds up.  They had kind of a shoddy reel, but it was really authentic the way it crackled and popped.  I had forgotten a lot of the story and I feel like I should read the book again.  Ya know, after I read the other million books on my shelf.  So if that didn't answer my previous questions- the fact that the Arclight hooks us up with all these free screenings is not because we're lucky, it's because we spend A LOT of money there.  The last 6 or so movies I've seen in theaters were at the Arclight.  Kinda pathetic.

-Speaking of missing that free Atonement screening...when we missed it Ritchie and I decided not to waste the night out and we went out to dinner instead.  We went to P.F. Chang's because it's right next door and I'd never been before.  Half way through our meal, Taylor Doose, idolized in my mind with Gilmore Girls fame, walked into the restaurant and tucked into a meal alone.  I was so surprised that A) I recognized him, because I never recognize anyone, but this just goes to show that there are certain things emblazoned into my brain and apparently Gilmore Girls is one of them and B) he was limping and looked rather old.  And I guess I never thought of Taylor as old...just annoying and, at times, misunderstood.  Anyhow, I thought he looked kind of sad eating alone, but Ritchie and I reasoned that it was possible he preferred the solitary dinner.

-Speaking of the Arclight, sort of, we went to the Arclight in Hollywood on Monday night to catch the cast and crew screening of Walk Hard.  Despite it's certainly lackluster trailer, the movie was absolutely hysterical.  And though I knew the songs would be quite good, I was still blown away by them and John Reilly's terrific voice.  I was pretty excited to wake up and see he had gotten a Globes nom for his performance.  He did walk really hard....

-One more speaking of...speaking of the Golden Globe nominations, I'm appalled and shocked at the omission of Emile Hirsch from the Best Actor category and Ben Foster from the Best Supporting Actor category.  If the Academy Awards follow suit, I just might lose what little faith I have in awards shows.  That's not true...I'll always obsess over seeing all the movies and watching the shows, but that doesn't mean I can't be mad at them.  And I'm still pissed about Crash, so they're walking on thin ice.

So that's it for now...I'm trying (trying!) to do write ups on Beowulf, Atonement, No Country, and Walk Hard, so stay tuned.  Maybe one of them will actually happen!

This time of year are when things really start to get great around here.  As soon as October hits it's a downward slope of fall, birthdays, holidays, and best of all, movies!  Everything worth watching starts to come out.  Not only is it Oscar season, but it's also time for the AFI fest, something I've really come to love in LA.

The AFI film festival is something that I've taken a vested interest in since our move out here.  We'd been out here for a month when we were invited to see The Big White, a delightfully kooky film in that little old theater the Arclight which has quickly grown to become my favorite place in Hollywood.  Now the AFI fest is a bit of a ritual for us.  Last year we saw the amazing and fantastic Wristcutters: A Love Story, amongst other indie flicks, the hysterical part of that being that the movie was just released in theaters today, almost a year after we saw it.  I opened my e-mail this morning to find my annual alert that tickets are on sale.  I managed to scoop up tickets to the premiere of Juno (which stars my girlfriend Ellen Page and I know will be completely worth the $25/ticket) and screenings of Southland Tales (the next flick by Richard Kelly, the director of Donnie Darko), Noise (which I bought based on the face that it starred Tim Robbins and William Hurt, and then I read the plot and it sounds fantastically ridiculous), and Smiley Face (starring my favorite geek Adam Brody and Anna Farris, and was really just for fun).  The best part about the AFI fest are the celebrity sightings, not just the people in the films, but also the supporters.  Last year we sat amongst Jon Favreau, Joel Schumacher, and Rosario Dawson, who were all there just to see the flicks.

I'm completely stoked about the fest this year.  Expect reviews to start up once it kicks off for me on November 3rd. :)

Before I started work I was able to get to Best Buy and pick up a new cord to hook the camera up to the computer, so as a result here are some more pictures of that cutiepie pup of ours, Brando.  Livejournal won't let me embed the whole album, so you'll have to follow the link to see them all, but for the impatient, I've included a few of my favorites below:


It's really weird how much my dog looks like Copper, up in my userpic up there.  It makes me wonder how much affect repeat viewings of The Fox and the Hound had on my life.

Also, I've added a new entry in my Book to Film series: Into the Wild.  This movie may or may not be playing near you (I think it's still limited), but if it is you should make a point to go and see it.  It's beautiful, well made, and if you're anything like me and want to see all the Oscar nominated films next year, I can guarantee you that this will be one of them.

I'd like to take a minute to introduce a brand new member of the Filippi/King family.  It only took me two years, but Ritchie finally caved (and I think he's secretly really glad I wore him down) and I'd like to present my adorable Basset Hound puppy:

At some point during what will now be deemed the "summer of unemployment" I started drinking my coffee black with one sugar. I heard this called "The Devil's Kiss" in a movie once and I always liked that. Ritchie thinks that people who drink their coffee black do it because they're bitter, but I think I just got tired of whether we had milk or not dictating how my morning would go. I silently thank my former self every day, who had the foresight to splurge $80 on a fancy schmancy coffeemaker that I never used while working, but I now use every day. I can't imagine having to coax the 4-cup $19.99 Coffeemate we had before into giving me the sweet elixir of life every morning.

I've been out of work for some time now, and yet not suffering thanks to the wonders of California unemployment. It's been really hot and smoggy lately in LA and apparently there was another earthquake yesterday, but one that we couldn't feel. I think Ritchie is joining my side in thinking that the "Big One" is coming for us, but it doesn't keep him awake at night.

I'm reading a lot lately, and writing more than I have in a long time, whether anyone sees it or not is another story. Sometimes I think I'll write a script, then I think I'll write a book, then I think maybe I'll just write a review, and then, sometimes I just give up and read instead. And sometimes, I just give up on everything and stare and do nothing at all.

Today I woke up at 10:30AM. I will consider this my greatest accomplishment this week.

There is a truck in the Whole Foods parking lot that is making so much noise that I think I'm in Jurassic Park and a T-Rex is coming for me. Then again, in this city, who would be surprised? I considered going out and saying something to them, about how inconsiderate they're being to those who live here, but then I remember that no one should be home at this time of day anyway and it's just me.

I wish I had a dog to keep me company (or at least to bark at the truck people). Terry's not very good at defending me, or playing, or really being sociable at all. I think I'm going to hide from the scary noises now.

If you're in two minds about Stardust, about whether or not to see it or even when to see it, please go and see it this weekend. Friday night if you can. Take friends. If necessary, take them at gunpoint. They will love the movie so much they will forgive you afterwards. And if they don't forgive you, you can dispose of them quietly -- you're the one with the gun, after all -- and you will have a wonderful time for the rest of your life with the new friends you made at the Stardust screening.

--
Neil Gaiman, regarding the opening weekend of Stardust on his blog.

This was easily one of the best adaptations I've seen this year; the movie does the book justice and puts it's own cinematic and original spin on the source material.

Let the record show that today, about 15 minutes ago, Ritchie and I felt our very first earthquake.  It went like this: Ritchie was running the shower in the bathroom, waiting for it to warm up while he surfed the net at his computer in the office.  I was on the futon in the office reading him excerpts from my mysterious Newsweek (I've been getting them for three weeks now, but have no idea where the subscription came from), trying to prove to him that reading them makes me smart.  I was just leaning over to show him a picture when I heard the window frames rumble, sort of like thunder.  This happens sometimes when big trucks or noisy motorcycles go flying by on the road next to us, only this time I didn't hear any vehicles.  I turned to Ritchie to ask what the noise was when I saw him sitting bolt upright and I realized that the futon had just jolted.  And then, it was over.  Ritchie looked at me and said, "I think that was our first earthquake."  Naturally, I spent two minutes panicking, like I always do, and sat in the doorway asking him to turn the shower off and wait with me in case a gigantic one was coming.  When I felt that I was okay, I looked outside to see if anyone else had noticed.  They hadn't.  Then I turned on the TV and they were babbling about something irrelevant.  Ritchie turned to the internet.  He googled "earthquake, CA" and came across this site which had a little red star right above Northridge that indicated an earthquake of 4.5 (which apparently does little damage) in the last hour.  He clicked a link that said "Did you feel it?" to report that we had indeed felt it and there were a few blue specks that indicated that a few others had as well.  Ten minutes later the television went silent with an "Earthquake Alert" map of where it had struck and the web site Ritchie had found was blue all over showing a 50 miles radius, at least, of those that felt it.

Exciting night, I guess.  But I have to say that I kind of knew that one would come soon.  I figured it would be worse, though, but it was just a few days ago that I confessed to Ritchie that when I went to bed at night, I was afraid the bookcase in our bedroom would fall on me in an earthquake and break my legs.  And I thought it was weird that we'd been out here for two years and felt nothing.

So there it is.  Our first earthquake.  Whoopee.

It's August now which means that we're a little bit more than half way through 2007, and almost finished with summer (which doesn't exactly affect a Californian, but I imagine that sucks for the rest of you).  This year is flying by fast, as they all tend to do these days, and I thought I'd look in on a few resolutions I had made in the beginning of the year.

The first resolution I made this year was to get my Netflix queue down to a more manageable number, preferably under 100.  I have long since given up this resolution.  Ritchie tried to tell me it was pointless, as the point of Netflix is that my queue will never go down- as more movies come out, it just continues to go up.  He's right, I have a thing for movies, after all, and I keep discovering more that I want to see.  The TV shows don't help either.  Anyhow, I started this year at 160 and my queue is currently at 177.  Up 17, but a quick count says that I've rented and returned 48 discs so far this year.  A lot of that was Gilmore Girls (I've officially rewatched 3 seasons now) and Six Feet Under (I am sadly in it's last season, but it's definitely time for it to end, it makes me REALLY depressed and morbid), but there were a handful of movies thrown in there as well.  Another quick count says that 5 of those movies were returned unwatched for various reasons, mostly because I'll move something to the top of my queue and then not feel like watching it anymore, but also I get pissed when they send me movies that I can't watch in widescreen.  So, 43 discs were watched so far this year, and yet my queue is still up 17 from January.  I am a lost cause.

My other resolution this year was to attempt to read 50 books.  I started out pretty slow, but Harry Potter and my 2 1/2 months (and counting!) of unemployment helped, so this is where my count stands so far:

1. Jennifer Government by Max Barry
2. Devil Wears Prada by Lauren Weisberger
3. Children of Men by P.D. James
4. The End (A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 13) by Lemony Snicket
5. Dry by Augusten Burroughs
6. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
7. No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
8. Choke by Chuck Palahniuk
9. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
10. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
11. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling
12. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling
13. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling
14. Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
15. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling
16. Crooked Little Vein by Warren Ellis
17. Stardust by Neil Gaiman
18. Coraline by Neil Gaiman

Sure, I'm still a bit far off from half, but when I read the idea of 50 books in a year, it was more of an unattainable challenge, and that if you even get halfway there it is certainly respectable.  I've just been enjoying the reading and hadn't even stopped to count until now.  Also, I haven't been counting graphic novels, which I certainly read a lot of.  This year I've read a few volumes of my favorites, Fables and Transmetropolitan, but also Marvels and I'm currently rereading through the Sandman series (in case you haven't noticed, I'm on a bit of a Neil Gaiman kick right now).  So I've certainly been making my way towards a respectable goal and it seems that every time I go to Borders, I leave with another two or three books.  There's so many adaptations being released this year that I feel like I can't read the books fast enough.

So that's it as far as New Year's Resolutions go.  I've been baking a lot (pies, especially) and we've knocked out two of the three weddings so far this summer and I'm still able to fit into a nice dress.  Anyhow, I suppose I'll check in on this in a few months or so as it gets closer to the end of the year.

I spent most of my time at Comic-Con at panels and blogging about it for BuzzSugar, because that's just what I like to do.  So here's a break down of what I blogged about and links to the posts.  I'm not sure, but you might have to register on the Sugar sites to read this stuff, but trust me there's a lot of info and pics there and the Sugar sites are pretty awesome too, so it doesn't hurt to join.

EDIT: Turns out you don't have to join the Sugar sites to see this stuff, so click away.

Wednesday:
Preview Night

Thursday:
Paramount Pictures Panel
Lionsgate Panel
Lost Panel

Friday:
Warner Brothers Panel
New Line Cinema Panel
Warner Brothers DVD and Star Wars Tid Bits
Kevin Smith and Reaper Panel

Saturday:
The Simpsons Panel
Rogue/Focus Panel
Disney Panel
Marvel Studios Panel
Sneak Peek: Coraline

So there's that.  The cut below has some more pics that I (well, mostly Ritchie) took out on the exhibit floor, including what was in the mysterious Stark Industries box.  Also, there's an awesome pic of all the swag we got that might change your mind if you think Comic-Con is a dorky waste of time.


And now that I've filled my dork quota for the year, I promise you won't hear anything about Comic-Cons until next February/March when WonderCon rolls around.  Thanks for putting up with me! :)

Talk about an accomplishment.  I spent pretty much all of Comic-Con at panels and blogging from Hall H on my Teamsugar blog for BuzzSugar who posted most of the stuff on the site throughout the weekend.  I never thought it'd be read by anyone except the avid Sugar site readers (mostly chicks), but a friend sent me an e-mail today to let me know that he'd read my handle on the News Askew site.  I hopped over there and sure enough, in the first item they mention and link my blog on the site, complimenting my review and pictures.  What's more is I went from there to Kevin's personal blog, where he also quotes my review.  I'm completely floored that of all the Comic-Con posting I did, that post actually made it over to View Askew and was linked by Kevin Smith himself.  While I had tried to keep it sounding unbiased, I think it really shows through that I'm a gigantic fan.  To read my post, click here.

I actually finished the book on Sunday night, but have spent the last three days contemplating it.  Not that it wasn't straight forward or anything- I really just didn't want to accept that Harry Potter was over.  Now that I've come to terms with it (for the time being anyway as I have Comic-con to distract me for a few days) I can finally write this: (This book is pretty much impossible to talk about without spoilers, so expect many ahead)

Okay, this is my official notice of sign off. No more internet for me until I'm all finished reading my brand spanking new copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. I've already had to avoid a lot of my usual sights because of the spoilers that were leaked, but now I am swearing off the internet altogether- this is far too important. Click the link below to see some pics of me picking up my treasured book!

Well, I finished Book Six last night and I got up early today to head to Borders for my wristband.  I'm so stoked about tonight- it's really going to be a lot of fun.  I've been a little down these last few days, what with rereading Book Six and knowing that it'll all be over quicker than I know it, but I'm so conflicted by the major excitement I'm feeling to finally know what will happen!  I'll post my review of the last book when I'm finished (I'm going to try and make it last, but I want to be finished before we leave for San Diego on Wednesday, or else I'll let it fall to the wayside), but for now, here's Year Six:

I had a blast seeing OotP in IMAX 3D last Friday, and I'd say it was certainly worth the 3 hour wait in line (I brought my DS- the time just flew!)  The experience overall was bittersweet, though- there were annoying people in the theater (kids snoring on Ritchie's side and girls gabbing on mine) and it was really hard for me to see this book brought to life.  Below are my thoughts on Year Five, book and film.

Regrettably, I was not able to see the midnight opening of Order of the Phoenix last night. It was due largely to the movie unexpectedly being pushed up two days, and therefore having a midnight premiere awkwardly on a Tuesday night, but also because when I went to buy IMAX tickets last week they were sold out already.  I was a little relieved, though, as I now have a few extra days to finish Book Five. I am now set to attend the IMAX 3D screening (as I am fortunate enough to be just down the road from an IMAX theater) on Friday night, the original release date, and couldn't be more ecstatic. Below please find my thoughts on Year Four, book and film.

( Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire )