Scary Stories

If that cover doesn't bring back memories for you, you didn't have as good a childhood as I did. I f-ing loved the stories inside this book. The one where the truck driver keeps flashing his high beams to a woman driving infront of him on the highway? Are you kidding me? I think about that story every time I'm alone in a car driving at night. EVERY TIME.

Anyway, so this book is being made into a movie. And normally that would make me mad since that seems like a terrible idea - but the reason I'm fine with it? Guillermo del Toro is attached to the project. You know, the guy who did Pan's Labyrinth? I really think buddy can do it justice. 

Can't wait for this.

The Hours

So many things are great about this movie and if you haven't seen it, pleasepleaseplease remedy that. Ed Harris has arguably the best scene in any movie ever (the one by the window near the end of the film) and I'm not overselling that. Philip Glass kills it with the soundtrack in ways that I didn't know were possible. And once you get over Nicole Kidman's stupid nose, it's actually an amazing movie. 

Julie & Julia

This is the best Nora Ephron movie that was ever made and I will fight you if you disagree. 

I will admit that Amy Adams is so far past unbearable (as an actress and as a character) in this movie, but if you can get past that, you’ll have a great time. The Meryl Streep/Stanley Tucci storyline is the main reason I love it so much. Well, that and all of the cooking scenes. I watch it at least once every three months, don’t tell anyone. 

Moving Art on Netflix

This series on Netflix is basically my favourite thing to have on in the background when I'm working or lounging or generally just being. The episodes are centered around deserts, flowers, oceans, waterfalls and forests, accompanied by a soundtrack by Ludovico Einaudi, Johann Johannsson and Gary Malkin.

The main reason I can't stop watching? They're soothing as hell. If you're thinking this is anything like that damn fireplace channel, it isn't. I watched the waterfall one first and that's the one that got me hooked into wanting to watch the other ones (and if you aren't into the sight of seeing waterfalls while it's snowing, then we can't be friends). It's also kind of nice to watch right before you go to sleep at night - there's something comforting about seeing these images before you go to bed.

If the above video link isn't working, you can see a trailer for the short series over here. 

Cooked - On Netflix

It's frustrating for me to start this post mainly because I really want to draw you into it immediately and beckon you to DEFINITELY WATCH THIS TINY, FOUR EPISODE SERIES ON NETFLIX ABOUT COOKING AND HOW IMPORTANT IT IS, but I don't want to be too eager about it.

Yeah, that wasn't the way to do it, but here we are. 

You're aware already of how much I like Michael Pollan, so maybe this post should have been expected. Honestly, everything that comes out of this man's mouth is something that I'm on board with. Thankfully he's not a cult leader, but more of just a nutrition guru of sorts, and I love him. I actually love this man. I definitely think I would recognize him in a crowded group of people and it would make me react the way I would if I saw David Duchovny (...yeah, that was too strong a statement since I would react to seeing DD in an aggressive, sexual attack of some sort that would involve police) but I really, really love everything that has ever come out of Michael Pollan's mouth.

And that being said, this is such a well done short-series on the nature of cooking. The episodes are divided up into fire, water, air, and earth and they're ridiculous well-shot, beautifully done, and so eloquently put. I've already watched it a few times (why? I'm a maniac) and each time I take away something different from it. 

Watch, watch, watch. Here are my two favourite parts from it.

“When you look at food, it’s not just a thing or a product – it’s a relationship with other species in nature. And it’s far too easy to forget that now. The food chain is so long and so opaque, and Kimchi comes in a jar and bread comes in a wrapper, but all these things involve these quasi miraculous engagements with the natural world… human ingenuity over tens of thousands of years, learning how to transform the gifts of nature into these achievements of culture. And that’s what cooking is.”

“To cook or not to cook is a consequential question. Though I realize that is putting the matter a bit too bluntly. Cooking means different things at different times to different people. Seldom is it an all-or-nothing proposition. Yet even to cook a few more nights a week than you already do, or to devote a Sunday to making a few meals for the week, or perhaps to try every now and again to make something you only ever expected to buy… even these modest acts will constitute a kind of vote. A vote for what, exactly? In a world where so few of us are obliged to cook at all anymore, to choose to do so is to lodge a protest again specialization. Against the total rationalization of life. Against the infiltration of commercial interest into every last cranny of our lives. To cook for the pleasure of it, to devote a portion of our leisure to it, is to declare our independence from the corporations seeking to organize our every waking moment into yet another occasion for consumption. Cooking has the power to transform more than plants and animals. Cooking, I found, gives us the opportunity so rare in modern life to work directly in our own support and in the support of the people we feed. In the calculus of economics, doing so may not always be the most efficient use of an amateur cook’s time. It is beautiful even so. For is there any practice less selfish, any labor less alienated, any time less wasted, than preparing something delicious and nourishing for the people you love?”

If either of those quotes spoke to you, you will enjoy this (short) series times ten.

10 Cloverfield Lane

Ummm, this looks fantastic. 

Dancing in the Dark - Rihanna

If your ass doesn't move when you hear this song? See a doctor.

Anomalisa

All you ever have to say to me is "Charlie Kaufman's apart of this" and I'm in.

The Top 9 Wintery, Snowy Movies

Apparently some people can get sick of Christmas movies (What kind of people, you ask? I don't know... jerks without souls? Criminals with no sense of joy? Mutants who hate hugs?) around this time of year. I understand that to an extent (I guess). So what should they watch instead? Winter movies, of course! Here are some favourites.

1. Batman Returns
   • Everything about this movie is great. It's become a little corny over time, but it's absolutely still a great movie. I promise you. It's not an overly wintery movie, but it does take place at Christmastime (with no real mention of Christmas itself) and the final scene is snowy as hell. 
2. Krampus
   • Nope, I will not shut up about this movie. It's too fun. Honestly, this is the movie that inspired this list in the first place. After I first saw it, I thought about it more and realized that one of my favourite things about the movie was the snow. It made you feel like you were in it. Literally a perfect winter movie. 
3. The Shining
   • Umm, do you remember the final scenes of this movie? So much snow! And fear. Snow and fear are kind of a neat combination, I think. All that silence? I don't know, man, I'm into it. 
4. Snow Day
   • Maybe this movie is too wholesome to be on this list. MAYBE. But I'm still very much a fan of it. I remember seeing it when it came out, so perhaps that's why I remember it fondly. However, it holds up over time.
5. Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
   • I cannot and will not tell you the amount of times I've thought of the bed-on-the-snowy-beach scene. Won't do it. SO ROMANTIC. Sometimes I'll see a certain kind of snow falling and this movie will immediately come to mind.
6. A Simple Plan
   • You probably haven't seen this movie and it's really good. Bill Paxton is probably the sexiest, underrated actor of our generation. 
7. Alive
   • Super snowy movie, this one. And pretty depressing, really. But, like, in a good way. In a very nineties way.
8. Grumpy Old Men
   • I love these men and I love this movie. Personally, I prefer this one to Grumpier Old Men but to each his own. 
9. Edward Scissorhands
   • I'm putting this one on the list mainly for this scene right here. Good God, I love that scene.

Didn't think I could come up with nine, did you? Ha!

Krampus

That image above is the only thing I saw about the movie Krampus before seeing it earlier this week. And honestly, I should do that with movies from now on - go in completely unaffected by any kind of trailer, review or ad. Every single trailer on earth these days shows way too much and I can't stand that. Give me a little taste! That's all I want!

In any case, the movie was great. The ending sucked and was the worst part of the whole movie, but I can't really be mad at that. It just felt like the last fifteen minutes were very... studio-encouraged (that's the best way I can think to put it). And that's fine since the movie as a whole was great. Just a fun time. And maybe this is a dumb thing to note, but my favourite parts were the scenes shot out in the snow. They're gorgeously done and the blizzard throughout the whole movie just made me seethe with envy. See it! Not with kids, but see it!