5 Days: Day 2 - 'All You Need is Love'

I’m pretty sure I’ve been at this for about 3 years now. At least, if you were to add up the emotions that I experienced today, it’s about the equivalent of 3 years. In 2007, I cried approximately three times. True story. Today, I just about lost it approximately 9 times. Being homeless is not for the faint of heart.

I don’t even know where to begin. Last night someone stole my toque, which normally I’m ok with because I assume that the person who stole it needed it more than I did (it happens frequently). Yesterday was one of the rare circumstances where this probably wasn’t the case. Thankfully, a kind student came by and actually lent me his for the night, despite knowing how greasy my hair currently is. I repeat, people are awesome.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t the theme of today. People have begun to latch on to the “I donated yesterday” line, which I understand, but also don’t. See this is my problem. In my attempts to be as understanding as possible, I try to see each person’s perspective. I am also a poor university student and am very careful with my money. If I had already given my money I would get frustrated by being asked time and time again. So I get that. But also, we’re talking dollars here. Not thousands, not hundreds, just dollars. Dollars that I would spend on a coffee with no second thought. So every single time someone doesn’t donate I go through this whole mental process of justifying and then un-justifying their response. This, combined with the mental processes of very little sleep, results in complete mental exhaustion.

The feeling of rejection is also an unrelenting constant. I know this is not about me, I know this is not about me, I know this is not about me. And yet, for some reason, walking down the hall watching every single person avert their eyes is hard not to take personally. I have calculated the exact distance of where people will begin to take out their phones when they see me coming. I have watched people unabashedly run away from me. Phones, headphones, insanely interesting news articles, other people, imaginary phones—all have been used to avoid eye contact. One girl actually just yelled banana when I went up to her. This is one creative school.

In the morning a guy stopped by and told us that he actually used to go to Woods Homes. At the time he needed the shelter, but they helped him find a job and now he actually has a home and a job. I repeated this story over and over in my head; it was huge to have a tangible reminder of why we’re doing this.

The other thing I’ve observed is that food that is given to you tastes about 134% better than food you’ve bought. People know that I have nothing but words of appreciation to give them back, yet they’ve been so generous. I actually started crying when I saw two of my friends approach with fresh lasagna. Their hugs and words of encouragement genuinely got me through this day. I am extremely thankful that I am not homeless and pray that I never will be, but I also pray that I never lose the appreciation I currently have for a friendly face. At one point I stopped asking for money and just started asking people for a smile or even eye contact. I know this all sounds over the top, but the emotional and physical roller coaster that this is putting me through is ridiculous. People need to be loved, and shame on me for ever holding back a smile in the past.

Currently there is literally a snow storm going on outside. The roof of our dear hut tried its hand at freedom, but we caught it before it went too far down the hill. After a quick sew job (thank the good Lord that we have a survivalist on our team) it’s back on now, but tonight is going to be a bit of a gamble. Fingers crossed that I don’t wake up buried in snow.

Bring it on, Day 3 (he said with less aggression and a little bit more humility).

(Also, I don’t know who you are, but to the person who read my last blog and donated aloe vera for the wind burn, may your offspring be bountiful and your sheep never stop providing wool. And may the odds be ever in your favour. You are awesome.)

5 Days: Day 1 - 'What It Is to Burn'

Wow. It’s been 28 hours and I feel like I’ve been at this for approximately 5 months. The fact that it took me 2 minutes to add 24 plus 4 is proof of where my mental capacity is at right now.

 Last night we spent 3 hours constructing our beautiful cardboard dwelling into what is now affectionately known as “the hut”. I’m actually quite proud of it; it survived the beating of a full night of wind (note: this is Lethbridge wind, not normal wind.) In fact, I was so proud of it that as I settled down to sleep I almost felt bad. It was too nice! I sat there hoping that the conditions would get a little worse or else this would be a pretty false experience.

Stupid me.

I woke up after an hour of sleep to the sound of buses running ten feet away and my back in a permanently crooked position. Apparently concrete floors and seven people crammed into a tiny space do not actually make for a “nice” experience. But, like I said, our shelter did make it through the night, so that was a relief. (When I heard the buses in the morning I genuinely thought we were being steamrolled. I said my final words and made peace with the fact that I was going out doing something I cared about.)

After some delicious donated coffee, we were out begging by 8am. For the most part, people’s reactions were good. Most apologized because they didn’t have any change on them. I felt bad for the most part; I don’t want this to be about guilt so much as a desire to be informed and help out. Some were super kind and even if they didn’t have change would just stop to talk. Others were jerks:

“Do you have any spare change?”

“Yup!”

“Sweet! Thanks.”

“But I’d never give it to you.”

“Oh.”

OR

“Do you have any spare change?”

“I do, but if I gave it to you I’d be in the same position you’re in.”

Really?? One dollar of pocket change is going to put you on the street, Mr. IPhone with accompanying Bench jacket? I know that I said this wasn’t about guilt, and I really try hard not to judge people, but I judged that guy. I judged the crap out of that guy. Him and the lady who had a phone conversation that was so obviously faked that she turned around after she had passed and we acknowledged with our eyes how incredibly terrible her attempt had been. Ten points for trying.

That being said, I had some really good experiences as well. I wasn’t ever worried about having food because there were more than enough donations. I like that our meals have become entirely communal; everything just goes in a big pile and we take from it as we feel we need it. Between that and sleeping within 2 cm of each other, I already feel really close with my fellow participants. I know I could not do this on my own. Knowing that there is someone else that can relate to a day full of wordless head shakes and avoided eye contact is instrumental to my self worth. It’s hard not to take it personally, so a reminder every ten minutes of why I am doing this is also key. I also had 8 different radio/tv stations ask me that question today, so that helped as well. (PS, if you have access to a tv, can someone tape those for me? One of the reporters asked me to look as pathetic as possible. I didn’t change my expression and she said, “Great!” and took the picture. Sooo… I’m curious to see just how pitiful I appear.)

 Highlights of the day were friends who came and brought me food and company. AND people who came up and gave to us without us even asking. AND people who stopped to ask questions and genuinely got excited for us. AND getting to wear a sandwich sign (with the added bonus of not blowing away despite the wind’s best attempts). AND having an awesome team.

I am now going to take my insanely windburnt face (I definitely did not realize that 8 hours of standing in the wind could result in excruciating pain) to my cold and unwelcoming sleeping bag and dwell on how people are awesome. Cause they are. I just need to let myself remember that and suppress the instinct to dwell on the few-and-far-between jerks.

Bring it Day 2.

Here We Go

Well, it's T-minus one hour until I head over to the university. I've gone through pretty much every emotion from "Why was I stupid enough to sign up for this??" to "I should be doing this with my entire life!" But, as a good friend pointed out, that would only add to the problem because then I would be, well, homeless.

I finally managed to get my hands on a sleeping bag and pillow so I'm actually starting to feel prepared. I'm most looking forward to having the time in the evening to just exist, electronics free, and get to know my fellow teammates. I'm least looking forward to a) the cold, sleepless nights and b) people's reactions. For the most part, I've gotten really positive support when I've told people about this, but I also know in the past they've been ridiculed and mocked. I'm torn; I am a people pleaser and have a desperate need to have everyone approve of me, but I also really care about this project and am willing to make people uncomfortable if it means supporting a great cause. I know it's not about what people think, so this week will be a very tangible opportunity for me to come to terms with that. It will be humbling and frustrating, but an important experience. I'm excited and nervous and ready. As my mom quoted to me this morning:

I don't want to just be changed, I want to be change.

5 Days For The Homeless!

Two years ago I saw a bunch of students sitting in cardboard boxes outside of the University campus. They looked cold and bored and I was curious, so I approached them and sat down and talked. They told me about what they were doing and I immediately became excited and inspired. Last year I applied, but didn’t get accepted. This year, from March 11 – 16, I will be taking part in Five Days For The Homeless.

What is the mission?

Five Days for the Homeless aims to increase awareness of the issue of homelessness and to raise donations for charitable organizations supporting homeless and at-risk youth across the country. It strives to create a society where all homeless individuals are given access to opportunities for success, free of barriers or public judgment.

What does it look like?

From Sunday to Friday, myself and 4 other U of L students, as well as students from 25 other universities from across Canada, will be living outside on campus. We must:

1. Remain on campus for five days. The campaign begins 5pm local time on the Sunday of the campaign week and ends at 5pm local time on the Friday.
2. Have no income. 100% of the funds donated to participants are passed on to each regions respective charity cause.
3. Have no food or drinks. Food can only be received through direct donations, and all non perishable food must be held and donated.
4. Have only a pillow and a sleeping bag. These items can be exchanged for an emergency meal.
5. Have no access to showers, or facilities to which their student status would usually grant them access. Washrooms can only be accessed when campus buildings are open.
6. Sleep outside. The only exception is if inclement weather becomes a health risk.
7. Attend all classes. Participants will complete all academic and extra curricular responsibilities, including student organizations and teaching positions.
8. Avoid personal communication media. Participants will be expected to not use cell phone or online social networking websites (Facebook, etc) during the Five Days campaign except for the purposes of promoting the campaign. Each region is required to have at least one cell phone for safety purposes.
9. Write about their experiences. I will be updating on this blog, and there will also be updates on the 5days.ca website.

What are we supporting?

The U of L division of 5 Days is supporting Woods Homes, a community owned and operated children’s mental health centre. On Monday, I got to tour Woods Homes to see what exactly they do. Here’s a very quick rundown of what they do:

The shelter provides youth under the age of 18 with a bed, food, laundry facilities, showers, clothing and crisis counselling. The staff work with the youth to find a safe place to stay and connect them with appropriate community resources best suited to their needs. They also work with finding the youth jobs, houses, and help them gain independent living skills. Shelter hours are 5 p.m. to 8:30 a.m. daily, 365 days a year, with a maximum stay of 15 consecutive days.

Their motto is: We never say no. We never give up. We never turn anyone away.

There is a lot more information of what they do on their website: http://www.woodshomes.ca/index.php?page=SOC_about-wood-s-home

Why am I doing it?

·      It’s more than just signs: The thing I like most about the concept of 5 Days is the active role it takes in campaigning. I am a strong advocator for building a better community, not just in Lethbridge, but provincially and globally as well. I want to stand behind events that promote the awareness of issues that are prevalent in our society and community. But, I am also aware of their limitations. Awareness is awesome and essential, but it’s easy for that to be the only step. 5 Days gets in your face. It’s easy to ignore a sign or a poster, it’s a little more difficult to ignore 5 people sleeping outside every day for a school week. It stands as a very unavoidable representation of the issue of homelessness in Lethbridge and in Canada.

·      It’s direct: If the explosion of the Invisible Children KONY 2012 campaign is any proof, people have a desire to help. This excites me. With the Internet at our fingertips, I strongly believe that my generation is going to be one of the most influential in making social justice a reality. That being said, there are so many different programs and outreaches going on that it’s hard to know which ones are safe—which ones are actually using its resources effectively. With 5 Days, 100% of the money raised is going to Woods Homes, and in turn, 100% of that is going straight to the youth. There’s no middle man, there’s no shady numbers; it’s completely transparent.

·      It’s a real cause: Homelessness is an issue. You don’t need Angelina Jolie or Bono telling you otherwise; it’s in your face the second you walk down the street downtown. 300,000 people in Canada live on the street. Of that 300,000, half are youth. It’s easy to shrug it off by saying that homeless people are homeless because of choices they made. Woods Homes is a youth shelter, meaning their average client is 15 years old. This isn’t a case of bad choices, it’s a case of terrible circumstances. Woods Homes is non-denomination, non-political, non-judgmental. It’s not about whether you’re Christian or Atheist, it’s not about being Conservative or NDP. It’s about taking in people in need, no matter what they believe or how difficult they are. 5 Days for the Homeless is the LARGEST donor to Woods Homes in Lethbridge, making what they do possible.

·      It’s an experience: Anyone who knows me knows that I love challenges. A quick glance to the side of this blog shows that there are a lot of different things that I want to experience before I die. Spending five days living outside is not just a fun challenge, it’s an opportunity for me to grow in my empathy, awareness, humility, and understanding. I get to take part in something that is happening across the country. More importantly, one of the thins that I am most looking forward to is meeting some of the people that I am doing this for. Along with a plethora of news channels, we will be visited throughout the week by clients of Woods Homes. We’ll get to talk with them, learn from them, and bond with them. A sweet quote from my favourite author, Shane Claiborne is:

“I had come to see that the great tragedy in the church is not that rich Christians do not care about the poor but that rich Christians do not know the poor. . . . I long for the Calcutta slums to meet the Chicago suburbs, for lepers to meet landowners and for each to see God’s image in the other. . . . I truly believe that when the poor meet the rich, riches will have no meaning. And when the rich meet the poor, we will poverty come to an end.”

Where You Come In

You knew it was coming. Last year, 5 Days raised $225, 524 across Canada. This year, our goal in Lethbridge is to raise $15,000. You can donate by clicking here and by clicking ‘DONATE’ in the top right corner. Make sure that you click “University of Lethbridge – Woods Homes”! We are competing against the other universities to make our mark. Part of my job over the five days is to ask for change from passing students. They will be donating their pocket change, and even a dollar from you online will help with what we're doing. Also, if you see me regularly, you can just give me a cheque for "5 Days for the Homeless".

And, for those of you who pray, please do that too. This is a safe campaign (we’ll be getting checked on hourly and we have safety equipment with us), but there’s still a lot to pray about:

-       General health and safety.

-       That we as a team will be able to bond (I met the other four participants on Monday!)

-       That we will be well-spoken and clear in our mission; that our words will touch those who need to hear it.

-       That our donation will be used as effectively as possible.

-       That our hearts will be changed and humbled from this experience.

Thanks for reading, and for your support!!

Movies to Look For

Now on to my most anticipated movies of 2012! I don’t think I’ve ever had more movies that I’m anticipating than I do for this year.

First, the ones that didn’t make my top ten:

• All those fairy tale knock-offs (Jack the Giant Killer, Mirror Mirror, Snow White and the Huntsman). I’m not too keen on any of them yet, but they always intrigue me. I will probably regret having these on here if they’re anything like Beauty or whatever that teen knockoff of Beauty and the Beast was called, but for the meantime I’m optimistic. I mean Julia Roberts is in Mirror, Mirror, so it can’t be TOO bad.  
• Lincoln (starring Joseph-Gordon Levitt and about Abe Lincoln. What’s not to love?)
• The Bourne Legacy and the latest Bond, Skyfall. I'll see them both, but I'm not getting overly excited about them. I stayed in line for four hours to see Quantum of Solace on opening night and was thoroughly disappointed.
• The Lorax (I love the concept and I support it, but the trailer really doesn’t look too promising. I have every intention of seeing it, but I’m too nervous to be excited.)

Now, on to the real stuff.

10. Brave – Pixar has been promo-ing this one for a really long time (I’m pretty sure I saw an ad for it well over a year ago). If it’s anything like anything else that Pixar has made, I’m 98% sure I will love it.

9. The Amazing Spiderman – Meh, I’m not a die-hard but I’m still a sucker for a good super hero movie, therefore I am the perfect demographic for a revamped Spiderman. Plus—and this is a massive, giant, overwhelming plus—Emma Stone is going to be the new Mary Jane. Eh? AmIright?

8. Les Miserables – I’ll be honest, I’m excited about this one purely because of outside influences; I have not actually read Les Mis. BUT, in my defense, I am a hardcore musical supporter and an advocate of literary classics. Also, this gives me a good excuse to buckle down and finally plow through it. Fingers crossed that I finish before the movie comes out. Negatives: It’s featuring Amanda Seyfried, Anne Hathaway, and Sacha Baron Cohen. I really am not a fan AT ALL of any of them. Positives: It’s also featuring Hugh Jackman, Russell Crowe, and Helena Bonham Carter. I am a HUGE fan of all of them. Should be interesting.

7. Perks of Being a Wallflower – Another book to film adaptation. I really enjoyed the book so I’m curious to see how the movie turns out. It could turn out to be really teeny-bopper, but I’m still pumped. That and—and this is a really big ‘and’—Emma Watson is Sam. Eh? AmIright? (I’m the classiest, I know.)

6. The Great Gatsby – Bam, based on a literary classic that I’ve read and loved, 200 points. Bam, it’s directed by Baz Luhrmann, the same guy who did Moulin Rouge and Romeo and Juliet AND Australia, 400 points. Bam, it’s starring Leonard DiCaprio, the same guy who did EVERY GOOD MOVIE EVER, 800 points. I can almost absolutely guarantee this will be up for nominations in 2012.

5. The Hunger Games – Read ‘em. Loved ‘em. Lookin’ forward to the movies. It’s Truman Show meets Gladiator meets Survivor meets Twilight. Don’t worry though, by Twilight I just mean the love triangle and the teen demographic. That being said, it will attract the same crowd as Twilight which will inevitably lead to the rest of the world hating on it. But I believe that Jennifer Lawrence will get us through the screaming tweens. (I mean, she just came off of Winter’s Bone; she obviously has a lot of talent).

4. The Avengers – I’m pretty sure that in the history of movies, no movie has been lead up to this much (not counting movies in a series). The Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Iron Man 2, Captain America have all referenced it, building up to one great superhero love fest. Plus, let me throw down some names. Robert Downey Jr, Scarlett Johansson, Cobie Smulders (from HIMYM), Gwyneth Paltrow, Chris Hemsworth, Jeremy Renner, Samuel L. Jackson, Chris Evans and they’re even bringing back Lou Ferrigno as the voice of the Hulk. This much anticipation could make it really suck (that and they’re using Loki, the bad guy from Thor, as the ultimate bad guy whom personally, I thought was the weakest bad guy of them all), but regardless, I still giggle like a school through the trailer. I’M SO EXCITED!

3. The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey – I really don’t need to talk about this one. You know what it is and you’re excited too. Let’s all just cross our fingers for Peter Jackson and hope he can pull a fourth masterpiece out of that brilliant directorial mind of his. No one in the world wants this movie to do poorly.

2. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close - This really isn’t my number 2 choice. It’s my number 100^th. Because I’m not excited about it at all. I’m not excited that it’s based off my favourite novel of all time. I’m not excited that it’s featuring Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, two Hollywood powerhouses. I’m not excited that they pulled out a nobody for the main character instead of trying to force it on that August Rush kid or something. I'm not excited its nominated for Best Picture. I’m definitely not excited that it’s directed by Stephen Daldry, a guy who has been nominated for an Oscar for every movie he’s directed. And I’m DEFINITELY not excited that the screenplay was influenced by Jonathan Safran Foer himself, and written by Eric Roth, who also did Benjamin Button, Forrest Gump, and Munich. Nope, I’m not excited because if I get excited, I will expect something from it, and there’s no way it will be able to meet my absurdly high expectations. So, for the sake of saving this movie in my mind, I think it’s going to completely and utterly suck.

1. The Dark Knight Rises – Yeah, you all saw it coming. This is one that I am absolutely letting my imagination get carried away on. The Dark Knight had me grasping for words (I invented “epicocity” immediately after watching it—as in, ‘the level of epicocity in that movie was off the charts’) and Christopher Nolan has proved to me that I can trust him. I don’t care what anyone says, this movie will be epic (and I mean that in the non-overused sense of the term). Nolan will not crack under pressure. Anne Hathaway will not drop the ball. Christian Bale will improve his stupid Batman accent. And the RIDICULOUSly stacked cast (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Liam Neeson, Morgan Freeman, Marion Cotlillard, Michael Cain) will pull a Love Actually not a Valentine’s Day, if you know what I mean. It will be the Return of the King of the Batman Trilogy.

So there you have it. Let’s hope 2012 is everything I’m expecting it to be :)

My Best Movies of 2011

I lost my file that had all my blog post ideas and countless blog posts that I'd started.

To me, losing a file is like losing a small child. A really really small child. Like a child that's thin enough to be 2D and can fit on my desktop.

It takes me longer than it should to recover from losing a file. Like, if I am playing a video game and the file doesn't save after working on it for an hour or two, that's it. I'm done. I quit the game and stop playing it entirely. It's bad enough that I'm spending my time doing something that's entirely unproductive, but it's a billion times worse when I have to spend time doing non-productive things that I've already done. The lack of productivity multiplies itself in an exponential fashion and results in a complete implosion of unproductive regression. It's not pretty.

It got to the point where if ever I would want to stop playing a video game I would just intentionally not save a game, even after like 10 minutes of game play, and I would not return to it.

I think this is also what sparked my terrible email response time. One time I wrote a huge, heartfelt email and the whole thing deleted right before I sent it. We've all been there. That realization that you've lost all of your heart-infused work makes you want to curl up in a corner and never got near technology again. It took me four months before I re-wrote that email because it was so hard to come to terms with all of those lost words. This is why I now save as much as I blink and write all of my emails out on Word before sending them.

So, that is all to say, I lost my file and that's what sparked a month of not blogging. Let's move on.

Tomorrow's the 24th and we all know what that means!! It's the day we've had marked on our calendars all year!! Why? The Academy Award nominations come out tomorrow!! How excited are WE!?! But before we celebrate all those movies that other people tell us we're supposed to celebrate, I gave myself two tasks: 1) To name my top ten from 2011 and 2) To name the movies I'm most excited for next year.

For my list of Memorable Movies of 2011, I'm cheating a little because a lot of the movies I saw in 2011 weren't necessarily released in 2011, but I made a list and I'm going to share it with you regardless.

10. Citizen Kane – I finally got around to watching what a lot of people say is the best movie ever made and, shock and amazement, it was actually pretty good. At first I didn’t entirely get it, but once I read a lot more about it I began to understand why it was so amazing for its time. A lot of the things that made it huge have been insanely overused since then, making it seem less impressive. But once you realize that this was the pioneer for a lot of those things, you can’t help but applaud.

9. Rabbit Hole – A lot of these movies are on here because they made me think after the movie was finished. This is one of those. It’s really haunting and not optimistic in really any way. But it’s good. Really good.

8. A Serious Man – Oh, Coen brothers, I have a man crush on your brains. This movie ended and I said “What the heck??” and then I read up all about it and then I said, “WHAT THE HECK??” I like a movie that makes me say what the heck. Also, I was really proud that my Jewish class had prepared me for a lot of the dialogue. Go Goldie Morgentaler!

7.It’s Kind of a Funny Story – This movie gets props for re-watchability. It’s based off of a great novel, and it’s simple, easy, and nice. Not mind-blowing, not revolutionary, but fun.

6. The Tree of Life – Another one that made me think of it after the fact. Perhaps it was because I watched it alone, but all I wanted to do for a month after was find someone to talk about it with. It still intrigues me and I applaud the originality. It stuck with me and therefore I liked it. Teaser: the first half-hour is basically pictures of the Earth. So, there's that. Also, there's a dinosaur.

5. No Impact Man – This one’s a documentary. It’s not the best documentary ever I’m sure, but I found it really interesting and the content exciting. I love the idea of challenges and I feel like I can relate to a man who would put his family through some ridiculous experiment for the sake of his own experience. It’s pretty short and I would definitely recommend it to other people; it certainly got me thinking.

4. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World – I feel like I would never recommend this to anyone for fear of immediate judgment, but I really really loved this movie. It’s so ridiculously clever and creative and I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it. If you haven’t seen it yet, you probably won’t like it, because anyone who would want to see it knew exactly when it came out.

3. Limitless – I don’t know if it was because it was about an author, or because it gets me really excited to be productive, or because just watching the one scene where the camera “falls” off the edge of the building gave me butterflies, but this was another of my favourites. I could have done without all of the gore at the end, but I still enjoyed it enough to re-watch it more than once.

2. 50/50 – Oh boy. I watched this movie by myself, in my room, on my floor. I had just been biking so I had taken off my shirt and was just wearing shorts (yes, this pertains, don’t worry). As the movie progressed, I began bawling my eyes out. The closest thing within my grasp was my backpack, so naturally I grabbed it and clung to it as I collapsed in my puddle of tears.

I tell you this because if ever there is a time when I become too proud, or where you’re angry at me for something you deserve to be angry about, or if you are jealous of me in any way, shape or form, I need you to conjure up this image. I need you to think of me, lying on my floor, wearing nothing but shorts, cradling my backpack, rocking back and forth, and bawling my eyes out like a newborn baby (like fresh-out-of-the-womb baby—it adds to the grotesqueness), like a sobbing, sweaty, leaking, snotty ball of mess. There, now we’re even.

Sooo, yeah, it’s a good movie. Check it out. You’ve been warned.

1. Synedoche, New York! – All right, so I know this is kind of anticlimactic, but this one does come with a disclaimer. I saw this movie at the VERY beginning of 2011 and to be entirely honest, I really don’t remember it that much. I just remember being completely blown away by it. The parts I do remember were brilliant and I’ve been intentionally forgetting it so I can watch it again and be blown away again. I’m 82% sure that I would recommend it to anyone, but let me watch it again before I fully confirm that.

Also, as a side note I should probably put a disclaimer on all of these movies by saying that they’re not all squeaky clean. Let your own standards be a stronger guide than my opinion.

So here’s to 2011! I know a lot of the movies that are going to be nominated aren’t on that list, so I’m looking forward to making a whole new list tomorrow. AREN’T LISTS THE GREATEST!? I'll save my top ten anticipated movies for tomorrow.

Also, a bit of housekeeping. I cleaned up a couple things on the site and updated my life list. I also added a search feature so you can scan through everything I've written (which is scary, considering I've had this blog since 2007), and I added a feature where you can add yourself to an email list if you want to be notified whenever I post. I'm not that narcissistic; it's mostly for my anti-Facebook father. Enjoy!