the last 10 things I downloaded

every night when I am trying to sleep I attempt to think of blog posts consisting of lists. Generally I think of some really great title - last night's even had a subheading - and promptly fall asleep. This post is in honour of all the nights I have fallen asleep to listmaking.

1. Mermaids
I adore Winona Ryder and for some reason Cher's hair in this film. This is my current facebook display picture.

I decided I needed to download this cause I've only seen it once about 5 years ago when I was going through a 'must watch everything Winona is in' phase.


2. 30 Rock season 5 episode 12
This episode was a delight. I enjoyed that Jack Donaghy actually gave Tracy's wife a reality tv show (almost as much as I enjoyed how easily Liz decided she would watch it, I love how she is a slave to anything trashy), and this part where Liz and Tracy want to argue but they can't do it on camera because Tracy has to uphold a serious facade for the Oscars so instead they sing insults to the tune of Uptown Girl, which for some reason they wouldn't be able to broadcast. I realised during this episode that there's a pretty full on score - by this I mean there's sometimes more than transitional music, mostly clarinet based. This made me happy for some reason.

3. Gossip Girl season 4 episode 12
People think I am silly for watching Gossip Girl (which I will hereby abbreviate to Gossy) and fair enough. It's a pretty ridiculous show. The same old shit happens in each season, Dan and Serena give each other ultimatums, Blair and Chuck plot against different things and try not to admit they love each other, Nate finds some bimbo extraneous to the group who he dates for a while, tries to save his family, gives up and dates Serena maybe. Oh and Lily and Rufus probably squabble a bit about Lily being untruthful trying to 'protect' the family, Rufus feels alienated but also like he's the only virtuous one left. Eric is gay, Jenny is absent. So why do I watch? Probably because no other show can give me a sense of security and reliability yet still take me on a rollercoaster ride of emotions. Yes I just typed that. I gasp a lot when I watch this show, even though, like in the Tourist, we all know that Johnny Depp is going to turn out to be that Alex guy - we all knew the evil ex friend of Bart Bass was going to buy Bass Industries and move to New York. Shit's gettin' real. (this is a phrase I say out loud about 5 times during each episode)

4. 200 Cigarettes
I can't remember exactly why I downloaded this movie. I think it might be because I am attempting to watch a lot of movies about disinterested 90s youth. Probably in an attempt to find meaning in my own life or at least connect with some of the themes of detachment the film may deal with.

5. Greenberg
I downloaded a version of this in early December and it didn't have the ending. I have all these weird rules for myself and one of them is about watching movies 'too soon'. So I couldn't rewatch the whole thing even though since watching it the first time I have read a lot about Greta Gerwig and mumblecore and I decided I really liked all of that stuff. Weird. The ending didn't really carry that much weight and I felt like I was just doing it out of obligation. The first time I watched it I liked some parts of it enough to pause, rewind and write quotes down. In hindsight, I don't really understand why we do that.

6. New York I Love You
I have not watched this yet. I downloaded probably because of Ethan Hawke and to a lesser extent Orlando Bloom. When I was 14 I used to talk about Orlando Bloom on forums where everybody would call him Orly.

7. Causers of This
If you read my last post you will know that I am obsessed with the Toro y Moi song Blessa. I hence decided to download the album. Immediately after downloading it, I listened to the album about 3 times in a row and decided that Blessa was the best song and also terribly positioned at the start. Stacey and I are going to see him play at Campus a Low Hum next week.

8. Family Guy season 9 episode 10
This episode is called something like 'It's Joyce Kinney'. I remember thinking that unlike all the other episodes in season 9, this one looked like it was not HD. Perhaps I got a dud download. I don't really remember what happens exactly, I think I was tired when I watched it. Basically Lois was a bitch to some girl in high school and it turns out to be Joyce Kinney who blackmails her. Oh yeah, Lois did a porno. Is anybody surprised? The episode resolves itself by Lois showing everyone the tape in church. Quahog seems nice.

9. 30 rock season 5 episode 11
This was a pretty awesome episode that involved Jack and Liz realising how close they actually are. It seems that they accidentally got married when Jack and Avery eloped and they had to go through mandatory marriage evaluation, which brought out all these amusing points about how much they are like a married couple.

10. Manhattan
I watched this movie in instalments. I am the kind of person who decides that she needs to fall asleep watching things but then gets tired and doesn't remember stuff. So I was watching about 30-40 minutes of this for 3 nights in a row. I recommend that as a tactic. I didn't really like the narrative of this film as much as I have liked, say, Annie Hall, despite Diane Keaton's consistent fabulousness. I didn't understand why Woody Allen returned to the 17 year old girl - wait, she's 18 by then - at the end. I didn't really sense that he loved her at all and felt kinda unsure about whether their relationship was a good idea. I admired how certain she was that if they loved each other six months was nothing. I felt like she was very wise, but didn't necessarily trust that as being authentic behaviour for that age. OH YEAH! And Meryl looked stunning. Just stunning.