Wrapping Up 2017

Hey look! It’s the last day of 2017! I guess I should put something up here. I’ve got free time. I've got motivation. So! Here are my year-end thoughts, for those of you dying to know.

This year started off kind of rough for everyone in the U.S., but it felt especially so for me and Ari, because we were still living with my parents, after moving in with them *temporarily* in September 2016. It took us until March to feel comfortable looking for our own apartment. We hesitated mostly because Ari was having trouble finding a music teaching gig (or any kind of gig). But then he got a job he really likes, working with kids in downtown LA through the Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles.

The first couple of months of the year were rough politically and personally. But then we moved into our cute lil apartment in Pasadena (with a balcony! My dream!) and we both were working, and things started looking so much better. So much better, in fact, that I decided to propose to Ari in the summer (July 15^th to be exact, our 8-year anniversary), since I felt like things were pretty darn good. He’d moved to California pretty much just for me, and we had finally kind of found a place that we felt comfortable in. So, he said yes! Our wedding is Feb. 18, 2018! And totally coincidentally, the number 18 is the numerological representation of the word for “life” in Hebrew, so it’s considered an auspicious date, which is kind of cool.

I guess those were the two kind-of memorable achievements of this year for me – moving into our own place (20 minutes’ drive from my parents! Who’d have thunk I’d ever agree to THAT?) and getting engaged to Ari. I still miss New York City quite a bit sometimes (mostly the people; sometimes I miss the snowy, wintery weather), and I know Ari is not sure if he’s OK with living out the rest of our days in the Sunshine State. I am open to the idea of moving again when we decide to buy a house. I just really would like it to be somewhere that has indie movie theaters and doesn’t get snow…..

As I feel most of my friends (and the strangers I follow on Instagram) have been saying at the end of 2017: This year was a pretty terrible year for the world, but personally it has been pretty good. I guess we’ve all gotta keep fighting the good fight against this T character, but we can all love and laugh and enjoy life somewhat while we’re doing it, right?

OK, that is pretty much my wrap-up for the year, except for one more thing. I think I did a pretty good job of seeing new movies this year, so I have compiled a shortlist of my top five of 2017, in order.

1.     The Florida Project

2.     Call Me By Your Name

3.     Lady Bird

4.     The Big Sick

5.     Get Out

Honorable mentions: The Beguiled, Good Time, Logan Lucky, Wonder Woman

Overrated: Baby Driver, Dunkirk, Blade Runner 2049

Still want/need to see: Phantom Thread, The Post, Your Name, Personal Shopper

I wish you all a wonderful 2018! 

I only taught for two hours today

and I really have nothing else to report, except that I watched the film The Clouds of Sils Maria, and failed to understand it.

P.S. The movie did make me really want to visit the actual Sils Maria. It's in Switzerland and it looks like this: 

Image via

The Great Gatsby--Luhrmann Style

Just got back from watching Baz Luhrmann's adaptation of The Great Gatsby. Yes, somehow that film made it all the way to Surabaya! Not sure how many Indonesians have read the book, but I can say that Leonardo DiCaprio is quite popular over here.

Anyway, these are my initial, jumbled musings (movie ended at 11pm, it's almost midnight now). Of course, spoilers below!

Overall: Better than I expected. After the release date got pushed back so much, I was fairly sure it wasn't gonna be too good. And I didn't read any reviews, but I did see that some critics I respect gave it pretty low star ratings. But overall, I think I can say that I liked this version. And it was surprisingly true to the book.

Parts I liked:

• The green light. I loved how the movie started and ended with the green light, representing that central hope and longing that Gatsby feels. 
• The eyes of Dr. T.J. Eckleburg. I thought the movie's visual representation of the sign was really great; much better than the sign I'd been imagining when the read the book!
• The valley of ashes. This was another image that I couldn't quite figure out when I read the book; I liked the way the movie brought it to life.
• Jordan Baker. The casting and character of Jordan Baker was pretty much spot-on. 
• Jay Gatsby. Yup, pretty sure Leonardo DiCaprio nailed the role. I thought he was too old for the role at first, since DiCaprio's in his late 30s and Gatsby is supposed to be 32. But that wasn't so much of an issue for me during the film. I just wish they hadn't written the script so that he screams at Tom Buchanan in the final showdown between them; that doesn't happen in the book, and I don't think it fits his character. 
• I think my favorite scene was when Nick arranges for Daisy and Gatsby to meet at his house. Some of the best (and only) comedy in the movie. 

Parts I didn't like:

• Gatsby's parties. I was probably most excited to see how the film portrayed his parties, and  I really wish the party scenes had been more true to the book. I get that Luhrmann's thing is going over the top, but it bothered me to have the parties become essentially a wild frat party (with modern music, too). 
• Daisy. I LOVE Carey Mulligan, but I'm not sure if she was the best person for this character. First of all, I don't think she's so easy to believe as this magnetic, attractive personality. Second, she seems a little too young for the role. I'm not sure how old Daisy is supposed to be, but isn't it supposed to be around Nick's age (29 or 30)? 
• The MUSIC. Ugh the music was so distracting. I did not like it. Even the more classic choices, such as "Rhapsody in Blue" during the fireworks scene, just made it seem like Baz Luhrmann was ripping off Woody Allen from Manhattan, taking me even more out of the movie. The only song that I thought remotely worked was Lana Del Rey's song "Young and Beautiful." I'm not really sure why it worked for me. Maybe because it was slightly more subtle than the rap music.
• The flashback setup. I got tired of being yanked out of the story to hear Nick whine to his doctor. That wasn't in the book; why did they decide to add it to the movie? 

OK, I think my tired crankiness is creeping into my review. Time to stop here. As you can see, I have thoughts about this movie, which probably means it's at least above average quality, right? Yes, we'll leave it at that. Baz Luhrmann's The Great Gatsby: Above-average quality. 

P.S. I now want to go back and re-watch Robert Redford's version of the book. It won a few Oscars. I'd like to see how it stacks up. 

Must...refrain...from looking up pictures of radio personalities. I made the mistake of looking up the guys from Filmspotting, a film reviews podcast I'm addicted to.

Finding out what these people truly look like just dashes all of my hopes of them being nerdy yet adorable emo-ish boys. Dang it.

As I re-submerge myself in film

Every time I come back to L.A., I get sucked into the Calendar section of the LA Times. And I mean I basically read every article in it. And I live for the Friday issue, because then I can read ALL the movie reviews. I have too much free time. But I suppose we all know this by now.

On a somewhat related note....

On Sunday my mom and I drove out to Venice to visit my grandma and take her out to a movie. We pre-select a couple "safe" films we think she'd like to see, such as The Jane Austen Book Club, or possibly Blame it on Fidel. But what does she want to see? None of these romantic, cute films--of course not! No, she wants to see Into the Wild. Because she saw an interview with Sean Penn and Emile Hirsch on Oprah. And their story is very compelling.

I actually wanted to see the film as well--I just was a little surprised to hear that it was my grandma's first choice. And I wasn't sure if I was prepared to be bawling during the final scenes. Nevertheless, we did go to see all 2 hours and 40 minutes of the film at the Landmark.

And it was really good! (Do I ever post about bad movies on this blog? Except for Ghost? Never.) The ending wasn't nearly as heart-wrenching and depressing as I expected, and I really felt like the time went by fast. So the point of all this rambling is, go see this movie. If you are a little interested in nature, or the way human relationships affect our lives, or just to watch a really interesting true story, I recommend it.

Oh, I've also had a crush on Emile Hirsch since I saw him in Dangerous Lives of Altar Boys. So I'm sliiightly biased. But not much.

Things is happening!

I really shouldn't use bad grammar--I need to start perfecting my sentence structure in the future, since I'm gonna (going!) to be helping my mum as an ESL assistant.

Actually, I've already been in the classroom! I've come in about three times, and today I had to teach (gasp!!) the class for two hours, while my mom took out groups for testing. I had to teach the sound "ch" as well as the idioms "at last," "as usual," and "to find out." It basically went OK--I think the students are afraid to ask me questions, since I'm not their regular teacher, and I think they also got a little bored, since I'm not nearly as talkative and mobile as my mom.

So far, my tactic seems to be to just kind of stand at the front of the class and wait for someone to ask me a question. Not the best tactic. But I think it'll become more natural to walk around and keep talking as I get more experience. And I have to teach again on Thursday!

Living at home. Amazingly, I'm not sick of my parents yet, which is wonderful. I even attempted a yoga class tonight with my mom, which wasn't too bad. I always feel a little guilty because I'm not such a fan of yoga (My mom's been doing it for over 20 years, but it sucks when you're impatient and not flexible!), but I decided I should give it another try, since the health benefits seem to be worth it. And every now and then it can be relaxing.

I've also gotten re-obsessed with movie reviews, as anyone who's seen me in the last few weeks may have noticed. Generally, I base all my movie choices on reviews (the ones in the newspaper, usually not friends' reviews, which I suppose can be insulting :/ ). I guess it's my somewhat subconscious attempt at being literary and discerning. Who knows. Does anyone want to see Across the Universe, Blame it on Fidel, or The King of California with me?

Oh yeah, I also need to stop spending so much money.

Alright, I think that's it for now! Anyone who reads this (I'm not sure if anyone actually does anymore), let me know if you're in Monrovia! I'll be here until the end of October.