The Center Seat

This is what work (you know, my day job) has been like for me this week:

That's me with my pretty manicured nails clawing the air.

See you next week when someone makes this cube into a seven-layer salad.

It's the day after Thanksgiving, and I'm SO NOT in line at the stores. I intend to spend this entire day in my pj's, feasting on leftovers. So there.

Completed Tasks

#44: Get all new gifts put away and house in order. With a LOT of help from Mr. Nayana.

Tasks in Progress

#15: Watch all AFI 100 movies. I saw Platoon! Now at 45/100.
#16: Get 200 Facebook fans. No movement here.
#17: Watch all Academy Award Best Picture winners. I saw Platoon! So now I've seen 43/82.
#19: Watch all Coen brothers movies. I posted the list on Wednesday; I'm at 8/15.
#22: Stay caught up on Google Reader for a month. Still going! This task will be completed on December 11.
#23: See all feature films directed by Hayao Miyazaki. I'm planning to post this list next Wednesday. I'm about halfway done.
#24: Pay off all credit cards. Nothing to report here.
#25: Pay off car loan. Or here.
#47: Finish name changes. Does the electric company really have to have my legal name on file?
#64: Eat at ten new restaurants. No new restaurants this week. Still at 1/10.
#65: Learn sign language. Had to skip my ASL class this week; hope I didn't miss too much.
#71: Complete our wedding registry. No real progress, but I did convert much of it into a Target "List", so family has a nice Christmas list to work from. (Am I the only one that usually draws a blank when someone asks what you want for Christmas?)
#77: Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series) from beginning to end. We're through Season One! See yesterday's post.
#82: Get caught up at work. I expect to be done with this by this time next week. Yay!
#85: Structure my work time into a set schedule, and stick to it for a month. Still going! I should be done with this goal December 9. I'll probably stick to it after the month is up, as it makes my job MUCH easier, and gives me time for blogging.

There you have it! Have a fantastic weekend.

Nayana's standard Buffy disclaimer/Reverse spoiler alert: This is my first time EVER watching this series. I am very interested in keeping my experience pure, so please take care in the comments to not give any spoilers, clues, or insights from future (to me) seasons or episodes.

We've been powering through these episodes! They're so fun to watch, so it's really easy to keep clicking the "Next Episode" button when we're done with one. Eight episodes in a week... it's not going to be the standard, but it could definitely happen again.

I heart the Coen brothers. They are easily my favorite local-boys-made-good (they're from Minnesota, just like me!) So I think it's tragic and a bit embarrassing that I have not yet seen the entirety of their oeuvre. Therefore, I added it to my Day Zero list at lucky #19*, and I can tell you this is one task I'm really looking forward to.

Here's the list:

1. Blood Simple
2. Raising Arizona
3. Miller's Crossing
4. Barton Fink
5. The Hudsucker Proxy
6. Fargo
7. The Big Lebowski
8. O Brother, Where Art Thou?
9. The Man Who Wasn't There
10. Intolerable Cruelty
11. The Ladykillers
12. No Country For Old Men
13. Burn After Reading
14. A Serious Man
15. True Grit

I've got 8 out of 15. How many have you seen? Any thoughts on the ones I haven't seen yet?

*Just saw the "Nightmares" episode of Buffy. Review tomorrow.

All signs are pointing to Oscar nominations for Danny Boyle's new release 127 Hours, in theaters now. If you don't already know, this is the story of that guy who got stuck in a canyon a few years ago and escaped by sawing his own arm off. Compelling story, but... ew.

I'm about as queasy as they come. I can't usually handle the gore. But this is supposed to be a fantastic movie, and it seems destined for the Oscars. So what do I do? Do I suck it up and go, watching the icky scene through my fingers? Or do I stay home and just get by on everyone else's reviews?

I am a pacifist. I'm going to level with you all and confess that I didn't quite know which direction to take with this review, as pacifism isn't exactly a philosophy that is appreciated and understood by most, especially in a time of war.

Let me just say that while I love and appreciate the soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines, and guardsmen who protect my freedom to believe in peace above all, I have a big problem with governments who choose to put those folks in harm's way when there may be other, more effective options available. War is costly (both fiscally and socially), it's ugly, it's the birthplace of a whole host of evils, and in this blogger's opinion, it's morally wrong.

OK, I'm putting my soapbox away, and getting to the movie now. I just figured you would get more out of my thoughts on Platoon if I first let you know where I was coming from.

One more week has gone by, and I've made a teensy bit of progress.

Completed Tasks

None this week. I have a feeling there will be many weeks like this.

Setbacks

#83: Get to work on time and leave on time every day for a week. This is really, really hard. I've tried and failed twice already. Next attempt will be the week following Thanksgiving.

Tasks in Progress

#15: Watch all AFI 100 movies. Still at 44/100.
#16: Get 200 Facebook fans. Still at 89. Active users are up, though, so maybe that's a good sign?
#17: Watch all Academy Award Best Picture winners. Go look at my list, which I posted Wednesday. I've seen 42/82.
#19: Watch all Coen brothers movies. I'm roughly halfway done. I'll post this list soon.
#22: Stay caught up on Google Reader for a month. Well, I've stayed caught up this week. If I keep it up, this task will be completed on December 11.
#23: See all feature films directed by Hayao Miyazaki. I'll post this list in the next few weeks. I'm about halfway done.
#24: Pay off all credit cards. Ha.
#25: Pay off car loan. Double ha.
#44: Get all new gifts put away and house in order. Triple ha. But I intend to get this done before Thanksgiving.
#47: Finish name changes. I've been slacking on this one this week.
#64: Eat at ten new restaurants. I forgot to include this one last week! Mr. N and I checked out a local Italian restaurant called Amici. The food was delicious, but pricey. Incidentally, Pistola says Amici has given her food poisoning in the past. So maybe we won't go back there. But anyway, that's 1/10.
#65: Learn sign language. I've just signed up for the second round of classes. It's community ed, so I'm not learning as much as I'd like to, but it's good for what it is. I'll have to take a college course on ASL at some point in the future.
#71: Complete our wedding registry. No progress on this.
#77: Watch Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV series) from beginning to end. If you read yesterday's post, you know I've started on this one. And I'm loving it!
#82: Get caught up at work. I have actually been kicking ass on this one. Mostly because of...
#85: Structure my work time into a set schedule, and stick to it for a month. This has been amazing for my productivity. I'm almost all the way caught up, and I haven't felt overwhelmed at all since I've started this. I guess you could say I started doing this on November 9, so we'll consider it completed on December 9, assuming I keep it up.

I didn't complete anything this week, but I'm still feeling positive because I made some good progress on some of those goals. We'll see where we stand next Friday! Have a good weekend, folks.

Nayana's standard Buffy disclaimer/Reverse spoiler alert: This is my first time EVER watching this series. I am very interested in keeping my experience pure, so please take care in the comments to not give any spoilers, clues, or insights from future (to me) seasons or episodes.

Last night Mr. N and I sat down to watch the first several episodes of Buffy, and I actually had to give him the above disclaimer a few times. I really want to experience the storyline as Joss Whedon wanted it to unfold; I've already got a great opinion of him as a storyteller, and I'm really looking forward to the experience. Now, without further mucking about, my thoughts.

Task #17 on my Day Zero list requires me to watch all movies that have won the Academy Award for Best Picture. This is one of those tasks that I want to be able to say I have done, but I'm not all that excited to actually get down and do it. I think that's mostly because some of the Academy's choices over the years have sometimes been, as we all know, a bit flawed.

All that having been said, I'm determined to jump into this task along with all the others. So here's the list; movies I've already seen have been struck through. Just like with last week's list, I've decided to only count the movies I've seen in the last fifteen years. I have a hazy memory of watching Mutiny on the Bounty with my parents when I was about ten... but there's no way that counts.

Two or three years ago, I would have reacted to that title the way many of you probably did: with an eyeroll and a "did Nayana have a stroke?" But my dear mother has converted me.

Thanksgiving weekend 2008: Mom and I were sitting in her TV room, and she was insisting on yet another Hallmark/Lifetime/ABC Family original movie. Because I love my mother, I kept watching. To be sure, I rolled my eyes and told her why the cheesy movies were making my teeth hurt. "Mom," I sighed, "This is not realistic. In real life, everything doesn't just get wrapped up with a neat little bow by Christmas Eve."

She replied that that was the point. Apparently not everyone wants edgy gloom and doom when they're feeling Christmassy. My little indie-girl brain did not compute, but as I sat back and started to let the saccharine Christmas cheer wash over me, I started to get it. And, as much as I hated to admit it, I was all over the sappy-ass movies when the 2009 holiday season rolled around.

This works much better for me if I compartmentalize, and just tell myself that these "original movies" on cable are not actual movies. I watch movies for artistic value as well as entertainment, but maybe it's OK once in a while to shut the indie brain off and relax. The purpose of watching A Christmas Visitor, starring Meredith Baxter and William Devane, is not (believe it or not) to appreciate the masterful cinematography*, but to let yourself float away on a gingerbread-y, deck-the-halls-y, Christmassy cloud. And that's OK on a Tuesday night.

So if you're looking for an excuse tonight to plop down and watch Hallmark's The Christmas Card (one of my favorites), here's a list of reasons why I think it's ok for a film geek to occasionally indulge:

Apparently it's a phenomenon. More here.

Each Friday, I'm going to try to update you all on my progress on my Day Zero list. Hopefully that will get me motivated to work on the thing! As Mr. Nayana mentioned last week, I've already gotten a few things knocked off the list (though not as many as he gave me credit for).

OK, kiddies, I'm going to get right to it. Megamind is good. It's entertaining, witty, fast-paced, and it'll make you giggle. There. That's my review. Now, on to some not-so-reviewy thoughts I had while watching the thing (a few mild spoilers after the jump):

I posted an earlier version of this a while ago, but this is going to be my official Day Zero version. Task #15 on my list requires me to watch all the movies on the AFI Top 100 list; so here's where I'll keep track of my progress. So far I've seen 44 out of 100: not bad, but not nearly good enough. See the full list, after the jump.

I've been married for a little over two months to this great guy; we'll call him Mr. Nayana. I know I've mentioned him a few times over the past couple years, but this will serve as his official introduction.

Mr. Nayana was working late the other night, so I took the opportunity to curl up with Zoe the Putty Tat, a bottle of Door Peninsula American Riesling (a holdover from my kickass bachelorette party), and Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.

I just got married. Whoo. :-)

So now I'm moving on with the REST of my life. Kind of a daunting task, as there's about a million things I want to accomplish.

Enter the Day Zero Project.

Hey Center Seat readers! I'm back from my much-needed hiatus. Wedding plans and work duties are back on track, so here I go again with this crazy film obsession of mine.

How is it that I've never reviewed Fargo before? After all, I am a Minnesotan... I've lived here for 12 years, I love it here, I probably will never move.

Minnesotans in general tend to have a love-hate relationship with the movie Fargo. For one thing, it drives us nuts that many assume Fargo to be a city in the good ol' Land of 10,000 Lakes. It so isn't. Go get yourself a map of North Dakota. For another thing, we don't all talk like that. I don't think I've ever in my life uttered the words, "Yah, you betcha." We do all say "Minne-soh-ta", but that's pretty much the extend of it. So to have folks from the coasts coming in, giggling at us, and asking us to say lines from the movie, can get a little grating.

But aside from all the "I'm annoyed because I'm a local" conceit, it's really freaking brilliant. I know I may skew a bit on the favorable side when it comes to movies from the Coen boys, but there's a good reason for that, folks. They're masters.

Have you ever looked out your window on a January day and thought to yourself, "Damn. There is no color out there. My life is a black-and-white movie"? OK, you smartasses in California and Arizona get a pass, but that is exactly what Minnesota looks like half the year. And the Coens captured it perfectly; the starkness, the colorless landscape. And the way that, even in the city, Minnesota in winter can start to resemble Siberia.


Beyond the setting, Fargo mixes comedy and violence more effectively than any other movie I can name*, without making the bloodshed seem trivial. The murders that happen in this story come about in a very matter-of-fact way, but the contrasts between the casually violent attitude of the criminals and the mournful viewpoint of Marge the pregnant cop can be quite jarring. You find yourself being grateful for Marge's frank perspective, while feeling a bit guilty that in the first half of the movie you were almost rooting for the bad guys.

Of course the cast is wonderful: I think the witless schemer Jerry Lundegaard is William H. Macy's best role; and the same could probably said for Frances McDormand's Marge. The script is great too, and the setting wouldn't be as powerful without the amazing cinematography. But when you're watching Fargo, you're not thinking about any of that. Setting, script, characters, and acting are all blended together homogeneously into one beautiful product, as though shoved through a wood chipper and sprayed onto the white snow of your screen.


*Except maybe another Coen brothers movie. ...Click here for the rest of this tasty post.