Synopsis: Adapted from author Philip Roth’s novel The Dying Animal, director Isabel Coixet’s elegant tale of obsession explores the relationship between a highly respected professor, David (Ben Kingsley), and an impossibly gorgeous grad student, Consuela (Penélope Cruz). As their relationship deepens, the professor finds his ego challenged by the girl’s enchanting beauty.

I’m not sure what it was, but I feel like this movie should have been better than it ultimately was. It was finely shot, had a nice musical score, and solid performances, but the overall film left me feeling underwhelmed nonetheless. There was something missing from all of the above and I’m not 100% sure what it was. I guess I just didn’t find the characters compelling enough to care about.

One theme that was handled well was the idea of jealousy. When Consuela asks David how many women he’s slept with, she asks if the number is over or under 50 and he says over. She brushes this off, but when he asks her how many men she’s slept with she says 5 and he becomes instantly jealous. Who were these men? How old were they? What did they do? I thought it was a great look into the psyche of men and the contradictory feelings men have towards women.

There wasn’t anything in this film that was outright terrible, but there wasn’t anything that gripped from from the start to truly care about this story. And it’s not that I need action or melodrama to keep me actively engaged in a movie, I love movies that are slow burns, but Elegy was just missing something I can’t quite put my finger on.

6/10

“If someone wants to be part of your life, they’ll be there. So don’t bother saving a spot for someone who won’t make an effort to stay.” - Michael Cera

I don’t think I ever truly understood this quote until some things happened in my life recently. I used to always think this quote was somewhat ironic because how can you expect someone to make an effort to stay if you don’t bother to make an effort to reach out and stay in their lives? Now I realize that sometimes you try you hardest and you try to be there for some people who just won’t reciprocate. It just doesn’t make sense to get hung up on people who don’t care about you or aren’t willing to make an effort when you’re trying so damn hard. And I don’t want to guilt trip or force someone to stay in my life, I want them to also make some effort on their own, just so I know that I mean something to them. I guess I see where I stand now though =/

[Note: I actually managed to see The Avengers during opening weekend (for FREE, thanks Erik!), but I just haven’t had time to finish up this review due to my hectic school schedule.]

OH. MY. GOD.

I was actually just relatively excited for The Avengers before walking into the theater. I’m actually not the biggest fan of this universe of Marvel films. I think they’re fun but nothing great or amazing. Of course I was stoked when they announced Joss Whedon as the director and the idea of bringing all these superheroes together is just mindblowingly amazing, but I wasn’t AMPED to go see this film (might have also been due to some things in my life, but let’s not go into that lol). 

I will say that I am very glad that I managed to avoid all the trailers/TV spots for The Avengers before seeing it. The only trailer I saw was the one teaser that was attached at the end of Captain America. The official trailer spoiled a lot of great shots and one particularly important bit towards the end. THIS is why I try to avoid the trailers for movies I know I’m already going to see. They played the Prometheus trailer before The Avengers and I just shut my eyes and plugged my ears as best I could to avoid seeing/hearing it. The only thing I heard was ominous music and a lot of screaming lol. But anyways, back to the review!

Joss Whedon knocked it out of the fucking park! Can you believe that this is only his second major feature film? Whedon of Buffy, Angel, Firefly, and Dollhouse fame is the ultimate geek God and he gave comic book fans A LOT to geek out about in this movie. While the film is an all out action-fest, his dialogue and characterization added a lot to the movie. The action was nonstop but Whedon added little bits of commentary here and there about certain themes such as how far you’re willing to go for the greater good that I really liked. I’m excited to see what Whedon does now that he’s had all this success with this film.

The Avengers has one of the most satisfying closing action set pieces of all-time and I don’t think that’s hyperbole at all. The amount of sheer spectacle, jaw dropping moments, and visual eye candy is absolutely ridiculous. The action in this film is almost nonstop from the opening reel, but it never feels tiresome the way Michael Bay’s Transformers sequels did.

I’m seriously at a loss for words to describe how amazing this film was. This summer has gotten off to a fantastic start and it’s going to be tough to top this one, but we’ll see!

9/10

I did it! I successfully finished my first semester of nursing school at USF! It’s so hard to believe that we just started about 4 months ago and now we’re finally at the end. I think I did… relatively okay on that pathopharm final. Hopefully enough to keep an A-, but fuck it! IT’S SUMMER!!!!

I feel kind of exhausted right now honestly, but I don’t want to sleep because it’s finally summer break! After months and months of nonstop studying and learning it feels a little odd to literally not have to worry about ANYTHING right now. I just watched Edward Scissorhands and knocked that off my rewatch list (only about… 40 more movies to go, that’s not counting my first time watch list lol). I started reading The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time again after getting halfway through it this semester. I’ll probably finish that in a few hours and then move on to A Clash of Kings which I’m still halfway through. There’s so many movies and TV shows I need to watch/catch up on too! I really need to unwind… I think I deserve it after this hellish semester haha. 

Finals week is fucking killing me lol. I think I did… okay on that pharm final? I hope I did well enough to maintain my A- haha. I’m pretty sure I did but I’m not 100% sure. I’ve been seriously choking during finals week >_< Only one more final to go though! 3 more days of torture and then 3 months of ABSOLUTE PURE BLISSFUL FREEDOMMMM!!!!!

So I’ve decided to get my ass into shape this summer. It’s not that I’m unhappy with my weight currently, the last time I weighed myself I was 163 pounds (I think our scale is kind of generous though lol, about 5 pounds generous, so I’d say 168 is my real weight) and the last time I weighed that much was freshman year… OF HIGH SCHOOL. So it’s been a long freakin’ time since I’ve been in this kind of shape. In 2010 I lost 25 pounds and in 2011 I kind of took the year off. I started this year at around 170 pounds so I’ve lost a little weight but I’m looking to take it to the next level this summer. Not going to try to lose a drastic amount of weight or anything, but if I can get down to 150-155 range I’d be pretty happy. I’m soooooo looking forward to playing a lot more basketball this summer and exercising on the regular. Overall I just want to get into healthier shape, both physically and mentally. I’ll be checking in on the progress every now and then on Tumblr, so I’ll let you know how it goes!

Got off to an inauspicious start to finals week. I don’t think I held on to my A- for assessment sadly. Unfortunately, something happened with my laptop’s connection while I was taking the final so instead of getting my results instantly, I had to take the test using old fashioned pen and paper, meaning I won’t get my results until next week =/. Studying my ass off for pharm on Monday and then going at it again for pathopharm on Thursday. I reallyyyyyy want to keep my grades up! I just need to torture myself for another 5 days and then I can enjoy my summer vacation. Just 5 more days…

 “How do you prove we exist? Maybe we don’t exist…” - Vivi from FF IX. I’ve always loved this quote because it meditates on the idea of life itself. What is the worth of what we experience in life? I’ve always had a fascination about the greater meanings of life, if any, and why we’re here.

“It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live.” - Albus Dumbledore. Probably my favorite Dumbledore quote. I think it’s great because so many people are just caught up in their own little fantasy land and don’t do anything about it. They just sit there and imagine what a great life would be or what would make them happy, but they never accomplish it or do something about it because they’re too busy dreaming. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming big, but you need to remember to live and take action. This is something that I constantly battle with on an almost daily basis. Just remembering to live…

“The core of man’s spirit comes from new experiences.” - Into the Wild. This quote comes from one of my favorite books and movies. I think it’s powerful because it says to open up your world/boundaries and look beyond what you’re comfortable with. How can you say that you’ve lived if you’re stuck doing the same thing over and over? You should experience all the wonders of life and everything that it has to offer. That will help keep life fresh and fulfilling, instead of sad and stagnant.