I'm still alive, I swear!

So it's been way too long since I last posted anything. With NaNoWriMo, my job, and of course, the holidays, I completely forgot to update through November and December. (I have no excuse for January, except laziness and the very distracting addictinggames.com.)

Update on NaNoWriMo- it was a flop. I liked my story until I had to actually write it. And to make matters worse, some serious job drama came up, and I let that distract me from everything. So I ended up writing only about a thousand words for the entire month (pathetic). But that doesn't mean something good didn't come out of this. The weekend before the deadline, I was visiting my grandparents for Thanksgiving, and I decided to put aside my pathetic excuse for a story and start anew. In only a few hours, I wrote more than I'd written all month. I can only think of two reasons for this:

1. I wasn't feeling pressured to get the story done for a deadline.
2. This new story is a pet project of mine that I've been working on for years but was always too scared I'd screw it up to write it down.

So now I have to work on that story, and it's coming together little by little.

I'm also very saddened by the fact that I really didn't read much of anything these past few months. Watched plenty, but didn't read. Netflix has sucked me in, plus all those new TV shows and movies I got for Christmas. So another goal I must set myself is to read more.

There are a lot of movies and TV shows that will need to be reviewed. Too many in fact. It looks like these coming weeks will be all about the 50-word reviews. Which are soooo challenging, but rewarding. In order to say everything you want in such a limited form, you push yourself to be wiser with word choices and to cut out unnecessary fluff (which I love).

List of movies that need to be reviewed:

1. The House Bunny
2. Ballet Shoes
3. Pushing Daisies Seasons 1 & 2
4. The Fabulous Baker Boys
5. Extremely Dangerous
6. Twelfth Night
7. Glee
8. V
9. Lie to Me
10. Castle Season 1
    
11. Firefly
12. Wimbledon
13. Julie & Julia
14. Reign Of Fire

I think there are more, but I can't remember them, since they're not on my Netflix account. So much to do, and plenty of time to do it.

50 Word Review 8

Title: Air Force One
Category: Action adventure
Medium: DVD
Rating: A

I can't believe I didn't watch this sooner. The movie was so exciting and emotional; I couldn't look away. Plus, Harrison Ford and Gary Oldman are just awesome! There were a couple of spots that were a little too intense and bloody for me, but overall I loved this movie. A

50 Word Review 7

Title: Kiss Me Goodbye
Category: Romantic Comedy
Medium: Netflix
Rating: A-

Funny, entertaining, romantic. Jeff Bridges, Sally Field, and James Caan all give great performances, and their supporting cast is wonderful. I never knew James Caan could tap dance, but apparently he can. If I was Sally Field's character and the choice was mine, I know which leading man I'd pick. A-

50 Word Review 6

Title: As You Like It
Category: Shakespearean romantic comedy
Medium: Netflix
Rating: A

Shakespeare would be proud. A very talented ensemble of actors bring this 17th century romantic comedy to life. They do change the setting to Japan, instead of France. But it doesn't affect the brilliant character performances. If you enjoy Shakespearean English, you'll like this movie. If you don't, don't watch. A

50 Word Review 5

Title: Confessions of a Shopaholic
Category: Romantic comedy
Medium: Netflix
Rating: B+

A standard romantic comedy- girl has problem, girl meets boy, girl embarrasses herself constantly in front of boy, girl lies about problem, boy finds out truth about problem, boy dumps girl, girl solves problem, boy gets back together with girl. Isla Fisher and Hugh Dancy save this movie from mediocrity. B+

50 Word Review 4

Title: Once Upon A Mattress
Category: Musical
Medium: Netflix
Rating: A-

A great cast, awesome songs, and fun costumes make this twist on an old fairy tale one of my favorite musicals. The romance between Zooey Deschanel and Matthew Morrison is the best part. The only thing I'd change is one of the songs; it's not entirely appropriate for little ears. A-

50 Word Review 3

Title: The Mirror Has Two Faces
Category: Romantic Comedy
Medium: Netflix
Rating: A-

I'm not a fan of Barbara Streisand, but I actually enjoyed this movie. It was entertaining, original, and funny; it had a great cast. Great comedic moments, a satisfying ending, and a lead male character who's more interested in a person's soul than their looks made this an awesome movie. A-

50 Word Review 2

Title: Tron
Category: Science Fiction
Medium: Netflix
Rating: B

I watched this because they're making a 2010 sequel with two of my favorite actors. It was cheesy in a good way. It had a good premise, once you could understand it, and while it's graphics pretty bad for today, consider that these were amazing special effects for the 1980s. B

50 Word Review 1

Title: Pride & Prejudice
Category: Historical romance
Medium: Netflix
Rating: A-

This movie received mixed reviews from the critics, but I actually liked it. It doesn't compare to the Colin Firth version, but nothing ever will. It did feel rushed, and way too modernized. But I liked it anyway. Keira Knightly and Matthew MacFayden were perfect as Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. A-

NaNoWriMo!

November is National Novel Writing Month, and this year, I'm participating. I have 30 days to write a novel of 50,000 words. Which means that this blog will be majorly neglected this month. I will try to post some excerpts, and give some updates on the word count, especially since this is Reading, Writing, and Anything but Arithmetic. But it also means that my reading and movie watching are going to be put on hold for the most part too. So all of the Netflix reviews must be done today, and each review will only be 50 words, no more, no less. A mini challenge for the blog.

The book I will be attempting to write is Help! I Married a Movie Star or How I Survived My Celebrity Wedding. It's going to be a humorous look at how the average girl copes with being thrown into the spotlight by dating and marrying a celebrity, and how all of her original plans for her wedding end up changing because her husband-to-be is famous.