Lions and Tigers and Bears, Oh My!

This week, I went to the zoo! That was my LA activity for the week. I've lived here for 8 1/2 years and have never gone. What's worse is I've never lived that far away. In fact, I've lived exactly 5.4 miles away for the last couple of years. It's practically a hop, skip, and a jump away. So I finally made the trek out to Griffith Park and visited the zoo.

I haven't been to many zoos in my lifetime, so I was excited. I did manage to go to the San Diego Zoo, but my zoo inexperience left me befuddled with how fancy that one is supposed to be. I liked it. I had fun. But I wasn't in awe as I had nothing to really compare it to. I think I went to the St. Louis Zoo and maybe Tulsa or Little Rock when I was super duper young, but I barely remember it. Maybe I need to go back to fully appreciate it.

But back to the LA Zoo. It was super fun! I was like a little kid frolicking around oohing and awing over all the animals. I watched the elephants give themselves a dirt bath. I watched a baby orangutan showing off for his mommy and daddy. I watched some tigers lounging. I watched a bear playing with a piece of wood. I saw some kangaroos hopping around. Turns out they were actually wallabies. Learned that wallabies look a lot like kangaroos. I tried to take a picture of one that had a baby in its pouch, but you can't really tell. Needless to say, it was cute.

All in all, it was fantastic, and I'll definitely be headed back soon. Now I wonder what my next LA adventure will be?

Movies I Liked: 2010 Edition

Since Oscar nominations are out tomorrow, I thought it was time for my annual list of favorite movies of the year. Overall, it was a terrible year for movies, but thankfully there were a handful of great ones that salvaged it. So without further ado, here we go.

Honorable Mentions: In no particular order, Scott Pilgrim v. the World, The King's Speech, Get Low, Toy Story 3, and Despicable Me (which I actually enjoyed more than Toy Story 3) would round out my top 10.

5) The Social Network. This was a great mainstream film. I look for it to take home the Oscar, although I don't necessarily think it's the best movie of the year. I love all things Aaron Sorkin, and he delivered a flawless screenplay. His ability to consistently write amazing dialogue is unparalleled. The screenplay was executed to perfection by all involved. However, I didn't really think a thing about it after I walked out of the theater. I think the love for this film is amped up because of the current social media craze. Twenty years from now when we're far removed from today's facebook obsession, I think this film becomes a forgotten footnote in the history book letting the reader know that they should check out The Social Network for more information.

4) True Grit. I loved this movie for two reasons: 1) Fort Smith in the movies! and 2) The dialogue. I've never read the book, but my understanding is Portis wrote the novel in the eloquent, almost Biblical language used in the film. Bottom line, I loved it. I'm not a big Coen Bros fan, but they do such a good job with Americana. They capture the spirit of a region and don't mock it, which can't be said for many people who set stories in Arkansas or Minnesota or Mississippi among others. I was blown away by Hailee Steinfeld as Mattie Ross. The girl deserves an Oscar and I'm hoping she snags it.

2b) Inception. I couldn't decide how to order the next two movies, so I've decided they tie for #2. Inception was the only summer movie I was looking forward to. I love Christopher Nolan and will watch anything he makes. He's the most gifted storyteller we have today. He does it all. He writes. He directs. He takes too long between projects! But I'm ok with waiting because it's always worth it. I don't think I need to say why I like Inception. Everybody saw it. It made you think. I love that Nolan makes smart films and assumes the audience can keep up. Inception delivered, now on to Batman 3.

2a) Winter's Bone. Did you see this movie? I hope you did. I know it made it to Fort Smith because I told my parents about it and they saw it. This film was Southern gothic/noir at its best. What I was most struck by was the authenticity. It was shot entirely on location in the Ozark mountains of Missouri. The cinematography is breathtaking, and the filmmaker perfectly captured the poverty of the area. Like the Coen Bros, the filmmaker did not make any judgements on the area. She simply told a compelling story and captured a slice of rural America not often seen in films. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it.

1) Black Swan. I never want to see this movie ever again. Now I realize that's not something you would say about your top movie of the year, so let me explain. I don't like Darren Aronofsky films, so I didn't expect to like this. In fact, I didn't even want to see it. But what I discovered was a mesmerizing psychological thriller. If ever there is a case for film as art, Black Swan should be one of the prime examples. Everything about the film, from the writing to the acting to the camera shots to the editing to the music, took you along for a ride into the maddening descent of Natalie Portman's character as she came to literally inhabit her role. It's not for the faint of heart and if you don't appreciate film as art, then you probably didn't enjoy the film and I can understand that. For me, however, it was beautiful and haunting and disturbing...but I never want to see it again.

Well folks, that about sums it up for me. Wonder what 2011 has in store?

Let's go see some comedy!

My first foray into doing "LA" things involved going to a comedy show. I liked it so much I went to another one this week. Comedy wasn't really on my list of things to do. I've never really been a big stand-up fan. Let me clarify, I'm not a fan of blue stand-up and that seems to dominate. But what I've discovered is there are actually comedians out there who are "clean" and super funny. You just have to look for them.

Thanks to a brief plug by Judd Apatow in the LA Times back in November ("Comics on Comics"), I discovered the comedy of Maria Bamford. If you look closely, you may recognize her as the crazy Target lady from the black Friday ads. Even if you were annoyed by that particular ad campaign, I encourage you to give her a shot because that's the least funny thing I've seen her do (although I personally find the Target lady hysterical).

Through the magic of the Internet and Twitter, I learned that local comedians put on shows practically every night of the week. And they're super cheap! I guess it's a chance for them to perfect their jokes and/or delivery before actually performing for a paid audience. I went to a show in the back of a comic book store last week for the low, low price of $8. And this week, I went to one that was completely free. Granted, for such a low price, you have to take the good with the bad. But I was really only there to see Maria Bamford, so it was well worth it for me.

I'm posting some of her bits below. The first is her performing on Craig Ferguson and the following two are my favorite jokes she does. Fair warning, there is a curse word in the second clip. If you like funny things, I encourage you to check her out. If not, just sit tight and maybe my next post will be something that interests you more.

Hello Blogosphere!

I'm back. Although I think I've said that before, but maybe this time it'll stick. I hope the world is treating you well, dear readers. Wait, I wonder if I have any readers left? Oh well, regardless, here goes...

Since it's the new year, I thought I'd start with new years' resolutions. I only have two this year and for the first time in forever neither of them involve working out. I somehow managed to jump on that boat in the fall and am still chug, chug, chugging along. My resolutions involve doing things that make me happy. I had a realization in December that I was letting life happen to me rather than living my life. So my goal is to flip that on its head in 2011.

My first and primary resolution is to do fun LA things. There are so many things to do around the city that you can't do anywhere else, and I've failed to take advantage of it. I've got a long list of things to do, and I've already started. I found a hole-in-the-wall comedy show that I went to last night which was super-awesome. I'm going to try out restaurants, museums, improv shows, and even take a workout class with Richard Simmons! After the great start with the comedy show, I'm even looking more forward to doing stuff. Sometimes I forget that I like to do things because my couch is so comfy. But I can have the best of both worlds and I intend to.

My second resolution is to blog more. I like to write. It's about the only creative thing I do. And the easiest way to write consistently? Blog! It's so easy. Why did I let it slip away? I'm going to make myself be more consistent with this here blog. I don't know how often I'll write, but whenever I feel like sharing I'm going to do it.

So here's to the new year! Happy 2011!