winter break isn't that cold as I want it to be..

Due to all the free time that's been in my reach, I've been able to do a lot of things that I've been meaning to do while I was still at school. Things like reading and renting movies and even catching up with my good old television set.


Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger is the third Salinger book I've read in a short couple of years. (The first was Nine Stories and the second was The Catcher in the Rye.) As all Salinger books are, Franny and Zooey was filled with madman talk somewhat absurd conversations between characters. Usually it takes me awhile to sink into his books, but I really did like this particular one. All the talk of religion and chicken soup made me hungry and quite intrigued, so you could probably guess that I really had fun while reading this. Though, when asked by a few friends what exactly the story was about, I honestly couldn't come up with anything even when I was almost half finished with the novel. All I was able to say was, "It's about religion, and a brother and sister whose names are Franny and Zooey." I wasn't even able to say anything else of the matter and completely changed the subject straightaway.

Animal Farm by George Orwell was not read for leisure, but in fact for my world history class at school. It wasn't an assignment given to all of the class, but it was rather extra credit, and even though I don't think it's arrogant to say I'm doing more than good enough in the class, I decided to take up the opportunity anyway and turn the reading into something that would benefit towards me, since Animal Farm was on my "list of books to read" anyway. This book truly gave me nightmares of pigs and ferocious dogs, and I was frightened by the time I had finished reading it. The book made me feel very interested in politics which I haven't been interested in since I had to complete a project on the presidential election for my history class which was given to me about two months ago. I actually really liked this book, despite of the bad reviews given to me by peers.

The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling is just filled with fantastic stories. My personal favorite, however, would have to be the Fountain of Fair Fortune tale. Honestly, I'm a huge Harry Potter geek so I when I found out this book was going to be put out I was overly excited. I picked it up as soon as possible only to be told that I wouldn't be able to read it until I opened it from its wrapped concealment and hidden place underneath the Christmas tree. I tried to savor the book by reading a story at least every two days or so, but by the time I got to Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump I just had to finish that and The Tale of the Three Brothers that brisk morning I finished the Beedle's series. All the stories are quite satisfactory and would be the ideal bedtime book for any Harry Potter or magical loving person.

Now on to the films!

Usually I'm interested in a lot more interesting films that need special care and interest to understand. But sometimes I just like to watch movies that don't need much care or interest to watch, but that doesn't mean that Pineapple Express is a movie for idiots, well I guess I kind of am.. but whatsoever, this movie was a pretty good flick! Pineapple Express was a hilarious movie all about a certain type of cannabis that was called 'pineapple express'. From far away, the story would seem a bit confusing, but with sharp observations it isn't so hard to follow. I always enjoy any movie that's been produced by Judd Apatow, such as Superbad, Knocked Up, and The Forty-Year Old Virgin. I've definitely recommended this to my friends already and they're very ecstatic to rent this.

Burn After Reading was very much the entertaining/perplexing film. When I thought I had a grasp of what the movie was all about, I was told by J.K. Simmons that no, I hadn't in fact gotten it right and that there actually was no point of this whole movie, and I actually felt a bit disappointed but then got over it. Everyone on the cast did a not-surprising superb job following their roles, and I thought the story was very much peculiar. All the different characters interested me greatly, and I thought the whole movie was very fun to watch. I would recommend this film, if your ready for a splitting headache if you're trying to patch the pieces together of everything that's hectically going on.

Tropic Thunder is a comedic film about a group of actors that are sent to an island to create an epic war movie. Personally, I don't really care for Ben Stiller, but I do love Jack Black, Jay Baruchel, and Robert Downey Jr., of course. I thought this movie was going to be a bit lacking, when I first saw the trailer, but I think that's because I first saw the trailer when I was going through my "Dark Knight was amazing and I am now in love with everything Batman related" phase. Even though there was plenty of Stiller and not enough of my three other favorites in the film, I still thought that Tropic Thunder was a decent movie with lots of entertaining features popping out of it in all different places. I especially loved the ending!

T.V.!

Flight of the Conchords is a truly marvelous and miraculous television show, and you won't hear me saying 'miraculous' all the time, since it is my favorite word and I try to rarely say the wondrous word because hearing and saying it is such a lovely privilege. But back to the show, Flight of the Conchords is about two guys from New Zealand who are in a band and they live in New York. These two guys (Bret and Jemaine) find themselves in new dilemmas in every hilarious episode whether it has to do with girlfriends, the band, or self-issues. The last time I fell in love with a television show was when I began to watch The Office, and honestly, no other show will take it's tiny space in my heart, but Flight of the Conchords might find a new home somewhere near The Office.. This show is really amazing, I love how Bret and Jemaine break out into song randomly and how Bret dresses in sweaters with animals on them and how Jemaine always makes different and weird voices whenever the two sing songs and I love how new characters always think that Bret and Jemaine are Australian.. Ah, I look forward to watching more episodes of this in the future..

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Well.. those are my short reviews.. As of now I am finishing up Lemony Snicket's, The Series of Unfortunate Events, waiting to watch Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist as well as the Pixar film, WALL-E, and I'm still watching Flight of the Conchords and looking forward to new episodes of season five of The Office.

Happy New Year (: