Favorite Movies of 2009 and Possibly My Weirdest Sleep Schedule Ever

So this weekend was weird for me. Thursday fell asleep about 11 pm woke up around 3 am. Friday nothing. Saturday I took maybe an hour long nap at 10:30 pm before going to work. It's now Snday morning at 8:30 and I am inexplicably not tired. Oh well, this is why I saw so many movies this year. Hey look, a segue!

10. (500) Days of Summer
Adorably indie. Wish I could get advice from my little sister. Also, the things I would do to Zooey Deschanel...

9. (tie) The Hangover and Zombieland
Ridiculously funny. Period. I couldn't stand for either one to not make my list. If I could use photoshop, I would put a picture here of the Zach Galifinakis looking scared of a zombie tiger while Woody Harrelson brandished a bat at a toothless Ed Helms. I'd also edit off Emma Stone's clothes.

8. Inglourious Basterds
Best thing Tarantino has made. That's saying something.

7. Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
Yes, the Harry Potter movies are flawed. I still enjoy the shit out of them.

6. Funny People
Most depressing movie of the year. Also possible the funniest. I think @jephjacques said it best "Finally saw 'Funny People.' Fuck you Judd Apatow, for making me love Adam Sandler in something."

5. Avatar
It was just so damn pretty.

4. Star Trek
OH MYEXCITING! Next time you want an action movie, probably this one. I really like how they did the story so that it's not just another Star Trek movie, but the beginning of a new franchise. Whatshisface kicks Shatner's ass in the "good acting" category. Can't wait to hear HIS album. this is Shatner's

3. Ink
Yeah, you've never heard of it. Really fantastic story, surprisingly good effects considering the budget, and best super power in movie history (the power of cause and effect). Watch this trailer and know that it doesn't do the film justice.


2. Taken
As of this movie, Liam Neeson is a bigger badass than Samuel L. Jackson. Yeah I said it. No one wants to admit, but Sammy is aging like a mall security guard. Liam is aging like a rusty machete. What the fuck does that simile mean?! THROAT PUNCH!

1. Pirate Radio (which should have been called "The Boat That Rocked")
I don't even know what to say. Absolutely flawless. I love every character, every song, every twist. I'm going to preorder this on DVD despite having already downloaded a pirated copy. Come over and watch it with me any time.

Best Albums of 2009

Okay fine. I have a blog, and even if no one actually reads it I feel obligated to post my "Best of 2009" Lists. I still need to compile movies (because I sure as fuck don't remember everything that came out in the last 12 months) so I'll start with THE TOP TEN ALBUMS OF 2009. You should know, I in no way represent this as an impartial list of the best albums musically. It is nothing more than the ones I like the most.

10. The Field - Yesterday and Today
Great background music. It will not wow you but you will always enjoy it. Genre is listed as minimalist techno. Couldn't have said it better myself.

9. Super Mash Bros - All About the Scrillions
Best maker of mashups out there. It's like he lived my life, and mixed the soundtrack.

8. Lily Allen - It's Not Me, It's You
Sometimes I just want to listen to pop. Lily is there for me.

7. Shwayze - Let It Beat
More hip-hop should be like this. It's like (actually, I'm pretty sure this is true) a talented rapper got born into a suburban family and grew up skateboarding and listening to rock music. And then he got drunk at a rock concert and jumped onstage and started freestyling along with the band and they were so impressed they merged (definitely true).

6. Royksopp - Junior
Best concert I saw this year, and that is saying something. You don't expect a band that's this good in the studio to be that much better live, but they were transcendent. I don't think I've ever used that word to describe a concert before.

5. Weezer - Raditude
I'm glad that "The Red Album" taught me that Weezer's lyrics are now mostly tongue in cheek. It took me awhile to figure that out and it cut into my enjoyment of that album. Since I was expecting it this time, I loved it immediately.

4. Mos Def - The Ecstatic
Best album he's put out since "Black on Both Sides." Features an impressive cast of producers and a reunion with Talib Kweli. Contains the lyrics one expects from the most insightful artist in rap.

3. Miike Snow - Miike Snow
Certainly the funkiest album of the year, and one of the most fun. I expect biig thiings iin the future from Miike. Shit that was cheesy. Don't hold it against him. Coachella?!

2. Beast - Beast
Unlike anything I've ever heard, Beast is dark and moody but manages to make you sing along. Vocalist Béatrice Bonifassi calls it "trip rock." Produced by Lauryn Hill, this is the one album I'm absolutely shocked to not see on more people's lists.

1. Metric - Fantasies
Every track is great. Ever notice that saying "track" instead of "song" makes you sound hipper? Compare "I love this song" to "man, I really dig this track..." Anyway, I'm totally comfortable going off on a tangent here because this album is perfect. I don't feel the need to justify this as my top choice. "Gimme Sympathy" is the best song I heard this year. "Fantasies" is the best album.



My own comments about my list:
Pretty sure I'm the only person on the entire internet to not put Animal Collective's "Merriweather Post Pavillion" on their top ten list. It's a very good album. I liked those ten more. *shrug*

operation nap: mission accomplished

I just broke up a 42 hour awake streak with a 3 hour nap! That may not sound impressive to you, but I am damn excited. Plans for the coming week are to finish off my "Best of 2009" lists for movies and music. I figure I'm super qualified as I was awake for more than 85% of 2009. Probably. I didn't count or anything. Just based on averages. Actually, that's kind of a scary thought. Kinda wish I hadn't figured that out now. Knowledge is power.

Anywho. There's this really cool piece of technology where you can type in a script and 3d rendered people will act it out. Very impressive engine, extremely ridiculous application of it...

This made me laugh so hard and I'm not sure why. "I'm a fucking elite bikeracer"

ughh

alright since waking up at 1 pm sunday i have taken a short nap (the length of which was 1 vampire movie) and thats it. pretty much awake for 72 hours.

on the plus side, iv been to the gym 3 mornings in a row. mostly steam room, but yesterday i swam and monday i lifted weights for 15 minutes.

anyway, i just realized i have nothing interesting to say in this blog so here- this will entertain you
great mugshots

Me bitching about various things

Didn't sleep at all Monday (though I sure did lie down a lot, hurt my shoulder), odds aren't looking good for Tuesday. Sunday I got a few hours in so, along with my 6(!) hours Saturday afternoon, I should be good for awhile. Currently at 39 hours awake.

Now that I'm done complaining about that, I think I'll complain about something else. At the hotel I work at we have an elderly lady that lives in one of the rooms. I assume she's someone in the company's mother. One morning this week about 6, she fell and couldn't get up. This was on my last day of training, so I went on upstairs with the lady I was working with and we picked up a nude old lady. This apparently happens every week or so.

It was scary. Not the nude part, though that was by no means pleasant. But she is old enough that I felt I could break her. I decidedly have no training in this and it's really not in my job description, but mostly I'm just worried about her.

She is extremely nice a mentally sharp (reasonably so at least), but there is no doubt in my mind she needs to be in an assisted living facility if not a nursing home. I don't mind responsibility, but this is a little much.



Still love the chairdrum:

a list and a boring accounting story

Still sleeping way more than usual. Another 4 hours yesterday. I'm gonna have to rename my blog and quit being emo about my insomnia. Be happy for me.

So chasing down a variance (fancy accounting term for "crap you have to figure out") last night of $21.65, I found a transaction in that amount that a server had posted incorrectly. She had left a note that she did it wrong and had fixed it. It looked like she did too, so I spent in excess of 25 minutes trying to figure out what went wrong.
As it turns out there were two separate wrong transactions- one positive, one negative- that added up to that exact amount. Son of a bitch. What are the odds of that shit.

What I read whilst unemployed (41 days):
Zen And The Art Of Motorcycle Maintenance - Robert Pirsig
Number 6 Fumbles - Rachel Solar-Tuttle
The Practice Effect - David Brin
Dragonsbane - Barbara Hambly
Illusions - Richard Bach
Series of Unfortunate Events (all 13 books) - Lemony Snickett
Fantastic Mr. Fox - Roald Dahl
Don't Judge A Girl By Her Cover - Ally Carter
Cross My Heart And Hope To Spy - Ally Carter
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have To Kill You - Ally Carter
Odd And The Frost Giants - Neil Gaiman
Bearing An Hourglass - Piers Anthony
The Jaguar Smile - Salman Rushdie
Dangerous Angels - Francesca Lia Block
The Story of Philosophy - Will Durant
The Complete Myspace Blogs of Carmen
The Count Of Monte Cristo - Alexandre Dumas
The Code Of The Woosters - PG Wodehouse
All Creatures Great And Small - James Herriot
C.L.U.T.Z. And The Fizzion Formula - Marilyn Wilkes
Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy - Douglas Adams
So Long, And Thanks For All The Fish - Douglas Adams
Lost Horizons - James Hilton

(35 items, one every 28 hours)

This is my second night working graveyard shift at a rather fancy hotel. So not only am I getting paid for my insomnia, I'm getting paid to blog about my insomnia! I've also got over 7 hours of sleep over the last two days. Good week for me.

Can't do to much blogging right now as I'm still being trained, so I'll be back sometime soon to a) complain about my brand new job and b) compile a list of what I've read since my unemployment started now that it's over. These should both be relatively long lists, so stay tuned.

Be happy for me

So I slept from 9:15am to 2:30pm. I haven't been this well rested in a very long time. I don't particularly have anything to say tonight, I'm just really proud of myself.

I do want to wish good luck to Greg Oden. He is a basketball player for the Portland Trailblazer's and he just had the same knee injury as me. He is, according to ESPN "expected to miss the rest of the season" and "will probably never be the same player again." I feel you buddy.


You look 45, lets hope you recover like you're 21 (his actual age)

Reviews

I watched "Funny People" with some friends earlier. I'd seen it before, but I watched it more closely this time. My overall review has not changed. It is a really good movie that makes you sad. It is deep and thought provoking. It really makes you think about some things. It's also absolutely hilarious. And among the most depressing movies I've ever seen. I'm not saying I love it, in fact, I rather prefer movies that make me happy. I am saying that "Funny People" offers an amazing range of human emotion. It is real.

I'll also just finished reading another book, "Number 6 Fumbles" by Rachel Solar-Tuttle. Also fantastic, and very real. It is a great insight into the way that a thinking woman, well, thinks. It portrays a woman suddenly seized by crippling self-doubt. She struggles with the same fears we all do, the same insecurities. It's good to know that these things are, if not universal, at least shared.

So next time you feel like your emotions are so strong you just need to know that others go through the same things, I'ma go head and suggest both of these. Even though both protagonists are in different situations than you they are both, poignantly, people.

Oh, and 2+ hours of sleep last night. Along with the 4 from Thursday I'm at 12 hours since Thanksgiving Day. Averaging 1.5 per night. Starting to think I'm not normal.

Determined

So I didn't post last night. Does this mean I slept? No, it means I read. Finished my books. Two of them. Woot. Anyway, I have a job interview at 10 tomorrow then I'm doing shit all day. So even though it's early, I'm gonna lie down and get some rest. I just thought I'd do a quick post in case you missed me.



Sleepy Music: Death Cab for Cutie

Am I Tired?

No sleep last night, but I slept from 9 to about 11 this morning after the gym. For those of you keeping score, that's just under 6 hours of sleep since Thanksgiving.

I feel like your reaction here is probably somewhere along the lines of "holy assballs!" and it is probably appropriate. You may be asking how that even happens. How I can physically function. Then you feel perhaps a bit of sympathy, though probably not because you are a douchebag. And you think "god he must be tired."

That is the crazy part. I'm not. Or possibly I am but I'm so consistently tired that I can't tell anymore. This merits some thinking. I feel like I normally do, but tired probably is normal for me.

A few months back after a party my friend Furd kept waking me up just as I was drifting off to sleep. He kept doing this. Atleast ten times my eyes would shut in exhaustion and he would start talking to me again. People get crazy when you disrupt their sleep patterns and Furd was trying to illicit this response from me. He was very disappointed when I stayed completely calm, coherent, decidedly not crazy. I think this is because it was really nothing new for me.

the ability to kill an elephant!

Not a second of sleep last night, despite all the booze. Oh well.

I do want to talk about one of the things I like to think about as I stare daggers at my spackled ceiling, willing my body to accept lying on my back and trying not to move as restful. I like to think about driving, and how impressive it really is. Think about it. We are these mushy little creatures and we regularly are in control of something that could easily kill any land animal in the world. Sure, a rhino or an elephant can flip over a jeep, but if you caught it unawares it would be toast. And that's not even the part thats craziest to me. Humans are an animal that regularly trips and falls while walking. We injure ourselves severely playing games (football, boxing, etc) and we tend to be so self absorbed as to not notice anything else. And yet, we are put in charge of these machines.

Driving has become second nature for many of us, but it is NOT easy. There are so many things to consider, and it all has to happen so fast. The world record for human running speed is 27 mph. I doubt I can go half that fast. Today on the 5, I hit 80. Didn't even break a sweat. And my mind has adapted that going that fast seems like nothing. You somehow stick a person from the middle ages in a car and see what they think. They wouldn't even get around to the complexity of controlling it. They would be utterly terrified of the speed they were going.

So when you're next in your automobile, don't take it for granted. I'm not talking about having the power to end a life (though don't forget that either). Just think about how cool it really is to go that fast, and be in control of something more than 10 times your size, and be able to put together the series of motor (ha!) functions necessary to drive. It's pretty damn awesome.

Listening to Shwayze

Ok

So I slept lie 3+ hours last night after I posted, so I'm feeling good about my total sleep time this week. As for right now, I drank a bunch of Grey Goose and Everclear with Robyn, Dan, and Nathan so I should for sure sleep. Right? Balls. Just wanted to tell you guys that even drunk I still have insomnia. I would love to sleep. I'm super relaxed. I'm barely coherent. But not tired...
Son of a bitch.

Anyway. Ima lay down. If I'm not still staring at the ceiling in 4 hours wishing I could sleep, I'll be pleasantly surprised.

Now, to keep you guys from getting too bored to keep reading my blog, I shall tell you the story of my car accident. Now what I like to say is that I got hit by a boat about a mile from Gibson Island. What I don't always mention is that Gibson Island is a city and the boat was on a trailer. ...I'm driving down the highway minding my own business at about 5 am and this nutcase in a pickup totally cuts me off. My defensive driving kicked in and I was able to slow enough to not get hit by his dumb ass. It all would have been fine except he was towing a 27 foot boat with no lights on the trailer. Needless to say I couldn't see it in the dark so I thought I was in the clear. But as I watched the truck straighten out in front of me my car was slammed on the left side. I looked in that direction but could not tell what hit me. This is because the boat trailer was against my car below window level and the boat itself had come free from its bindings and was ON TOP OF MY MOTHERFUCKING CAR. The weight of the boat was enough to warp the roof and crack my windshield, but the real damage was done when the boat, carried by the momentum of assface's truck, slid off my roof and landed rather soundly on my hood. It bounced off the hood and skidded 140 feet down the road, coming to a stop sideways but still right-side up in the left turn lane of Ritchie Highway.
So thats the story of the time I owned a Saturn for two weeks.

Time for a Story

Let me set the scene for you. It's one of those nights so cloudy you can tell the moon is out but you can't quite tell what direction it's in. You are in a city, but not one of the modern parts of a city where everything is made of steel and glass. The buildings around you are old, but they were built well enough that thats ok. They aren't dilapidated, just dated. You are walking along with a purpose. I don't know what that purpose is, but you clearly have one. And you seem rather happy at the prospect, walking down the street humming a tune and swinging your arms as if you haven't a care in the world. You pass by an attractive person of your gender of choice and give them a big smile. They smile back in relief as if all they were hoping for is that you think them to be swell. But you keep moving. You have your own agenda. You don't even look back wistfully at this beautiful stranger wishing you had the time. You are not going to be distracted tonight. You continue to walk along and happen upon...

End scene

The purpose of this narrative is to let you know that it can never be about me. I have no purpose. I am easily distracted. I am far more concerned with what might have been than what could be. I spend more time than you might guess analyzing the day's events in my head. I think this is one of the things that began my insomnia. At first it was just my mind's inability to turn off that kept me from sleeping. Who can relax when you have to go over everything that happened that day to see what you could have done to make things turn out better? Well not me, and what started out all mental became so prevalent I become physiologically accustomed to the lack of sleep. It is now to the point that when tired I cannot sleep more than 4 or 5 hours. My body will not let itself get the sleep it needs.

Listening to: Immortal Technique but fantasizing about Uffie

Introduction

I have what you would call crippling insomnia. Right now it is 5:47 am. I took a 45 minute turkey-induced nap around 10 last night that I knew doomed me to no sleep for the remainder of the day. Balls.

Well, at least I started a blog. Pretty productive night. Now I just have to hope that my gym opens at its regular time (6 am) despite it being the day after Thanksgiving. That way, I can go spend some time smoking cigarettes and reading my book in the hot tub instead of doing those very things on my porch.

I will keep my zero readers updated. Tomorrow, I'll talk about some of the things I like to do instead of sleeping.

Currently reading: The Practice Effect by David Brin

Currently listening to: Bishop Allen