Best Films of 2016

broderic on January 2, 2017

I do this every year because I usually watch a lot of the movies that come out in the theatre. It’s my list of best films watched where I ponied up money to see in a darkened auditorium. Once again, these are based on the 4 or 5 star film review. Now whether those stars hold up, it is left to myself to see sometime in the future. But more often they slip. There are only very few I still admire. Those would be the 5 stars films. I don’t think I have any this year. O, well. Onto the show!

La La Land. 4 stars
Rogue One: A Star Wars Story. 4 stars
The Handmaiden. 4 stars
Kubo and the Two Strings . 4 stars
Star Trek Beyond. 4 stars

That’s it.

And if I would say it, The Handmaiden is my favorite. Most likely because of the eroticism in it. But it was really well made and it was a surprise when I saw it.

2017 New Year’s Resolutions

broderic on January 1, 2017

New Year’s Resolutions are lame. You will break them by the January 2nd if not before. That being said I’m writing out my New Year’s Resolution in order to be transparent. How long will they last? It is up to me. I need to work on my perseverance.

Health

  • Target weight 210. Stretch goal of less than 205. Today I’m about 230 wet. 210 is 20 pounds away. I have 12 months. That’s about a little over a pound a month. It can happen. It must happen because my pants are getting too tight.
  • Lose 5 inches around the waist. What is it now? What constitutes the waist? I would like to lose my belly or decrease that by 5 inches. Anything to get me to fit in my pants.
  • Lower my resting heart rate by 4 BPM. What’s it now? I will say 84 BPM. If I can get it to average under 80 BPM success!
  • Lower my blood pressure targeting 120/85. What’s it now? I would say 125/92. Maybe it might be, but it needs to be less.

Exercise
In order to get healthy, I’m gonna have to get off my butt and do some exercise. I got an Apple Watch to help me track it, but I need better metrics.

  • 150 miles on a bike. I haven’t ridden faithfully for 5 years. I’ve always wanted to get back to the feeling of joy as I pedaled by bike. Two hundred may be a bit too far. My rides around the block were usually 10 to 13 miles. The ride at the NCR trail to Sparks is 12 miles. The airport loop is about 12 miles, too. There’s gonna be a lot of bike riding if I actually get on the bike.
  • 120 outdoor walks. That’s about 10 a month. I didn’t say the average, because it depends upon the weather. What is a walk? 15 minutes!
  • 5 sessions a month on the rower. I’ve got it in the house. I’ve got to use it. What’s a session? 15 minutes! Hopefully, I don’t hurt my elbow doing this.

Professional Life

  • Learn a new language and use it. Maybe use it to write an actual iOS app.
  • Maybe a new job. Not a new position, but somewhere else. Is it possible to even change jobs at this age in this particular field?

Personal

  • Blog more. Not just movie reviews or link of the days. Blog something meaningful. Start a series of posts on a topic. Blog about the bike rides. Something. Anything.  Target five meaningful posts a month.
  • Cook more. Don’t eat out too much. Lessen my snack spending (lattes, donuts, ice cream) by 25%. Lessen my dining out by 25%. Currently, Quicken tells me I spend a total of $6700 on dining out of which $1400 is snacks.
  • Read more books. Read literature a bit more. Maybe finish the novels on the nightstand. There are 3 or 4 I believe. Whatever needs to happen so I don’t stay on the computer all night.
  • Japan. I really want to go there. I will. Tokyo for maybe a week. Really want to go there. Tokyo would a start.
  • Study Japanese more. Maybe 30 minutes a night or an hour for 3 days a week.
Is this too much?  Can I do it.  Follow me and find out.  2017 here I come.

Bookstore Haul: Volume 19 — The Movie

broderic on December 31, 2016

Last trip to the bookstore of 2016. I went just for coffee like I always do. This time I didn’t get decaf; I went regular which I have done a couple times during this Christmas break. Maybe I won’t get the jitters. Maybe I will, but at least I can sleep on my couch.

I bought movies. I doubt I finished the last set from the last time I bought movies at B&N. Maybe by the end of 2017 I would see these films.

High and Low directed by Akira Kurosawa. BluRay
The Mermaid directed by Stephen Chow. DVD
Love and Friendship directed by Whit Stillman. DVD

Manchester by the Sea

broderic on December 31, 2016

Manchester by the Sea is like many indie films. It deals with death, going back home, reconciling relationships, and morose characters.

In this one, it follows Casey Affleck’s character who comes back to Manchester by the Sea to bury his brother. He had left the town because he found that it reminded him of his dead children. He left his wife there. He comes home to help his nephew become the man of the house. Affleck’s character doesn’t like dealing with these things, but he grows a bit to handle the pressure. He must become a better person for his nephew, and he must become human again.

Like many indie films, this one flits from one vignette to another to highlight Affleck’s character. It also uses flash backs to show us that he wasn’t always so remorse. It was the town that made him such, and returning to it will help him heal. The town is a third character. Each scene makes us follow Affleck’s character. He is who he is because of the town.

I’m sure I’ve seen many films like this one before. It had all the hallmarks of indie-ness. You’ve seen one then you’ve seen them all.

3 of 5 stars.

La La Land

broderic on December 31, 2016

In this day and golden age of television, it takes a film like Damien Chazelle’s La La Land to help define today’s cinema. Television can’t pull off a story like this because of its serial nature. Cinema does because it compacts a terrific story into a shorter run time. Let’s forget about the super hero and connected universe movies, a one shot, self-contained movie is great to have once in a while.

I had to give into the movie in order to love it. It starts with traffic wherein the stranded motorists break into dance. Neither one of the protagonists do; they are busy honking and minding their own business. Then the film follows each protagonist to their destiny as a couple. The female lead is an actress working at the studio backlot coffee shop serving the movie stars. The male is a jazz pianist chasing his dream of pure musicianship and a club to express it. They meet because of a few bars he plays during a Christmas show. We have to follow these fools in love as they balance their artistic ambition with their love for the other.

This is a musical. There is singing and dancing. There is wonderful scenery. There is also wistfulness for Los Angeles of old as captured in film: Singing in the Rain, A Rebel Without A Cause, etc. Any film that loved or showcased LA is here as well.

I really liked this film. It was probably the best movie I saw this year. It was refreshing to see something like this in the theaters. Films need to be accessible, fresh, and fun to make people want to see them. This one is.

4 of 5 stars.

Rogue One: A Star Wars Story

broderic on December 28, 2016

Rogue One is an excellent tie into the Star Wars Universe. It answers the dumbest question from the first, original movie: why did they build the Death Star with an vulnerability? Because the designer built it in. D’uh!

At least that was answered. Now for the movie itself. It was somewhat disjointed. Like it could’ve been another 30 to 40 minutes longer to extrapolate some of the plot points. Who and why Saw Gerrera? Why was Andor sad about his work? Why weren’t the Jedi temple protectors Jedi themselves? Also, the technology was weird. From thumb drives to crackly holographs to large tape drives, why can’t they settle on a particular technology? It’s amusing that these questions should arise almost like this craziness was not thought out.

Anyhow, I was expecting Seven Samurai — recruit a small team to retrieve the plans and die in glory for the Rebellion. It was actually a Dirty Dozen — send in a force to do the damage. Plus, then it became the opening salvo to the start of the Rebellion offensive. It also finished up at the beginning of the original movie.

4 of 5 stars.

Bookstore Haul: Volume 18 — The Last Couple of Weeks

broderic on December 19, 2016

It’s getting hard blogging about my bookstore purchases if I am purchasing something almost every week. Especially during Christmas, I buy presents there. So SPOILER ALERT! Some of these are presents. Others a presents for me.

This is my haul for the last two weeks. I’ve been to the bookstore about 4 times. I should stop. Yet I keep going.

It is a place to buy Christmas presents. Sometimes I want to shop for everyone there. Except no one reads books let alone in paper back. Not too sure why not. I wish for all the books in the world.

Developer Testing: Building Quality Into Software by Alexander Tarlinder
Smuggler’s Cove: Exotic Cocktails, Rum, and the Cult of Tiki by Martin Cate with Rebecca Cate
Dune by Frank Herbert
Modarri Cars
Godiva Chocolate