Late to the Game

Breaking down my birthday:

• Got around 166 well-wishes on Facebook. Got a few through Twitter (and Instagram), Tumblr, Boothica, and the comments of today’s YouTube video.
• Caught up on some new Deadpool, the newest issue of Revival, and the newest Witch Doctor. Also tried out Temple Run 2. All good things.
• Helped out a neighbor with a little dog walking. Tess (the dog) is pretty well behaved.
• Deposited a birthday check and hung out at Starbucks for a few hours sipping my birthday venti chai tea latte. Did a little job searching and applying there, and also had some good conversations with seat neighbors (a 40-something motivational speaker/relationship counselor and author of a soon-to-be-finished zen book, and a 20-something high school dropout who is doing freelance makeup).
• Picked up a new cassette adapter (my now old one has been on the fritz these last few months) before meeting up with Jared (who painted the portrait), Joe (could only stay for dinner), and Ryan (could only make the movie) for dinner and ‘Silver Linings Playbook’ (which was very good; longer review to come soon).
• Finished up the celebrations at home with cupcakes from a local bakery (split a chocolate mousse cupcake and a red velvet cupcake with the brother), followed by a bit of TV (‘Robin Hood: Men in Tights’ after a new Daily Show and Colbert).

Yeah, it’s been a good 23rd birthday.

• Saw John and Hank Green live.
• Turned 22.
• Ended my first relationship.
• Lost a dear station member and friend.
• Went to Boston again for PAX East (and ran into Dan Brown, among others).
• Saw (and interviewed) Driftless Pony Club, caught up with Craig Benzine/WheezyWaiter, and saw (and interviewed) Julia Nunes. Got signed set lists from both.
• Had crazy cooking challenges/adventures with friends.
• Finished an independent study.
• Graduated and earned a BA in English.
• Visited the Canadian Rockies on a family vacation.
• Worked again as a camp counselor.
• Worked as a middle school aide.
• Rewatched, read, and reviewed James Bond media.
• Hunted around for a job/internship. Sent in no less than 100 applications/resumés/cover letters.
• Interviewed for a number of jobs/internships.
• Met a bunch of New York Nerdfighters and some internet friends.
• Joined up with a Nerdfighter magazine.
• Watched 28 seasons/series of television programs (in full), read 109 novels (including graphic novels and plays), and watched 118 movies (including rewatches).

What about you?

April: Game of Thrones season 2, Cabin In The Woods

May: Avengers, Dark Shadows, Men In Black 3, Moonrise Kingdom

June: Prometheus, Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (kinda), Brave

July: The Amazing Spider-Man, The Dark Knight Rises

August: The Bourne Legacy, ParaNorman

September: Argo (mainly because of the talent), Looper (FINALLY!)

October: Frankenweenie, The Gangster Squad (again, the talent), Alex Cross (Kinda, namely because I’m familiar with most of the books … and I hope that this adaptation turns out better than the Morgan Freeman ones. Honestly, get the age right!)

November: Wreck-It Ralph, Skyfall, Rise of the Guardians (again, the talent)

December: Les Mis, The Hobbit (goes without saying … and in 3D), Django Unchained, The Great Gatsby (probably not in 3D, though)

Not as many as last year … but eh, it’s not a big deal. Pretty good count overall, I’d say.

In Theaters (in the order of viewing)

1. Paul
2. Taxi Driver (re-release)
3. Source Code
4. Thor
5. X-Men: First Class (excellent ensemble superhero team/origin flick)
6. Super 8
7. Midnight In Paris (light-hearted, yet serious and very well-done)
8. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2 (excellent cinematography, but that also goes for Part 1, too)
9. Captain America (probably the best of the superhero films this year)
10. Cowboys and Aliens
11. Drive (one of the best films of the year)
12. 50/50
13. The Muppets
14. Crazy Stupid Love (theater grand re-opening; New Year’s Eve (ha-ha, coincidence?) wasn’t working, so we got a vote and the majority went for Crazy Stupid Love)
15. Mission: Impossible - Ghost Protocol (stellar action flick)
16. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows
17. The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (2011) (intense, but very well done and up there on the Best Of The Year list)
18. The Adventures of Tintin (stunning and probably up there, too)

(Source: crimsong19.blogspot.com)

1. Just Another Judgment Day (Simon R. Green)
2. Mockingjay (Suzanne Collins)
3. How to Understand Israel in 60 Days or Less (Sarah Glidden)
4. The Passage (Justin Cronin)
5. A Contract With God (Will Eisner)
6. Oryx and Crake (Margaret Atwood)
7. Serenity: Those Left Behind (Joss Whedon)
8. A Canticle for Leibowitz (Walter M. Miller Jr.)
9. Doctor Who: Agent Provocateur (Nick Roche)
10. Doctor Who: Fugitive (Tony Lee)
11. Doctor Who: Through Time and Space (Tony Lee, et al)
12. Fun Home (Allison Bechdel)
13. The Sandman: A Game of You (Vol 5) (Neil Gaiman)
14. The Sandman: World’s End (Vol 8) (“)
15. The God of Small Things (Arundhati Roy)
16. Children of Men (P.D. James)
17. Buddha (Vol 1) (Osamu Tezuka)
18. Locke and Key: Welcome to Lovecraft (Vol. 1) (Joe Hill)
19. The Sandman: The Kindly Ones (Vol 9) (Neil Gaiman)
20. The Good, The Bad, and The Uncanny (Simon R. Green)
21. Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Man On Earth (Chris Ware)
22. Sin City: The Hard Goodbye (Vol 1) (Frank Miller)
23. Earth Abides (George R. Stewart)
24. The Illustrated Book of Genesis (Robert Crumb)
25. In The Shadow of No Towers (Art Spiegelman)
26. The Postman (David Brin)
27. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Vol 1: My Father Bleeds History) (Art Spiegelman)
28. Maus: A Survivor’s Tale (Vol 2: X) (Art Spiegelman)
29. The Lover’s Dictionary (David Levithan)
30. One of Our Thursdays is Missing (Jasper Fforde)
31. Understanding Comics (Scott McCloud)
32. How to Survive in a Science Fictional World (Charles Yu)
33. A Hard Day’s Knight (Simon R. Green)
34. The Colour of Magic (Terry Pratchett)
35. The Last Lecture (Randy Pausch)
36. On a Pale Horse (Piers Anthony)
37. The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks (Rebecca Skloot)
38. Powers: Who Killed Retro Girl? (Vol. 1) (Brian Michael Bendis)
39. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children (Ransom Riggs)
40. Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
41. Pamela (Samuel Richardson) (not fully …)
42. Selected Tales (Edgar Allan Poe) (not fully …)
43. Selected Tales and Sketches (Nathaniel Hawthorne) (not fully …)
44. Batman: Year One (Frank Miller)
45. The Sorrows of Young Werther (Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe)
46. The Turn of the Screw (Henry James)
47. Ignore Everybody and 39 Other Keys to Creativity (Hugh MacLeod)
48. Locke and Key: Head Games Vol. 2 (Joe Hill)
49. Locke and Key: Crown of Shadows Vol. 3 (Joe Hill)
50. Batman: Cacophony (Kevin Smith)
51. Batman: The Widening Gyre (Kevin Smith)
52. The Night Eternal (Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan)
53. The Old English Baron (Clara Reeve)
54. A Game of Thrones (George R.R. Martin)
55. Doctor Who: A Fairytale Life (Matt Sturgis)
56. Locke and Key: Keys to the Kingdom Vol. 4 (Joe Hill)
57. God Bless You, Dr. Kevorkian (Kurt Vonnegut)

(Source: crimsong19.blogspot.com)