and the award goes to me, for seeing all of these.

Here are my (more than) two cents on Oscar-nominated movies and/or performances, in no particular order:

The Artist – Super cute and love the nostalgia and all that jazz (2os pun!), but a big chunk of me wonders how much of the excitement about this comes from the “novelty” of it being silent. I got slightly bored somewhere between the second and third act, but we can probably blame that on the tweeting/texting frenzy of a world we live in. Words are important, people. Regardless, it will most likely win. Everything.

The Descendants – I haven’t seen such a well done silver screen dramedy in who knows how long. My all-around favorite and this year’s winner of The Fighter Award. This award was inaugurated last year when I had no desire to see its namesake, but forced myself to see it in theaters due to the award season buzz and was so pleasantly surprised by everything about it. And even if she wasn’t nominated, Shailene Woodly is my honorary  Melissa Leo this year.

Midnight In Paris – I saw this at about five in the afternoon in Spain, and consequently it was dubbed in Spanish. I think a re-watch is in order, because I liked it quite a bit, but I have a feeling it lost some things in translation — literally. Then again I doubt I’ll find Owen Wilson as charming in a movie as he was when his entire voice was absent.

Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy – The calibur of acting? High. The level of confusing plot? Even higher. I had to read the Wikipedia plot synopsis the next day. And then explain it to Courtney.

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo – I had such reservations about this considering I’d seen and enjoyed the original Swedish trilogy. However, this more polished, more stylized take did a better job editing the book and making it a more fluid and coherent story. So much so, I even got over the fact they were in Sweden… speaking English. Also, the next night it inspired me to re-watch The Social Network solely for Rooney Mara, who is for sure my favorite lucky-they-got-in-the-category-but-won’t-win nomination this year.

My Week With Marilyn – Worth it just to see Michelle’s, not performance, but embodiment of a woman every man loves. (Get it? Like the Marilyn reading? Linguistics joke!)

Biggest snub: Michael Fassbender in Shame. Or X-Men: First Class even — I don’t care. That man deserves all the awards in the world. (But seriously, Shame was good.)

Left to see in theaters: Hugo. Everything else  is labeled a big “pass.” Especially Albert Nobbs, based solely on the fact that I sat through that trailer no less than six times in the span of about two weeks while catching up on the other films on this list. I have nothing against Glenn Close (love you in Damages, homegirl), but I have a whole lot that damned Sinéad O’Connor song. Oh, dammit, now it’s stuck in my head again. Lay your head down, darlin’…

On the docket for this weekend’s viewing: Beginners, Moneyball and The Help. I’m excited for the MacGregor and Sorkin factors of the first two, but the third… I’m gonna need some help to muster up the energy to watch it. And by help, I mean wine.

b recommends: heartbeats

Currently streaming on Netflix is Heartbeats (Les amours imaginaires). A quick rundown of why you should check it out:

• We’ve all been in the situation: He (or she) likes me, right? Oh, is it in my head? No, no, it’s reciprocal. Wait… no? I’m crazy. No, I’m not. Why don’t I internally agonize about it and overanalyze every minute detail?
• I had never seen a French-Canadian film. Have you? They’re like the Europeans of the north.
• The strategic soundtrack features both an Italian version of Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down) and Jump Around.
• I found out afterward that the adorable lead actor, Xavier Dolan, wrote, directed, and produced the thing. Show-off.
• It’s visually quite stunning, reminding me at times of another recent, beautiful gay-themed movie, A Single Man.
• You know those anonymous, talking to the camera monologues movies sometimes use that are super annoying? (My go to reference is the first season of Sex & The City.) This had ‘em and I didn’t hate it. Quite the opposite in fact. I actually found myself hoping they would come back. And they did!
• This line:
  Some Guy – You have amazing eyes.
  Marie – Hazel? As banal an iris as they come. A high IQ is a vital counterpoint to brown eyes.

best albums of 2011.

My fourth annual year-end review of music was doomed for multiple reasons. First, most recently, my winter break has been marred with not one but two bouts of illness that have left me worthless and downright downtrodden.

Also, for a while I’ve been thinking that the year in music wasn’t that extraordinary. There were highlights, yes, but overall everything seemed to hit mediocre. I’m probably just suffering from withdrawal of Robyn albums (three in one year to none is just too drastic), but whereas in the past I’ve always had to seriously whittle down the list of competitors, this year I was struggling to even name 25 albums that came out.

Perhaps the real problem is that I’ve been a music slacker this year. I went to a total of two concerts this year (one in February and the other March). Yes, two. Dos. Deux. No Pitchfork, no Lollapalooza, no nothin’. I even just realized last week that I had let my subscription to Rolling Stone expire about three months ago. Yeah, I’ve been downloading stuff and trying to stay current, but really only new albums from tried and true favorites. I haven’t “discovered” many great gems this year, which makes me sad.

So to resolve the aforementioned issues and because it’s literally the last day of the year, I’m making a quick-and-dirty top fifteen albums of the year. As noted, not many come from the new and noteworthy, but nonetheless, they kept me afloat in my year of music slackerdom.

15. In Case You Didn’t Know – Olly Murs
I fell in love with Olly Murs a while back when I stumbled into a YouTube black hole. This adorable brit helps fill the male void in the currently female-dominated pop world. Plus, his album title is quite apropos considering I just complained about how my list might not be anything new and interesting. Here’s Olly, in case you didn’t know.

14. In The Grace Of Your Love – The Rapture
With the exception of their song “Whoo! Alright — Yeah… Uh Huh,” which I was introduced to by my wonderful friend Laura back in college, I haven’t done much listening to of the Rapture. I’m glad we got reacquainted this year so that some of my hipster dance-cred can stay legit.

13. Femme Fatale – Britney Spears
When I saw My Week With Marilyn I had a thought that someday a similar movie would be made showing how a drugged, handler-operated Britney churned out these past few albums. Britney may be the face of it all, but the team that is doing all the heavy lifting behind the facade sure does know how to produce guilty pleasure dance music.

12. Camp – Childish Gambino
Yes, I only started listening to Donald Glover rap because I’m a huge Community fan. Yes, I was bummed La Biblioteca wasn’t a bonus track. Yes, the album is still pretty solid without it.

11. Oh Land – Oh Land
I went to Norway in 2011. Nanna Øland Fabricius is from Norway and landed at spot number 11. This is all coincidence. I really just like her Scandinavian sound, which falls in the spectrum somewhere between über pop Robyn and kooky Björk. Bonus points for all the typeface accoutrements I gøt to use in this blürb.

10. Wounded Rhymes – Lykke Li
Speaking of Scandinavian sounds, Sweden represent. I like that she went moody sadness on us with her sophomore album, but still in her own  way. I never knew I wanted a somber album I could dance to until she gave it to me.

9. Nothing But The Beat – David Guetta
Yeah, you might discredit me on this one, but I don’t care. This album has upbeat jam after jam on it. What I enjoy most though, is that even though it is all very Guetta-esque from beginning to end, I would argue that there is a lot of variety in the songs, from obvious radio hits (Without You) to gay dance party anthems (Titanium) and delicate balances of something in the middle (Repeat).

8. Who You Are – Jessie J
I didn’t want to like Jessie J when I first heard of her. Something about the name of her single Do It Like A Dude made me automatically assume she was something Ke$ha coughed up on her way home to the alley she crawled out of. Months later I wised up and realized she can actually belt it and she became my new favorite British chanteuse, right up there with Adele, Amy, Duffy, Ellie, etc.

7. Bon Iver – Bon Iver
Easy listening, but you know, in a good way. Plus people from Wisconsin are the coolest.

6. Watch The Throne – Jay-Z & Kanye West
This one took a little time to grow on me. It took a while for me to understand that this wasn’t a Jay-Z album or a Kanye West album but a Jay-Z and Kanye West album, if that makes any sense. Definitely an album that is better as an album (which I thought was basically extinct nowadays) and one that you get something new out of each time you re-listen. Why don’t I say album a few more times? Album, album, album.

5. Talk That Talk – Rihanna
Rihanna can’t stop, won’t stop. This is kind of a catch all for Rated R and Loud, too, both released in November the previous two years. Both times I didn’t have enough listens in to appreciate there was some real substance behind the hit factory that is Rihanna.

4. Born This Way – Lady Gaga
I’ll admit I wasn’t sold the first, second or probably tenth time I listened to this album. But now, six months later, I appreciate it so much more. Love her or hate her, she at least keeps it interesting and intelligent, two things that are in short supply in the pop world.

3. 4 – Beyoncé
Who would have thought I would ever become such a Beyoncé fan? Not me, that’s for sure. I was a bit nervous when Run The World (Girls) was released because I didn’t know if a full-on dance record was what I wanted. (In its place I can just listen to Get Me Bodied twelve times in a row and be perfectly content.) Luckily she pulled a fast one on me and gave us the perfect blend of R&B and pop that hasn’t been around since the good ol’ days of albums like Brandy and CrazySexyCool.

2. Ceremonials – Florence + The Machine
Florence Welch can do no wrong in my eyes. Although there’s nothing nearly as radio-friendly as Dog Days Are Over or as television-soundtrack or movie trailer-ready as Kiss With A Fist, that’s both a positive and a negative. If one has to choose between becoming more generic to widen the fan base or alienate a chunk of the audience to continue to intrigue, I think we can all agree she made the right choice. But now that I’ve seen her Drake cover, I think her next venture should be a complete R&B album. Homegirl’s got mad skill.

1. 21 – Adele
Was it even a contest? She killed it. Killed me, killed you, killed all of America. So much so, I kid you not, the last five out of five times I was in the Vietnamese sandwich shop down the street this album was on. Stunning live performances, beautiful videos, classy appearances — this is the album on the list that came out the longest ago (January) and is still packing the most punch.

thou shalt ponder thy neighbor’s life.

I’m still surprised how few of the neighbors I’ve met since moving in almost four months ago. Of the five other apartments that we share our front walk-up entrance with, so far I’ve met none of them. I did catch glimpses of two of them once though (I think), so I’m fairly convinced they exist and we don’t live in some ghost-town version of a courtyard apartment complex. (Now if that doesn’t sound like a fresh take on a Melrose Place reboot, I don’t know what does.)

One neighbor that I have “met”, though, is Back Alley Mystery Smoker. As his name implies, BAMS lives across the back alley from us, our bedroom window being perfectly placed across from his back stairway. And since BAMS is a smoker, we see him. A lot.

Is it annoying to have some unknown person in plain view from your window at all hours of the day and night? Not really. That’s what blinds were invented for. More than anything, I’m curious about BAMS.

Questions I have include:

Why does BAMS smoke on the back stairway? Maybe he has a roommate or significant other to whom he’s being considerate. Or maybe he just doesn’t want his apartment to smell. Or perhaps it’s just part of the lease.

How much does BAMS actually smoke? I’m guessing a lot. Some days I’ve seen him upwards of three or four times a day, which may not seem like a lot. However, take into consideration that 1) I’m not home all the time and 2) when I am, I’m not looking out the window for him. The odds of actually catching him during his puff breaks are probably slim. So again, I’m guessing a lot.

Where does BAMS work? He doesn’t seem to have a real 9-to-5er, because I see him home at random hours of the day. Like me. So, yeah, he’s probably a grad student.

Why does BAMS dress up a lot? This directly contradicts the job question. Grad student hypothesis: definitely doubtful. He loves him a nice blazer and tie, and not the ironic hipster, thrifted versions. Smoking, in a nice suit… maybe he’s just taking this whole Mad Men craze too seriously.

So many questions, so little likelihood of finding anything out. With winter break coming up, though, I’m just a foot injury away from going all Rear Window on BAMS. The other likely outcome is me placing a giant ‘Smoking Kills’ warning on the back of my blinds. I’m concerned for his health. The day I realize I haven’t seen BAMS in a while is the day I’ll assume he succumbed to lung cancer.

november mixtape.

1. Midnight City – M83
2. No Light, No Light – Florence + The Machine
3. Drunk On Love – Rihanna
4. Lift Off – Jay-Z & Kanye West (f. Beyoncé)
5. Make Me Proud – Drake (f. Nicki Minaj)
6. Slight Work – Wale (f. Big Sean)
7. Heartbeat – Childish Gambino
8. Come Back To Me – The Rapture
9. Called Out In The Dark – Snow Patrol
10. The Bad In Each Other – Feist
11. Holocene - Bon Iver
12. Stay Young, Go Dancing – Dashboard Confessional
13. I Didn’t Mean It – The Belle Brigade
14. God Made Man – Young The Giant
15. Dead Hearts – Stars

(Listen via Spotify.)

a photo collage is worth 10,000 words?

I’m printing out new pictures for my multi-photo frame, so of course I had to map it all out in PhotoShop first. Lookin’ good, folks.

if these shoes could talk.

I bought my Sperry Top-Siders on a family trip to Texas in the spring of 2006. I remember them being on sale at some outlet mall we stopped at. Texas, outlet malls, discount shoes… I know what you’re thinking, and yes, my family does live in the lap of luxury while on vacation. But that’s not the point. My point is who knew five years ago such a purchase would leave a lasting mark on my life? My Top-Siders were not my first foray into prep style. (I mean, do you know me?) They didn’t leave a mark in that sense. More accurately, I left a mark in them — during almost all major milestones in my life since.

For starters, these shoes have traveled the globe with me. First on the streets of Buenos Aires, to the waterfalls of Iguazú, through the Andes-adjacent vineyards, and to the beaches of Uruguay. And now more recently on the streets of London, to the fjords of Norway, and to both the northern and eastern beaches of Spain.

They’ve made some major mileage stateside as well. They’ve accompanied me on friend visits from the east coast to the west coast and back again as I’ve made various pit stops in San Fran, NY, and Portland. And to the midwest coasts too — Minnesota and Ohio.

They’ve lived and worked in what I now consider to be my two hometowns, Madison and Chicago. And they also join me in every trip back to my actual hometown. They were on my feet at my graduation from UW and when I finished my Master’s here at UIC. They’ve even danced up a storm at multiple weddings of friends and friends of friends.

No other item in my closet is older than these shoes. Thanks to steady weight-loss over the years as well as a general cycling through styles, even staples of my wardrobe rarely make it past the three year mark. And although they’ve seen better days — both figuratively and literally — the longer I contemplate getting a replacement pair, the more unlikely it is that that’ll ever happen.

october mixtape.

1. End Of Time – Beyoncé
2. Night Of Your Life – David Guetta (f. Jennifer Hudson)
3. In The Dark – Dev (f. Flo-Rida)
4. Kickback – Cali Swag District
5. N***as In Paris – Jay-Z & Kanye West
6. I Don’t Wanna Care Right Now – Lupe Fiasco (f. MDMA)
7. Never Will Be Mine – Rye Rye (f. Robyn)
8. Domino – Jessie J
9. (We Do It) Primo – Colette Carr
10. Disaster – JoJo
11. No I.D. – Frankmusik (f. Colette Carr)
12. Collide – Leona Lewis / Avicii
13. Save The World – Swedish House Mafia (f. John Martin)
14. What The Water Gave Me – Florence + The Machine
15. My Body – Young The Giant

(Listen via Spotify.)

i dag er vi alle norske.

Almost exactly a month after visiting a place I had never thought I’d ever visit in my life, my heart goes out to Oslo, an incredibly endearing Scandinavian town (it’s seriously tiny), and its friendly inhabitants, both the ones I met and those I didn’t get the chance to.

Although all the photos I’ve seen have been impactful, I did have a double-take upon seeing this one this morning via The Big Picture:

Although I recognize many parts of Oslo in the news coverage (like I said, it’s tiny), I didn’t fully comprehend where the explosion was until I saw this photo. I remember thinking it was a shame I was alone walking by this building because I wanted to get a funny photo reading the newspaper with a petrified pal.

(anything but) studying abroad again.

The (wonderful yet fleeting) year that Becky and I lived together we had several recurring conversations, including but not limited to: anything and everything about our TV shows, where we were going to go Friday night for dinner (because neither of us was ever decisive in the slightest), and, most recurrent, incessant nostalgia about our experiences studying abroad.

Becky’s and my semesters abroad, in London and Buenos Aires respectively, were always regarded as the zenith of our (barely quarter-lived) lives. Sure, our experiences were culturally distinct in just about every aspect — language, food, general appearance of the attractive locals — but the quality of life was the same. Equally fantastic, yet ephemeral.

Your responsibilities were minimal as there was no job to be had and classes mattered, but, as anyone who’s been in college knows, classes “mattered.” (Cramming to write and/or study a few times a semester and voilà — college graduate!) Because of this peculiar situation, you were in this limbo area of freedom. You were free to do whatever you wanted in a foreign mega-metropolis, where you could literally do anything your young American heart wanted. (That ‘anything’ being limited to mostly meet people, drink, dance, travel, and repeat.)

Yet at the same time you were safe and secure in your study-abroad bubble. Money was available via grants, savings, or the Bank of Mom & Dad. You had a set beginning and end, easing both your mother’s worries and quickly extinguishing any ‘I miss the US’ moments. And more than anything, for both of us, we just felt this inexplicable and intangible happiness with everything that we did abroad. I think it’s something similar to what movies like Under the Tuscan Sun (which I haven’t even seen) try to capture on screen even though it seems utterly ridiculous and corny. But it happens. Or at least it can happen. To Me, Becky, and Diane Lane at least.

Something we didn’t realize at the time, however, was that the experience was unrepeatable. Never again would we be able to relive our time abroad and its weird perfect environment. It’s like when Peter and Susan can never go back to Narnia. Unfair!

Anyway, my rambling trip down memory lane has a point: I’ve somehow managed to travel through the wardrobe again. By that I mean my month here in Spain has felt like a curious case of study abroad 2.0, which delights me to no end. The parallels between Spanish and Argentine culture (and overlap of language, of course) help a lot. But more than that, I’m loving the fact that I’m getting to experience the country through a point of view different than that of someone merely on vacation. Living with X’s family feels like my new host family.

And, best of all, I’ve manage to rediscover the feeling described above. Everything just makes me happy.