Knee•um

The heck

Are movies getting better or am I turning into a little girl because they’re getting me all misty-eyed nowadays…

Warrior, insta-classic.

Coming soon

I’m ready for autumn. Come soon overcast weather and sad songs and sweaters!

Damn

I forgot how cathartic tumblr was. That last post was like taking a huge dump after a day of eating candy and fried, fried things at the fair. 

So besides working and studying for my DAT, one of my favorite hobbies this summer has been watching movies and tv shows. I’ve never been much of fanatic of either, other than the occasional trip to the theaters because there either isn’t much else to do, or because we’re too lazy to do anything but since on our butts for a few hours. My medium of preference has always been books, but I found myself swapping page-turning to gluing my eyes on the computer screen (my eyes love me). Don’t get it wrong, I still love reading books; there’s something so intrinsically intimate about text printed onto a page forming elaborate scenes in your imagination that is unrivaled by other forms. This summer has seen too many required hours studying from my chemistry and biology books that my brain likes to be a little lazy, allowing directors and executive producers to do the visualizing for me. My routine usually involves watching a few episodes or a movie every night after dinner. I’ve blazed through an unhealthy amount of shows and movies this summer, but it’s been illuminating. I’ve watched a few duds, but more often than not I find myself unable to fall asleep right away because my thoughts are alive and kicking. Here are some choice morsels that I’d definitely recommend to provide more than a few hours of entertainment.

Scent of a Woman (1992)
 

Al Pacino is this blind war veteran, uber pissed and grouchy from all the misgivings life has given him along the way. His family is off to go on vacation and they hire this college student to “baby”sit him for a few days. Needless to say, they don’t get along very well but that passes after some time as the two get to know each other. Pacino’s character is wonderfully unlikeable despite being one of the loudest characters in any movie I’ve ever seen. It’s like the more blind he gets, the more he has to yell LOL. It’s a very moving story that is just the right tinge of sappy. I hope that when I’m old, I can pass down all the little tricks that I’ve picked up along the way. There are definitely some goodies in this movie. Watch it and love it. And no, it’s not really as sexual as the title suggests (shucks).

Senna (2010)

This is a documentary about Ayrton Senna, one of the greatest race car drivers of all time. I don’t care much for racing but I took a glance at the trailer and I just had to watch it. It’s riveting stuff into a channel on tv that I always skip because who in their right mind would want to watch cars drive around the same course for 500 laps. That apathy will go away after 10 minutes of this movie. Senna drove for the love and thrill of the sport and that passion is captured perfectly. I think it’s a beautiful thing seeing how much people love what they do and it inspires me to aspire to my own goals. If you’ve wiki’d the guy, you know how his story ends and frankly, that’s the only way it should end. Do what you love and that’s it.

Four Lions (2010)

Black comedy about the modern jihadism presented as satire and farce. It’s about four suicide bombers and their journey into doing what they believe is right. Sounds kind of awful, doesn’t it? One of the funniest movies I have ever seen. It has to be seen to be understood. The main characters are the goofiest guys ever, otherwise normal guys. They’re part gangster, borderline imbeciles, and ultimately very likeable people. It’s not a visually violent movie or anything and is very light-hearted, despite what you might think. Gosh, people need to see this or else they’ll think I’m crazy!

I’d post blurbs about Breaking Bad and Mad Men too but I feel like everyone’s already heard about those. Believe the hype, they’re fabulous shows, from the writing all the way down to the acting. Years from now, I’ll be able to tell my children that in my day, Breaking Bad and Mad Men were on air at the same time. Classics.

The finer things

A couple weeks ago I suffered the first, gnarliest, and hopefully last ankle sprain while playing basketball. I went up for a board, which is kind of laughable because I don’t really go for rebounds, not necessarily because I can’t but because I’m rather lazy, and ended up landing on my left foot, which wanted to say hello to the ground the weird way (completely sideways). A few cracks and some grunting later, I found myself on the side of the court, really disappointed that I couldn’t really feel much in my foot besides this throbbing pain as if my foot had suddenly decided to become a heart. I’ve seen my fair share of ankle sprains before but I’ve never really had one that had any lingering effects. I knew the moment I landed that this one was a dozy and would probably knock me out of commission for a while.

I thought I was mentally ready, but even that still didn’t prepare me for all the consequent inconveniences that plagued me for the past couple weeks. The immobility that came with not being able to apply much pressure on my foot made even the smallest activities infinitely difficult. Getting up to go brush my teeth in the morning wasn’t the usual 5.6 second walk to the bathroom but instead was a one-man cumbersome, awkward chicken fight. A lot of the plans I had in mind, even just my normal, everyday activities were substituted with their clumsier counterparts. I found myself growing more irritated that I wasn’t “myself,” but the very thing that knocked me out of my normal orbit brought to me closer to something else, something much more grand. I’ve been fortunate to be blessed with the life I’ve led so far to the point where I’ve been taking things for granted. Day in, day out, I am happy, as expected. Things usually go well because they are supposed to. It might seem insignificant but this little ankle sprain did more than just stretch my ligaments. It presented me a couple weeks of delightful discomfort, a new way of seeing and feeling things that I’ve never paid much attention to.

There’s a beauty in the mechanism of running, two legs and countless muscles, tendons and ligaments working in unison for one otherwise simple action. It’s a beauty that has gone undetected for the longest time. After a while, blessings become too common. If not for momentary plunges into jeopardy, we overlook the significance of the blessings in our everyday lives. I’m grateful that I see this now. I’m taking advantage of what I have and it’s going to make my life so much richer, I just know it. I just got back from playing basketball for the first time since the injury and the first gasps of fresh air filling my lungs, mixed with the nausea that comes with lack of physical exercise for lengthy periods of time, were marvelous.

We all have an absolute and infinite capacity for taking things for granted. I just hope others can understand how far a little gratitude for the finer things can go in enriching our lives.

I just wanted to get that Hallmark corn off my chest and am way too lazy to format and proofread so that’s that.

I love.

I’ll edit this entry later because I’m so overwhelmed with happy.