150 Movies in 4 Years

According to my records, I have watched exactly 150 movies since I started keeping track four years ago (September 2006). Most of these I watched lounging around at home, with or without my mom, but a few I saw in local movie theaters, and others I watched in class, or in my dorm, or traveling (I saw The Dark Knight in Ithaca, NY, Alice in Wonderland in LA, Scary Movie 4 on my friend's portable DVD player in Italy, and a few others on airplanes and buses). They are a mix of Golden-Age Hollywood movies, silent black-and-white films, animated movies, chick flicks, comedies, romantic comedies, Oscar winners, cult classics, children's movies, movies in French (but none in Spanish, oddly enough), and some other random ones thrown in. Note that there are almost no horror/thriller movies on the list. I don't do scary movies. I really really wish I could watch The Silence of the Lambs, Rear Window, and Psycho, but I'm too scared as of now. Maybe later. I also learned that I can't do action movies with complicated storylines like Snatch; I didn't really understand Ocean's Eleven until the middle of the movie (but that's probably because I wasn't paying enough attention in the first half). Multiple storylines I can handle, as long as they're somewhat related (Love Actually, Babel, Crash). I also don't tend to repeat movies; I think I only saw four movies twice during these four years (Breakfast at Tiffany's, Iron Man, Rent and Up). However, although I watched most of these movies for the first time in the past four years, some were repeats from before I started the list (Pirates of the Caribbean, a few of the Harry Potters). Some notable ones (and not-so-notable ones) are not even on this list because I didn't watch them in the last four years (Finding Nemo, Amadeus, The Phantom of the Opera, Toy Story, Toy Story 2, Inspector Gadget, Spy Kids).

I saw a lot of these movies because my mom checked them out from the library. She's not really a big movie buff, but she likes Dustin Hoffman and Audrey Hepburn. She also believes in Oscar Best Picture winners (when I was small, any book I was reading would automatically get bonus points if it had a Newbery Medal on it).

I actually did not finish Blade Runner due to a technical difficulties, but I put it on the list because I watched it 95% of the way through and I rather don't want to watch the end. But I think I left out a few movies during the first half year because I kept forgetting to write them down. I thought I watched the first two Shrek movies in the past 4 years...but maybe it was earlier. I also added The Magic Flute, which is an opera that I watched in video form.

I'm actually rather surprised I watched so many, because I'm not a huge movie fan (I prefer books), and sometimes I consider them as cultural homework (or actual homework, in the case of 2001: A Space Odyssey). I think it's because I have a short attention span and I forget things easily, and it's harder to go back and remind myself of something in a movie than it is in a book. Plus in a book you just have to read all the words, but in a movie you have to watch everything. Which also makes them more interesting, I suppose.

So (drummroll please), without further ado, here is the nearly-complete List of Movies I Watched in the Past Four Years, alphabetized:

(500) Days of Summer (2009)
10 Things I Hate About You (1999)
13 Going On 30 (2004)
2001: A Space Odyssey (1968)
27 Dresses (2008)
50 First Dates (2004)
A Beautiful Mind (2001)
A Walk To Remember (2002)
Accepted (2006)
Aladdin (1992)
Alice in Wonderland (1951)
Alice in Wonderland (2010)
American Beauty (1999)
An American in Paris (1951)
Analyze This (1999)
Atonement (2007)
Avatar (2009)
Babel (2006)
Batman Begins (2005)
Beauty and the Beast (1991)
Bedknobs and Broomsticks (1971)
Being There (1979)
Bend It Like Beckham (2002)
Blade Runner (1982)
Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)
The Breakfast Club (1985)
Bridget Jones’s Diary (2001)
Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason (2004)
Brokeback Mountain (2005)
Broken Arrow (1996)
Bruce Almighty (2003)
C.R.A.Z.Y. (2005)
Cars (2006)
Casablanca (1942)
Charade (1963)
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005)
Chicago (2002)
Chocolat (2000)
A Christmas Carol (1951)
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian (2008)
Citizen Kane (1941)
City Lights (1931)
Clueless (1995)
The Corpse Bride (2005)
Crash (2004)
The Dark Knight (2008)
The Devil Wears Prada (2006)
Die Zauberflöte (2000)
Dr. Strangelove (1964)
Edward Scissorhands (1990)
Ella Enchanted (2004)
Emma (1996)
Enchanted (2007)
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004)
The Family Stone (2005)
Fight Club (1999)
Finding Neverland (2004)
Forrest Gump (1994)
Funny Face (1957)
Funny Girl (1968)
The General (1926)
Girl, Interrupted (1999)
The Gold Rush (1925)
Gone With the Wind (1939)
The Graduate (1967)
Grease (1978)
Hairspray (2007)
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone (2001)
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002)
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (2004)
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire (2005)
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (2009)
Hercules (1997)
High School Musical (2006)
The Hot Chick (2002)
The Hours (2002)
Howl’s Moving Castle (2004)
The Hurt Locker (2008)
I ♥ Huckabees (2004)
I Love You, Man (2009)
Iron Man (2008)
It’s a Wonderful Life (1946)
Julie & Julia (2009)
The Jungle Book (1994)
Juno (2007)
The Kid (1921)
La Science des Rêves (The Science of Sleep) (2006)
Lady and the Tramp (1955)
Legally Blonde (2001)
Les Choristes (2004)
Liar Liar (1997)
The Lion King (1994)
The Lion King 1 ½ (2004)
The Little Mermaid (1989)
Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
Love Actually (2003)
Love in the Afternoon (1957)
Ma Vie en Rose (1997)
Mean Girls (2004)
Meet the Fockers (2004)
Million Dollar Baby (2004)
Miracle on 34th Street (1947)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
My Fair Lady (1964)
The Notebook (2004)
Ocean’s Eleven (2001)
Office Space (1999)
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)
The Parent Trap (1998)
Persuasion (2007)
Peter Pan (1953)
The Pianist (2002)
The Pink Panther (2006)
Pinocchio (1940)
Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)
Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006)
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End (2007)
Pride & Prejudice (2005)
Pride and Prejudice (1995)
Pulp Fiction (1994)
The Pursuit of Happyness (2006)
Ratatouille (2007)
Red Eye (2005)
Rent (2005)
Roman Holiday (1953)
Sabrina (1954)
Scary Movie 4 (2006)
Schindler’s List (1993)
Shakespeare in Love (1998)
The Shawshank Redemption (1994)
She’s the Man (2006)
Sherlock Holmes (2009)
Shrek the Third (2007)
The Simpsons Movie (2007)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (2002)
The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 (2008)
Slumdog Millionaire (2008)
Snatch (2000)
Star Trek (2009)
Superbad (2007)
Thank You for Smoking (2005)
To Sir, with Love (1967)
Tootsie (1982)
Toy Story 3 (2010)
Underworld (2003)
Up (2009)
WALL-E (2008)
Wedding Crashers (2005)
Yes Man (2008)

My favorite movies would probably have to be:
(500) Days of Summer
Breakfast at Tiffany's
Chicago
Chocolat
Finding Nemo (not on this list, but who cares)
The Hours
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Rent
Shawshank Redemption
The Science of Sleep
Tootsie
Up

Emo Week

Or maybe it'll be longer than a week. Who knows.

I'm pretty sure it started last Wednesday, when we learned minor scales in music class. I remember thinking it was just too ironic, and it didn't bode well for my midterm that night (which actually went OK, but not great). And after that, it was just a week of bad grades in homework, essays, and midterms, and messed up labs, drama over next year's housing, and general emo-ness. It wasn't even PMS. And then yesterday, after I got my two worst grades ever (relatively for my midterm and literally for my paper), I skipped dinner and went to sleep at 8pm. Yay for thirteen-hour naps!

There were good parts this week, too, I suppose. It's been sunny the whole week. I went running twice, outside. (The second time I almost pulled a muscle, but still.) There were dumplings today at lunch. I got free Jamba Juice yesterday at Frosh Rally (some kind of mango one, it was really good), and I got a letter from S. Plus last Thursday I went to eat at the Creamery with G and W, and although it was $$, it was really good. (oven-fried chicken? mashed potatoes? steamed vegetables? mint-chocolate-chip shake? All signs of general win, in my book.) I also went home last Saturday, so I ate two lunches. I'm noticing this all revolves around food...

Oh, and I hauled twice this week. The first was the annual Zoya Polish Exchange. The deal is that you could send in six or more unwanted polishes from your stash, along with $3.50 per bottle, and you would receive a new bottle of Zoya nail polish for every bottle you send in. I split a package with K, so that we could get over the six-polish minimum. Turns out we both sent in six. At least we saved on shipping, right? I got these:

Blair

Casey

Lael

Posh (why is this the only one with a cap?)

Richelle

Roxy

K got these six:
Akyra

Charla

Kotori

Mieko

Rea

Suvi

I wish they'd let us exchange for their polish remover, because I desperately want to try it. Plus I'm out of acetone remover.

My second haul is with the Old Navy 30% off sale. I got a black string bikini bottom, because my current swimsuit bottom is kind of huge, even though I can tie the sides. My new one looks exactly like the old one, except hopefully it fits better. Here's a picture:

I suppose it doesn't count as a good thing this week, because I haven't gotten them yet. I just paid for them.

I also watched this week's Glee episode, Bad Reputation. I really liked it for some reason. I don't know if it was the harem pants in Can't Touch This (Brittany in red Hammer pants? hilarz.) or Mr. Schuester's interrogation scene (esp. Kurt and Brittany) or Rachel's Run Joey Run music video, or the last Total Eclipse of the Heart. That last song is my current favorite Glee song, along with Like a Prayer from the Madonna episode, and Gives You Hell (whose clip I found on iTunes for free!) and Hello Goodbye, and possibly Run Joey Run. Can't Touch This is also good, but only with the video. I watched the music videos for Glee songs so many times (esp. Total Eclipse and Like a Prayer). Mum would say that watching too much TV is why my life is deteriorating. She's probably right.

I think this should be the end of this Emo Week, because I have a break in midterm season until next Friday. Plus I got all my bad grades back. No~~just remembered my psych project is coming back soon. Won't be pretty. And my music midterm is coming back next week too. I don't know if I should be worried about it. I finished in the first half hour and I was the first one done. I thought it was easy...

Looking back on this list, I'm not sure why I was so emo this week. I did forget/de-emphasize a lot of the more depressing parts here though. The housing drama and the bad grades were pretty aggravating. Also, I'm not in as emo of a mood now (knock on wood), so I'm remembering the happier parts. You know those questions on psych surveys where they ask, "Do you think you can change your emotions?" I'm pretty sure the answer is no. To some extent, mood isn't even based on what events happen in your life. If you're sad, you think about events differently than if you're happy. Stuff that might not be a big deal when I'm happy may seem extremely annoying or depressing when I'm sad. Even if something happy happens, I would just focus on the bad parts of it (because I can always improve, no matter what the situation is).

"Racial Covering," by Kenji Yoshino; or, my life as a Taiwanese-American kid

I'm reading this story for my PWR class (The Rhetoric of Multicultural Experience), and it is fascinating. It's about a Japanese-American boy whose parents bring him back to Japan each summer so he can relearn Japanese culture. He totally fails because he is basically American on the inside, and all the other "pure" Japanese kids laugh at him and it is all very sad. At least, that's how far I've gotten.

I wonder what I would be like if my mom and dad never left Taiwan, assuming that they did meet and marry and have me. We wouldn't be a minority, of course; I think my mom's family has lived in Taiwan for like two hundred years, and my dad's family is similar (like, they didn't emigrate from China). I would actually know all of my Taiwanese relatives. And I would be a ton better at the target language, just like tenth-generation American kids here who have been surrounded by English and American ways since birth. I would have good genes, because my parents both tested into the best university in Taiwan. (Well. Okay. I still have those genes. But still.) Would I be more diligent and persevering? If I wasn't, I would probably fall to the wayside early on, what with all the cutthroat competition and cram schools and whatnot. I could be sure that my parents would know what I was going through, schoolwise, because they'd been through the same type of school system (albeit with more corporal punishment). And there would be none of this Chinglish, "you speak Chinese and I speak English" business. We would both speak Chinese and we would both understand each other perfectly (language-wise). Me and daddy would probably not have so many misunderstood conversations. I wouldn't have had to go to speech therapy in second grade because I couldn't pronounce the "s" sound. Wait no, I still would have because I just realized the "s" sound does actually occur in Mandarin (duh). I would speak and think in Chinese, I would know tons of poems and cheng yu's by heart, and maybe I would even think faster because I wouldn't have spent a large portion of my childhood translating things from English to Chinese or vice versa. ("What's your mommy's phone number at work, Tammy?" "Uhhh...five...seven seven...*counts on fingers in Chinese and then English*...") Man, I totally don't know how I did it back then; I don't think I could do it as well now. I think kid's brains are just super pliable. Or maybe I did it well because I had to do it, so I had to do it well; if I was forced to do it now (like study abroad), I could kinda do it. Probably both reasons, but more of the former. Kids' brains are amazing.

I wonder what I would look like. Would I be totally anorexic or self-conscious about my weight, since everyone else is thin in Taiwan? Or maybe I would just be thinner without all that fatty American food. Chinese food is pretty oily though, because everything is fried or stir-fried. Plus the milk isn't as good in Taiwan as it is here - even whatserface, Xu Zhe Zhao's daughter, said so. I wonder how I'd dress and how my hair would be cut. I can totally see myself with a fob haircut and glasses - no I lied, I can't imagine that. Maybe a little. (Btw, I'm not trying to use fob in a derogatory sense; but I could just call them Asian, because they would be in Taiwan. They're not fresh off the boat, they never even got on the boat.)

But while we're on the subject of "what would have happened if yadda yadda yadda," it's quite unlikely that the specific egg and sperm that created me would also have met and created me in this alternate world. My genes would be all different anyways.

Crikey, that was a long brain dump. And I haven't even finished reading this story for PWR.