Top 10 update

This is the time of year where my taste in movies changes. I live with many people that don't share my enjoyment of foreign or obscure films, so the rest of the year I wait for said films to come out on video. But Oscar season allows me, and those around me, the excuse to check out the hype of any kind of film. On Saturday night I saw Slumdog Millionaire and I was blown away. It's up there as one of the best love stories I've seen since Moulin Rouge. Last week I saw Che. It won't get many nominations but it is easily Best Picture worthy...far more than the incredibly overrated and rather disappointing Benjamin Button. Anyways, I still have a few more films to go from 2008 before the Top 10 list can be official, but here is an updated version. As expected, Wanted and Quantum of Solace got pumped.

I know some may wonder how they were there to begin with and the answer is quite simple. First, Wanted is hysterical. It's A Purpose Driven Life with guns. It's quite telling to see the American rhetoric of destiny and individualism exposed for the bloody mess it is. The film was clever and a good shoot 'em up. Any good top 10 list will acknowledge that entertainment and escapism is important as well films with a critical edge. As for Quantum of Solace. I love what they're doing with James Bond. He's no longer a glamorized alcoholic womanizer. He's a flawed man. Post 9/11 tension finally made it's way to the Bond films and after decades of the same old thing, it's nice to see a one-dimensional character get some layers. Yes, there was far too much action but Daniel Craig is the best Bond ever (I'll argue anyone on that point) and the film gave me great hope for the future of the franchise.

Now there's also the issue of why Cloverfield is on my list. First off, I'm not alone as several other critics put this postmodern monster movie on their list as well. I loved this film. I took the ideas of The Blair Witch Project to the extreme. It was brave enough to tell a story people might not want from a blockbuster. And it had some great cinematography. I felt like I was on a 3D ride and I enjoyed it all. The characters were decent and the storyline was ambiguous. Sometimes closure is overrated.

Well, w/o further ado, here's the update list in order, pre The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, Rachel Getting Married, Doubt, Frost/Nixon, and The Reader (if any of the finalists make the cut, Wall-E will be the first to go).

1. The Dark Knight
2. Slumdog Millionaire
3. Let the Right One In
4. Iron Man
5. Milk
6. Cloverfield
7. Che
8. Tropic Thunder
9. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
10. Wall-E

Simpler Times

I remember when all I had to do was wake up, eat, pretend to enjoy work, do homework, play video games, watch a movie, and go back to sleep. Life was simpler in college and grad school. Now, it's not that it's not that simple, there's just not much time to prepare for the constant change. Trying to figure what I'll be doing in the spring has been a confusing endeavor. I thought I had it figured for about three weeks back in October/early November. I was going to teach three classes and assist school newspaper at APU. I had two 400 level classes lined up at APU, Faith and Values in Journalism and Senior Seminar. I was incredibly excited about both of them...they got canned from low enrollment. I suddenly realized adjunct teaching is stressful. I began contacting several colleges from Chapman to Pasadena City, trying to find any classes I could. My one goal, not to have to substitute teach. Nothing came through. I still had The Clause and that was it. Luckily, I was offered to teach another class in the spring at Biola. It's funny how I got hired there a few days before the semester started and now it's my bread maker. So I was set. I was going to spend all of January preparing for the Biola class at the end of the month and for the PhD application deadlines coming up on February 1st. But of course something else came.

So two days ago I was offered another class at APU, Public Affairs Reporting. I decided to take the class and am frantically preparing a syllabus and doing the appropriate reading to prepare for such an endeavor. In August I was able to prepare three weeks worth of lectures before the semester started for three classes. Now, I'm gonna going week by week. I'm not complaining here, because I'm so thankful for the second class. I'm gonna love the preparation and the challenge of entertaining 10 students in a three-hour class. I am, however, laughing at how this all has happened. I've gone from full to empty to partly full. I'm excited about the semester, but I gotta say I'm looking forward to the day when I have my PhD and a full-time job that will insure I get classes every semester. I get too much anxiety to live semester by semester.