Matchstick Men

Starring Nicolas Cage, Sam Rockwell, and Alison Lohman Matchstick Men is an ingenious film. This 2003 movie has you thinking that you have everything all figured out, but you don't. It's filled with suspense and thrilling twists you never see coming.
The movie is about two con men who work as partners. Roy, one of the con men, is genius at crime but failing at life due to his agoraphobe which is the fear of open places and he's a germaphobe. Also after going to a phyciatrist he discovers he has a 14 year old daughter. Being a parents helps him cope with his phobias and makes him want to be a better person. His daughter played by Alison Lohman quickly becomes a special part of Roy's life.

The ending of this movie is something you would never expect. It keeps you thinking long after it is over and makes you want to watch it over and over. It is truly a very mind blowing and crazy film. It's very memorable and worth watching.
I thinks a vital part in making a good film or writing a good book is to have very interesting characters; ones that are memorable and complex. This film was derived from the novel also called Matchstick Men which was written by Eric Garcia.

A Day to Remeber

This is a band that i first heard about when i was into, i guess you could say, hardcore music. I grew out of the rest of it but A Day to Remember stuck with me. They have really catchy songs that you can't help but sing along with.

Jeremy McKinnon - vocals

Neil Westfall - guitar Tom Denney - guitar Joshua Woodard - bass Alex Shellnutt - drums

They have produces two records thus far one under Victory Records and the other under Indianola Records. Their first album is called And Their Name was Treason. It was very successful for the fact that it's existence was spread through word of mouth only. Then they got signed to a new label and they came out with For those who Have Heart. They were nominated for an award for this album, the best international newcomer, but they didn't win, sadly. They have been on many tour including the all famous warped tour in 2008. I saw them live with The Devil Wears Prada, in Iowa City, which was Amazing.
Their style is post-hardcore however their meldoy is more pop punk which always invites a good sing-alongs. The music has an up-beat, happy, jump up and down feel that i need in times of termoil. Monument is my favorite song on their second CD and it should be yours.



Alas A Day to Remember is coming out with a new CD titled Homesick. The CD is scheduled to be released February 3rd.

Atmosphere

Atmosphere is an independent hip hop group from Minneapolis. They are extremely successful for being independent and enormously diverse and excellent. The beginning days of Atmosphere are a little confusing and besides the point so basically now the hip hop group consists of Ant and Slug. Ant (Anthony Davis) is the producer and has produced every album except one. Slug (Sean Daley) writes and performs all of Atmosphere's songs. The two are a perfect combination and create amazing music.

Slug has a way of writing lyrics that develop into more complex and intelligent works of art every time i listen to his songs. Lucy Ford is a theme that is seen in many of Slug's songs and is thought to represent his ex-girl friend and the mother of his son. However, she has developed into a symbol that represents all women and a device that only his fans will understand. His lyrics cease to amaze me and he has so many songs a can discover something new every day. His song Love Life displays his lyrical genius. It's like he is an award winning essayist, but he just write songs and if you listen close he knows you will discover his well written songs. Can you figure out what he is describing?

Individually wrapped, placed in neat little rows
Becoming A piece, of everything that grows
Some numbers, A name, to indicate you played the game
Came empty handed and left the same

Atmosphere is different then the mainstream rappers who know their music will sell so they just do whatever to get by. Atmosphere actually has intelligent lyrics that tell a story.
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The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Written by: Mark Haddon

This book is written in first person through the perspective of a 15 year old autistic boy named Christopher. Christopher is a very interesting character. He Is diagnosed with Aspergers disease however he is brilliant at math and has a photographic memory. The disease that he has is a social disorder. He is not very good at understanding human behavior and relationships. Christopher has some sort of pathological thing against lying. He cannot lie however he can tell only parts of the truth to be misleading, he calls these white lies. Also, he is very observant and has interesting theories. Christopher absolutely hates the color yellow but he loves the color red. If he sees a lot of red cars in a row then he is going to have a good day but if he sees a lot of yellow cars in a row then he will have a "black day" and he won't talk to anybody. All of this makes to be a very compelling main character.

In the book, Christopher lives with his dad, who in the beginning seems to be very compassionate and understanding with him. Christopher is told that his mother died of a heart-attack when he was younger. What starts off the series of events that takes place in the book is the mystery of who killed their neighbor, Mrs. Sheer's, dog. Christopher discovers Mrs. Sheer's black poodle stabbed with a pitch for in her front yard. He is immediately dismayed and doesn't know what to do. The book consists of Christopher solving the mystery and learning things he would have never imagined.

This book never has a dull moment and just keeps surprising you with every turn of the page. I likes it a lot mainly because the perspective was so interesting. I read this book awhile ago and almost forgot about, until i remembered how Christopher gives hugs. He hates touching people or anybody touching him, so to give the people he is close to a hug they put their hands close to each other but never touch. Almost like you are going to give a high five. I remembered this because my boyfriend and I both read the book and we both found the "hand hug" very interesting, so we participate in it. This book is tre bien, read it!

Smart People

Tagline: Sometimes the smartest people have the most to learn.

This is an independent film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2008 where the rights were acquired by Miramax Films. The main characters are played by Dennis Quaid, Sarah Jessica Parker, Ellen Page (!), and Thomas Haden Church. I picked this movie up on a whim hoping it would be watchable. It turned out to be amazing.

This movie is about a professor who is a witty pompous widower and his journey to become more...sociable. His daughter, played by Ellen Page is a senior in High School and got accepted to Harvard. She is very found of her father and he is her role model, she doesn't have any friends, except for her step uncle who paid a surprise visit and is not living with them. Lawrence, the professor, meets a former student and starts to fall for her. His personality causes a lot of ups and downs in their relationship. In the end he learns a lesson and everyone is happy.

I liked this movie because i felt smart while i was watching it (haha). All of the large vocab words and grammatically correct speaking gives me a sense of hope for quote unquote normal people. The plot was simple but still interesting because of the script and intricate characters. My favorite was either Vanessa Wetherhold (Ellen Page, the daughter) or James Wetherhold (Ashton Holmes, the step brother). This movie may never be as popular as some but it is still worth watching.













Favorite Quote: Vanessa Wetherhold: Theresa Sternbridge practically runs a soup kitchen and she's always seen posing in photos with crack babies and dying, old, crusty ladies. And do you know why? She scored in the 45th percentile on her SAT. People like you and me don't need to compensate.

Good Will Hunting

The writers of Good Will Hunting were Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, two of the main characters. It started out as an action-thriller movie, which is definitely not how we know it today. After considerable revision and suggestions the movie turned into the award winning film we all love.

Good Will Hunting is about a poor self taught genius from South Boston who has emotional problems bottled up from his childhood abuse(Matt Damon). He works as a Janitor at MIT and gets discovered by a math professor who takes him under his wing. Will gets forced to go to therapy and develops a very good relationship with his therapist(Robin Williams). He ends up finding a girlfriend, who he pushes away in fear of getting to attached. In the end everything always seems to work itself out.

This is such a good movie because even though it has a basic story line there are a lot of extra memorable moments that happen along the way. It is so interesting because you get to watch Will unfold throughout these therapy sessions that reveal more and more about him each time. I can't help but cry every time during the last therapy session. This movie is just a classic that everyone must see.

What my Blog is about.

This blog is basically all of my entertainment recomenations to you. It is full of my favorite books, movies, and television shows. I try to give them a fair review but they might be a bit bias on my side becasue i only write about things i really like. Maybe i should change that but i would feel bad writing negative comments about anything that someone has put so much work into. Basically you can come to my blog for ideas about what movies to see or books to read. and you can also check out some of the music.