Category: Movies

My Weekly Update – Daisies and Dinner

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle7 Comments

Daisy Award

One of my lovely critique partners, Kathleen,  has bestowed on me an award. Thank you, thank you. I happily accept the Daisy Award.  The rules:

  • Link to the person that nominated you. – done
  • List seven unusual things about yourself. – done
  • Nominate some worthy bloggers. – done
  1. I watch Of Mice and Men the other day and got a blog post out of it. Stay tuned.
  2. I watch The Hunger Games two nights ago and am not sure if I liked it or not. What did you think?
  3. I watch The Rite this week and I don’t care for devil movies much, but this one was interesting. Although in Anthony Hopkin’s character, let me know if  you saw Hannibal Lecter instead of Father Lucas at times.  
  4. One of the four English channels I have access to is the National Geographic Channel and have been utterly fascinated with shows like Locked up Abroad, Doomsday Preppers and Wicked Tuna. Is there something wrong with me? 
  5. I had tacos for dinner tonight.  We made them ourselves and they were so good.
  6. I finally wrote 1,000 words of original fiction today, the first time in about a week. It felt good. 
  7. I got to mark off an item on my restaurant Bucket List. Last night I went to Mr. & Mrs. Bund. Totally exceeded my expectations.  My favorite was the Corn Vanilla Veloute w/cornflakes.  Weird, but so so good. 
Dinner

More photos from my dinner last night at Mr. & Mrs. Bund.

The last two photos are of a desert called Lemon & Lemon Tart.  It’s a candied lemon skin filled with lemon sorbet and lemon curd and vanilla chantilly.  Now I am not sure what all that is, but it was yummy.
Blog Love
My blog love this weeks goes to WordFalls Services and her editing tips.  They have been super helpful to me during this month of editing. Check her out. 
 
New Followers and my nominees for the Daisy Award.
Steve Vernon from Yours in Storytelling
The Eye of Faith
Shah Wharton
 
Next Weeks Schedule
Tuesday – Tattoo Tuesday
Wednesday – Sydney Quotes the Movies
Friday – Blog post
Sunday – My Weekly Update
 

What did you watch last week? What did you eat last week?  What did you edit last week?  

Genre Favorites Blogfest

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle52 Comments

Ninja Captain Alex J. Cavanaugh comes up with the greatest Blogfests.  I am excited to participate in yet another one.  Genre Favorites Blogfest.

List your favorite genre:
Movie
Music
Books
And a guilty pleasure genre from any of the three categories!

Click the badge to the right to visit other Blogfest participants.

A quick disclaimer to this blog post. I have been staring at this blank screen for hours trying to narrow down my favorite genres in each section.  It is so hard for someone who seems to like any and everything.  I like my diverse taste in entertainment.  I just want to make sure you realize and understand how difficult this was for me.  Feel my pain.  OK, we are ready to continue.

Movies: My favorite genre in movies is Science Fiction

Examples – Star Wars, Matrix, The Terminator,

Music:  My favorite genre in music is Hip Hop and R&B and any groups that touch on that genre in any way, shape or form.

Example – Jay Z, Beyonce, TI, Linkin Park

Books:  My favorite genre in books is Suspense/Mystery.  I include a lot of different types of books into the category.  You might not agree, but I don’t care. haha.

Examples – Stephen King, James Patterson, John Grisham, Dan Brown

Guilty Pleasure:  My favorite guilty pleasure in music is boy bands.  Old and new.

Examples – NSync, New Edition, 112, One Direction (newest obsessions)

I swear I am not a 12 year old girl, but I love this song, especially with the 50’s Grease soundtrack sample.

These are my favorite genres.  What are yours?  

Sydney Quotes the Movies – The Bourne Legacy

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle9 Comments

At first, I was not going to see this movie.  I am a tried and true, full on, he can do no wrong, fan of Matt Damon and his best work, the Bourne Trilogy.  Robert Ludlum only wrote three books.  Where the heck did The Bourne Legacy come from?  And, you think you can just replace Matt Damon.  Jeremy Renner is a good actor, but he is no Matt Damon.

But, then I calmed down, came back to reality and looked a little further in to this movie.  I get it now.  The Bourne LEGACY – this is what happened after the fact.

I am happy I figured it out (I am smart, but slow) because it was an interesting movie.  The movie is about another agent named Aaron Cross played by Jeremy Renner in another government program to build/engineer the perfect agent.  I enjoyed it.  And, it paid correct homage to Matt Damon’s Jason Bourne.  I didn’t love it, though.  With that title, they had a lot to live up to.  And, it feel a little short.  But, here is what I liked:

It had its own language.  I felt like I had an education in bioengineering after leaving this movie.  Expect to learn the appropriate use of the following terms and concepts:

chems
protocol
In the program
Unacceptable
Outcome
Neurol design
Programmable behavior
Program participants
Down stream
D track team
Pull that access
Drop a bag over this.
Viral him out
Off the grid
The trail is definitive
Stay enhanced

More people in my circle need to see the movie so they know what the hell I am talking about when I tell them to send in the “D track team” to “viral me out.”

Another highlight of this film was the greatness of Edward Norton.  I love him almost as much as I love Matt Damon.  American History X, Primal Fear, & Fight Club – need I say more.  He had some great lines in this movie:

“Jason Bourne was just the tip of the iceberg.”
“That’s Aaron Cross.We have never seen evaluations like this. He’s Treadstone without the inconsistency.”
“This contingency was covered loud and clear.”
“You and I have our jobs because we have the strength to do what’s necessary.”
“Morally indefensible and absolutely necessary.”
“Everybody find another gear.” 
“Same outcome without the emotional attachment.”

And, these lines deserve mention because they added a little comic relief to a very intense movie.

“I don’t know, are you suppose to kill me or give me a pep talk?”
“You’re the director of the C.I.A. Act like it.”
“Well, I’m not just a science project, doc.”
“You’ve been shot.” “That’s alright.” 
“You were given a Ferrari and your people treated it like a lawnmower.”

If you are a Jason Bourne fan, you will enjoy the movie because it takes the concepts in the original trilogy to an extreme and scary level. If you are a Jeremy Renner fan, you might be disappointed.  Anyone could have played this role.

If you want visit a dozen international cities in 2 hours, experience a pretty cool motorcycle chase and finally realize why you were required to take that basic biology course in college, then by all means.  Go see this movie.

BTW, I am starting a Jason Bourne meets Aaron Cross movie petition.  That movie must be made.  Who’s with me?

Related Post:  Bourne and Generic Engineering

Sydney Quotes the Movies – RIP Tony Scott

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle11 Comments

I was saddened by the news of the death of Tony Scott.  For any movie fan, at least one Tony Scott movie is  in your top ten.  In my case, a Tony Scott film began my love of movies.  It was 1986 and my friends and I went to see Top Gun.  Cue the dreamy movie music.  The F-14’s made me want to join the Air Force and the volleyball scene, well, made me want to . . . watch more volleyball.

In honor of the passing of Mr. Scott, I have dedicated this weeks Sydney Quotes the Movies to the greatness that is Tony Scott.  I have been known to recite the following quotes at inappropriate moments.  Try it, it fun.

“If I’m wrong and we’re at war.  God help us all.”

“Everybody who reads comic books knows that the Kirby Silver Surfer is the only true Silver Surfer. Now am I right or wrong?”

“Mr Hunter, we have rules that are not open to interpretation, personal intuition, gut feelings, hairs on the back of your neck, little devils or angels sitting on your shoulder. We’re all very well aware of what our orders are and what those orders mean. They come down from our Commander in Chief. They contain no ambiguity.”

*Denzel Washington did five movies with Tony Scott; Crimson Tide, Man on Fire, Pelham 123, DejaVu, and Unstoppable.

“That’s pretty arrogant, considering the company you’re in.”

“Hey Goose, you big stud.  Take me to bed or loose me forever.”

“The defense department regrets to inform you that your sons are dead because they were stupid.”

“I feel the need . . . the need for speed.”

“You can be my wingman anytime.”

*This is back when Tom Cruise could work in an ensemble cast and not take over.  Great showcase for Anthony Edwards, Val Kilmer, Tom Skerritt, Meg Ryan, and Tim Robbins,  

“Forgiveness is between them and God. It’s my job to arrange the meeting.”

“A man can be an artist… in anything, food, whatever. It depends on how good he is at it. Creasey’s art is death. He’s about to paint his masterpiece.”

“The gun shot holds no fear.  You welcome the sound. In fact it’s the sound that sets you free. You are a prisoner on this block until that sound sets you free.”

“I got all the time in the world. *You* don’t, but I do.”

*This my guaranteed good cry movie.  I have seen it several times and end up in a puddle of my own tears every time.  

My thoughts and prays go out to the Scott family.  As a movie lover, I feel privileged to have access to this man’s creative vision.

What’s your favorite Tony Scott movie?  

Tattoo Tuesday – Two of my Favorites

Published on by Sydney Aaliyah Michelle7 Comments

I didn’t know if I was going to get a Tattoo Tuesday post today because writing life, professional life and personal life all decided to beat me up today, but I can’t let my Tattoo Tuesday Fan’s down.  So, I decided to combine two of my favorite things:

Star Wars Inspired Tattoos

Found at Moviemaverick.com
Tattoo by Vincent Moisdon
Tattoo by Leigh Harris at Paradise 2
Tatttoo by Artoo at unexplainedunknown.blogspot.com
Tattoo by Oleg Turyanskiy
Tattoo by Steve Morris

 

Tattoo found at http://www.collegehumor.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How cute is Yoda?  It’s my favorite, which one do you like the best?  Is there a movie you like so much that you would the characters tattooed on your body?