and in the end, I'd do it all again; I think you're my best friend

Night at the Museum: Secret of the Tomb (2014)
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Ben Stiller, Robin Williams, Owen Wilson


( While I try not to give away important plot details, please note that I do discuss the film below. I will never give away any endings or big secrets, but remember that I will discuss the story and how I feel about it. )

I know I haven’t posted here in a long time.

I know I said I was going to use this as a mirror to my LiveJournal.

I know saying something doesn’t mean much unless you follow through. Hopefully this time I will follow through.

Well, I failed pretty miserably at this the first time. Let’s see if I can make it any better. Don’t roll your eyes at me, I’m trying here.

I did some searching over LiveJournal over the past couple of weeks, and you can read all about my desire for the old days over here. Like I said over there, I know I’m not going to get those days back, but I can try posting again.

Originally, I intended this to mirror my LJ. I will pick that up again. I’m going to expand on the scrapbook idea that was started over on LJ many moons ago. I’ll try to create more posts on the things I read or see. I want to actually write down those experiences. This journal won’t really be too personal. Some things I’d like to keep to myself for now.

So I’m working in the background on some things. I’m hoping to have a 2014 playlist this year. To be fair, I’ve been so behind on music this year. It just wasn’t at the top of my list. But I’ll give it a go.

My GoodReads challenge I set for myself this year is to read 100 books. This may seem a little insane, and I was originally going to set it for 75 books (which I think would have been completely doable since I read 67 books last year), but 100 books a year is something I’ve wanted to work toward for a while. This year is probably the best year for it. It is very likely I’ll have a full time job soon, and it will take up a lot of my time. I might as well try now.

I will keep track of my progress here and at GoodReads. Books I read may be novels, novellas, short stories, short story collections, graphic novels, poetry collections, etc. They can be printed books or read on my Kindle. The only requirement is that I have not read the book in the past (if one or two short stories I’ve read before are included in a collection, that’s fine; the number of collections that include Capote’s “A Christmas Memory” is quite large, I am finding). In order to successfully complete this challenge, I will need to read somewhere around 8 or 9 books a month. It might sound daunting, but I figure, why not? If anything, it may help me discover some new authors or help with my writing. This is also an attempt to start making my way through that ever-growing and massive pile of books I’ve purchased and not read yet.

I will post an entry once a month about the books I've read. This should keep from flooding any friend lists.

2013 Reading Challenge

Amanda has read 0 books toward her goal of 100 books.

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0 of 100 (0%)

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This is just to help me keep track of the television shows I'm watching this year and what I need to catch up on.

As some of you know, every New Year’s Eve I post a playlist of songs from the past year that have been significant or just damn good. A few of these songs were released last year but exploded this year. Usually there is some bias (I know, where is the country?), but I try to include some different genres to mix things up. I don’t try to justify any of my choices, and I don’t make apologies for leaving off certain songs. At the end of the day, it’s just supposed to be a fun little set of songs for people to listen to.

This was the year of …infectious pop, shall we say? I believe that we generally get one pop album each year that blows everything else out of the water. This year? If I had said anything other than fun., you’d think I’d been living under a rock. OK, I kind of was, but it was a small rock. In any case, again, this list is not meant to be taken seriously or as a “Best of” list. It’s just 40 songs that were perhaps significant to the year or I just liked.

There are two playlists. One is created for Spotify, and the other is through Youtube, so if you want to watch the videos or don’t have access to Spotify, that’s there for you. Oh, and I’m not at all responsible for the content or language in any of these songs or videos. Some of these have the parental advisory label slapped on them in the store. Be aware of this. Um, and consider the last two songs on there sort of like bonus tracks. It officially ends with "We Are Young" (I thought it was only right to allow fun. to be the bookends to this playlist).

The Spotify Playlist
The Youtube Playlist

“Some Nights” by fun.
“Good Time” by Owl City and Carly Rae Jepsen
“Stronger (What Doesn’t Kill You)” by Kelly Clarkson
“Thinkin’ ‘Bout You” by Frank Ocean
“Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen
“Payphone” by Maroon 5 feat. Wiz Khalifa
“Good Girl” by Carrie Underwood
“Wide Awake” by Katy Perry
“Try” by P!nk
“Burn It Down” by Linkin Park
“Home” by Phillip Phillips
“Runaways” by The Killers
“Everybody Talks” by Neon Trees
“Sixteen Saltines” by Jack White
“Madness” by Muse
“Mercy” by Kanye West feat. Big Sean, Pusha T, and 2 Chainz
“Climax” by Usher
“Locked Out of Heaven” by Bruno Mars
“Blow Me (One Last Kiss)” by P!nk
“That’s Why God Made the Radio” by the Beach Boys
“Every Single Night” by Fiona Apple
“She’s So Mean” by Matchbox Twenty
“Skyfall” by Adele (Not available in Spotify playlist—because Spotify clearly doesn’t want us to be happy*)
“Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye feat. Kimbra
“Let Me Love You (Until You Learn to Love Yourself)” by Ne-Yo
“When I Was Your Man” by Bruno Mars
“Going Home” by Leonard Cohen
“Ho Hey” by the Lumineers
“Doom and Gloom” by the Rolling Stones (Spotify playlist features the Jeff Bhasker remix)
“Stay Frosty” by Van Halen
“Duquesne Whistle” by Bob Dylan
“We Take Care of Our Own” by Bruce Springsteen
“Girl on Fire – Inferno Version” by Alicia Keys feat. Nicki Minaj
“Hall of Fame” by The Script feat. will.i.am
“Feel Again” by OneRepublic
“Catch My Breath” by Kelly Clarkson
“We Are Young” by fun. feat. Janelle Monae
“Gangnam Style” by Psy
“Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys

*Actually, I had a similar problem last year with the songs from 21. I think they just have some trouble getting Adele’s music cleared for Spotify.

I meant to post the other day, but things were acting up. For whatever reason, my computer wouldn’t read my SD card, so I was trying to get that to work. I don’t know why. It’s the strangest thing because I turned my computer on this morning, and it came up like it usually does. Go figure.

Christmas was awesome. I got all kinds of fun goodies (yay, music and games!), plus a gift from the Bon Jovi online store (although, I was perplexed about receiving t-shirts and wrapping paper with no invoice on Christmas Eve). I even braved the stores the next day with G for after Christmas sales. I picked up the new Forever Red stuff from Bath and Body Works. I think it may be my replacement scent (of course, I pick the one that’s more expensive than the rest). It smells a bit like the Velvet Tuberose, which they only have available during the semi-annual sale but not always in every type of lotion and soap. The Forever Red, though, smells a bit sweeter and not as strong, so it’s a good replacement.

( Cut because it got a bit lengthy and I started posting pictures. )

My brother got Fright Night for Christmas, so we watched that last night. The movie actually wasn’t too bad. I was a bit skeptical at first because so many horror movies are turning to blood and gore to get people to watch, but this one was more about figuring out the vampire. That said, it wasn’t too original (well, it was a remake in the first place) and nothing someone who knows about vampires wouldn’t have seen before, but the characters sort of make the movie. That said, I can’t really stand Colin Farrell, so he probably made the perfect vampire. And oh, how I love David Tennant. I’ll watch something he is in and fall in love all over again. Speaking of which, I’ve been trying to figure out which of his filmography I have yet to see (I’m not including the voiceover work) because I’ve already watched:

Casanova
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire
Secret Smile
Doctor Who
The Catherine Tate Show (as Russell Brand and the Ghost of Christmas Present)
Fright Night

…a bit of a small list looking at it, but I can watch The Decoy Bride on Amazon. The problem is the T.V. mini series he always does. I can’t seem to find them anywhere except for on DVD, and they’re a bit expensive. I do wish Rex Is Not Your Lawyer had aired here and taken off, but it didn’t even get a chance. Really, all they did was the pilot, and NBC chose not to pick it up (because they’ve been doing so well with new shows lately, amirite?). I shouldn’t be bitter. After all, this was back in 2010.

I’m working on the 2012 end of the year playlist. Any suggestions on what to include this year? I try to grab a bunch of songs from different genres. I’d grab some from dubstep, but it isn’t a genre I’m familiar with, so any suggestions there would be a major help.

I really need to remember to just start crossposting.

Don't mind me. I'll just be over here in the corner squealing over the new Bruno Mars album.

I can't believe I have to wait for Tuesday to go buy it. :/