Getting Chatty at the Cinema: A Movie-Going Epidemic

The summer movie season is about to kick off in just two short weeks with the release of Iron Man 3, for which I am crazy pumped. As a movie junkie, I enjoy going to the theater year-round, but there’s just something so awesome about the summer movie season. It’s loud, it’s fun, it gets your fists pumping in the air during particularly action-y scenes (or is that just me?)… it’s a great time for movies. I like to have my brain challenged in the winter Oscar season, but I love to whoop it up with superheroes in the summer.

But as excited as I am, I’m facing a serious problem. Wait, a serious movie-goer problem. (Lest you all think I’m a privileged moron, I needed to clarify. I know there are far more dire things in the world than this.)

You see, going to the movies has always been one of my favorite life activities. Yes, of all of the amazing things that life offers us, sitting in a dark theater to watch a new release of cinematic art is one of the best. It’s magic for me.

Preparing for the End of the World

I watch a lot of HGTV shows... House Hunters, Income Property, Love it or List it (which is obnoxious, but I still watch from time to time). I try my best to be crafty and do a lot of DIY projects from Pinterest. And I am also obsessed with The Walking Dead.

And it just dawned on me that all of those things are related.

I'm having a little bit of a revelation here, so bear with me.

Yes, my revelations involve home improvement and the zombie apocalypse. I'm a big thinker. Obviously.

Anyway, Rich suggested the other day that I look through my New Year's resolutions and see whether I'm making any progress. So this morning I scrolled through the post I wrote 2 months ago. I'm doing pretty well in some areas (exercising semi-regularly, being less angsty, enjoying the things I have), but in other areas I'm kind of failing.

Oscar Predictions

The Oscars are the biggest night of my year. It's the awards show that a movie junkie like me gears up for for months in advance. There are sports fans out there who spend all football/baseball/hockey season breaking down teams and players and making predictions on who will go to the Superbowl. Me? I do the same thing for movies and the Oscars. Awards season is an adrenaline rush. I follow the nominations, the smaller awards shows, pay attention to the statistics (only 3 movies have ever won Best Picture without a Best Director nom!), devour any Oscar-related article, track the momentum of each nominee, and work out the odds of who will go home with an Academy Award.

I watch the show for the fashion and host, sure. But I've also got my ballot in hand for each category (the one I spend hours agonizing over) and I sit, knee bouncing nervously, for the announcement of the winner... Best Picture or Best Animated Short, the weight of the category is the same to me. I don't always get to see every movie nominated, but I do my absolute best.

Basically, the Oscars are a BIG DEAL. And so, with the Big Night looming nigh, I figured I'd release my predictions to the general public. I'm not an expert by any means, and some of this is just my gut, but know that a lot of research and late nights went into this. I usually have about a 70% accuracy. This year's race is one of the most wide-open in recent memory. So far, the previous awards show winners are all over the place, and not as consistent as usual. This all makes for a very exciting (though stressful) show. So, without further ado...

2013: The Year of Getting Things Done!

Okay, okay, I know, I’m getting pretty bad at this blogging thing. I could blame the holidays, but it’s honestly a bit more than that. It’s a whole lack of motivation/feeling overwhelmed/sweating the small stuff/not feeling like I have enough time to do anything thing that I have going on right now.

Not a terribly fun opener to this post, I suppose, and I don’t intend for this to sound whiny, but yeah. I’ve been feeling pretty stressed out lately. Like, anxiety-knot-in-my-chest stressed out. The crazy part about that is that I really don’t have much to feel overwhelmed about. I don’t have kids, I don’t own a house, and I’m not in school… I really just work and go home and I still feel like I don’t have enough hours in the day. It’s probably silly, I know. But by the time I make dinner, do my laundry, buy groceries, run errands, read up on the latest in pop culture news, watch my beloved tv shows, tend to my dying garden, and hang out with that crazy cool boyfriend of mine, I’m exhausted and feel like I haven’t accomplished anything.