2011 in review

[krickets]

TOP COMEBACKS

Footloose | The remake of this 1980s Kevin Bacon classic wasn't as fleshed-out as it could have been, but it was super fun and Willard (Miles Teller) stole the show!
Coldplay | So I'm not sure you can really consider this a "comeback", but their new album Mylo Xyloto is pretty fantastic.
Ghost Face | Scream 4! I loved it & I think it was the right time for it. Sidney Prescott (Neve Campbell) still kicks all kinds of ghost face ass. Plus, Kirby (Hayden Panetierre) is awesome.
Middle Earth | Hobbits, wizards, elves, and dwarves, oh my! The newly unvieled trailer for The Hobbit (2012) brought this magical land back to the forefront.

TOP CHARACTERS | Part I & II

I. Lemon Breeland, Hart of Dixie | Kenzi, Lost Girl | Nolan Ross, Revenge | Lip Gallagher, Shameless (US)
II. Joel Graham, Parenthood | Stefan Salvatore, The Vampire Diaries | Katerina Petrova/Katherine Pierce, The Vampire Diaries | Fiona Gallagher, Shameless

TOP MOVIES

The Tree of Life, Terrence Malick | Brad Pitt, Sean Penn, Jessica Chastain
Another Earth, Mike Cahill | Britt Marling, William Mapother
"So, the cosmonaut. He's the first man ever to go into space, right? The Russians beat the Americans. So he goes up in this big space ship, but the only habitable part of it's very small. So the cosmonaut's in there, and he's got this portal window, and he's looking out of it, and he sees the curvature of the earth. For the first time. The first man to ever look at the planet he's from. And he's lost in that moment. And all of a sudden, this strange ticking begins coming out of the dashboard. He rips out the control panel, right? Takes out his tools, trying to find this sound -- trying to stop this sound. But he can't find it. He can't stop it. It keeps going. A few hours into this, it begins to feel like torture. A few days go by with this sound and he knows that this small sound will break him. He'll lose his mind. What's he going to do? He's up in space. Alone. In a space closet! He's got twenty-five days left to go with this sound. So the cosmonaut decides: the only way to save his sanity is to fall in love with this sound. So he closes his eyes and he goes into his imagination, and then he opens them. He doesn't hear a ticking anymore. He hears music. And he spends the remainder of his time sailing through space in total bliss and peace."




The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo (2011), David Fincher | Rooney Mara, Daniel Craig, Christopher Plummer, Stellan Skarsgard
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part II, David Yates | Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson, Rupert Grint, Alan Rickman, Ralph Fiennes, Michael Gambon, Tom Felton, Matthew Lewis, Evanna Lynch, Bonnie Wright


Midnight in Paris, Woody Allen | Owen Wilson, Adrien Brody, Kathy Bates, Marion Cotillard, Rachel McAdams
Attack the Block, Joe Cornish | Nick Frost, John Boyega, Jodie Whittaker


Rubber, Quentin Dupieux
"In the Stephen Spielberg movie E.T., why is the alien round? No reason. In Love Story, why do the two characters fall madly in love with each other? No reason. In Oliver Stone’s J.F.K., why is the president suddenly assassinated by some stranger? No reason. In the excellent Chainsaw Massacre by Tobe Hooper, why don’t we ever see the characters go to the bathroom? Or wash their hands like people do in real life? Absolutely no reason. Worse! In the Pianist by Polanski, how come this guy has to hide and live like a bum when he plays the piano so well? Once again, the answer is: no reason. I could go on for hours with more examples. The list is endless. You probably never gave it a thought, but all great films, without exception, contain an important element of ‘no reason.’ And you know why? Because life itself is filled with no reason. Why can’t we see the air all around us? No reason. Why are we always thinking? No reason. Why do some people love sausages and other people hate sausages? No fucking reason. Ladies, gentlemen, the film you are about to see today is an homage to the ‘no reason’ — that most powerful element of style."


TOP DOCUMENTARIES

"Now, whatever we do, it doesn't seem to amount to nearly the potential we seemed to have held in the parking lot. In the parking lot, we were dynamos, whirlwinds. We were rulers. We had complete autonomy. We had it all in a world that had nothing to offer us."


"Maybe he just wanted to fly, one time." - The Bridge
Not Pictured: Bill Cunningham New York, The Education of Shelby Knox, & Miss Representation


MOVIES THAT HAD NO BUSINESS SUCKING THIS BAD

No further explanation needed.

TOP READS

The Help, Kathryn Stockett | The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern | IQ84, Haruki Murakami | Allison Hewitt is Trapped, Madeleine Roux | The Knife of Never Letting Go, Patrick Ness | Something Borrowed, Emily Giffin | Seriously, I'm Kidding, Ellen Degeneres

FAVORITE TV
LOST GIRL | MISFITS | LUTHER
HART OF DIXIE | REVENGE | SHAMELESS (US)
THE VAMPIRE DIARIES | RAISING HOPE | PARKS AND RECREATION
HAVEN | THE KILLING | TERRIERS

FAVORITE SHIPS
(Real and Imagined)
GALE/KATNISS | STEVE/FIONA | KAREN/LIP
NOLAN/EMILY | ELENA/STEFAN | DUKE/AUDREY
BURT/VIRGINIA | LINDEN/HOLDER | KENZI/DYSON
STEFAN/TYLER/CAROLINE | ALICE/LUTHER | LEMON/LAVON


FAVORITE [B]ROMANCES
NOLAN/JACK | WADE/GEORGE | BRITT/HANK
IAN/LIP | DYSON/HALE | STEFAN/KLAUS


FAVORITE BFFs
KENZI/BO | ANN/LESLIE | ZOE/LAVON
FIONA/VERONICA | LUTHER/JENNY | HALE/KENZI
RON/LESLIE | MAX/PENNY | IAN/MANDY

SADDEST GOODBYE

Friday Night Lights

2011's MASCOT

Comments

[gigglemonster.livejournal.com]

Love love love this!
God that quote from Another Earth about the cosmonaut? Magical!

Also, this is super pretty!
Also, Ksenia ♥♥♥!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

.

[outoftime.livejournal.com]

So happy to see "Another Earth" on your list - I fell in love with that movie!

Although, I know I probably just didn't get it, but I HATED Rubber lol.

Great job!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

No, rubber isn't for anyone. I loved it for the absurdist commentary and the audience becoming a part of the text stuff. But I realize I am in the minority. Ha.

[hamarakissa.livejournal.com]

Super pretty picspam <3

Red State was SO bad there are no words - that's like an hour and more that I can NEVER get back in my life :x

Katherine and Kenzi and Shamless and Hart of Dixie and everything else! I'm just starting to read The Hunger Games :)

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Thanks, love!

[blighted-star.livejournal.com]

Katherine Pierce, Midnight In Paris (that was probably the most imaginative movie this year) and Harry Potter ftw.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Loved midnight in Paris. I totally agree. So magical!

Yay Katherine. She keeps sneaking up on my list of things I love. Like a ninja.

[daybreak777.livejournal.com]

You still like Misfits! Lemon! (I like HoD, though I don't know why yet.)

LUTHER! I watched it last week. Awesomeness. :-)

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Misfits is on thin ice to be honest. I haven't watched the last two eps yet. But I spent a good chunk of this year loving it so it qualifies. Haha.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Also, hart of Dixie. It's like one of those "this is the story about a town" shows that are kind of irresistible and enjoyable. Like northern exposure or gilmore girls, or even Friday night lights. Small towns with a lot of character. Cant help but love it.

[anie-chan.livejournal.com]

Oh hey! What a wonderful list you did! Good work %)

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[pada-something.livejournal.com]

I CAN'T EVEN. WHY IS EVERYTHING SO PRETTYYYYYYYYYYY

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Haha I just don't know!

[mfirefly10.livejournal.com]

That Emmy trailer will never not kill me. Oh, how I miss you, FNL :(

Gorgeous 'spams.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Thank ya!

That trailer is like emotional kryptonite. I cry like every time!

[favoritexrecord.livejournal.com]

Love this list. Stefan, Katherine, & TVD especially. <3

[crickets.livejournal.com]

♥!

They are pretty awesome.

[gregoria44.livejournal.com]

Bloody LOVED Rubber. Didn't expect to, but I did.

*pleased*

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Yeah I watched it more just to see how ridiculous it was and ended up loving it too.

[laceandlight.livejournal.com]

This is such a beautiful picspam... absolutely love the layout, categories, artistry, and selections! :) Thanks for sharing this!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Wow, thank you so much! I'm glad you liked it. :)

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

Kenzi!!!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

It's her!

[boom-queen.livejournal.com]

haha, sorry--sometimes my glee for Kenzi renders me inarticulate. Lovely cropping and shading on all your pics KC <3

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

If you don't mind me asking, why is Lemon so awesome that she is one of your top four characters? What is so particularly fabulous about her?

Also, that GWTDT image is FABULOUS.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Oh they're not ranked. She's in the top 8.

I feel like I can't fully answer this because it still feels like this show has just started, but I'll try.

I really enjoy watching her as a character, first and foremost. She's entertaining and I think that King does a great job with the part. I know she's not super popular in the fandom, but I genuinely feel for her and am drawn to her character. Despite her shallowness/selfishness and her bad attitude toward Zoe, out of all the characters in Hart of Dixie she is definitely the most tragic and layered. I am not getting any of that from Zoe Hart. (Yet anyway.) I love the lighthearted overall atmosphere of this show, and while Lemon does fit into that well at times - as well as being a good foil for Zoe, she brings a kind of gravity that I crave in characters. (For what it's worth, my second favorite character on Hart of Dixie is probably Wade.)

[redbrunja.livejournal.com]

The premise of Hart of Dixie does nothing for me, but damn, the more I head about Lemon, the more I'm tempted to give it a watch.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Do!!!!!!!

*cheers you on*

[stainofmylove.livejournal.com]

SO MUCH PRETTY <33333

Man, that FNL trailer is so killer. Cry every time.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

♥ ♥

If it hadn't been like 3:30 AM at the time I might have taken the time to make an actual FNL image. Alas, we get the Emmy trailer that makes everyone sob uncontrollably. (Or maybe that's just me?)

[oresteia.livejournal.com]

Nolan Ross deserves it!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

♥ Much agreed!

[witches.livejournal.com]

This is gorgeous and that quote from Rubber is awesome. It makes me want to see the movie even more than I did already!

[crickets.livejournal.com]

(Love your icon!)

Yeah you should definitely give it a shot if you think it's something you would like. I thought it would be ridiculous. (And it was, but it was also kind of awesome.)

[witches.livejournal.com]

Thank you! (I noticed you're also a fan of the Scream movies 8D)

It really is something I would love XD. I'm a massive horror fan, I love horror-comedy and b-movies, so it's really right up my street. Also, I read that it's set in the desert which is just another plus because I love anything desert related XDD.

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Last I recall it's streaming at netflix so if you have an account there you definitely should give it a whirl. Sounds like it was made for you. It's pretty much all of those things. (With a little bit of something extra.)

[witches.livejournal.com]

thank you! :D

Sounds like it was made for you. It's pretty much all of those things. 8D hee, it really stood out as something I would love when I read about it!

(With a little bit of something extra.) *intrigued*

I also see "Allison Hewitt is Trapped" on your top reads. I actually got that book for Christmas and can't wait to start it :D

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh you will LOVE it. Love. I loved it anyway. And gigglemonster who is amazing, made a kick-ass trailer for it: http://lensflair-inc.livejournal.com/47486.html

[witches.livejournal.com]

8D

I'm sure I will because ANYTHING zombie related = I'm there!

OMG that trailer = awesome. I'm reading three books atm, so I really wanted to wait until I'd finished them to start that one but I have a feeling I'll cave XD

[crickets.livejournal.com]

If it helps, it's a really fast read!

[witches.livejournal.com]

Ooh! ty :D I'm one of those people who is always in the middle of reading at least three books, despite the fact that I'm a fast reader XD. This year I made myself a rule not to read more than three at once but I'm going to have to break my own rule, especially as I just read the first couple of pages and love it already! XD

[crickets.livejournal.com]

Yay! *claps* Enjoy!

[witches.livejournal.com]

tysm! I'm sure I will :D

[ozmissage.livejournal.com]

This is so gorgeous! <3

I already foresee Fiona and Lip making it onto my 2012 lists. And also probably Steve. Dude, when I finish this show I'm going to have to write you a thank you note or something. It's blowing my mind a little.